Exodus 32:23

23 And they said to me, 'Make for us gods who will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

Exodus 32:23 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:23

For they said unto me, make us gods, which shall go before
us
Which was true, ( Exodus 32:1 ) but then he should have told them, that gods were not to be made; that what were made with hands were no gods, and could not go before them; that the making of any image, similitude, or representation of God, was forbidden by him, as they had lately heard from his own mouth; he should have dissuaded from such idolatry, by showing them the evil nature of the sin, and the ruin they exposed themselves to by it:

for [as for] this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land
of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him;
their words he truly recites, and perhaps might choose the rather to mention them, because they carried in them some reflection on Moses for staying so long in the mount; and as if that contributed much to this affair, and which put the people on forming such a scheme, they concluding he must be dead through famine; or, as the Targum of Jonathan, be burnt with flaming fire from the Lord.

Exodus 32:23 In-Context

21 And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you brought on them [such] a great sin?"

22 And Aaron said, "{Let not my lord become angry}. You yourself know the people, that {they are intent on evil}.

23 And they said to me, 'Make for us gods who will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

24 And I said to them, 'Whoever [has] gold, take [it] off.' And they gave [it] to me, and I threw it in the fire, and out came this bull calf."

25 And Moses saw the people, that they [were] running wild because Aaron had allowed them to run wild, for a laughingstock among {their enemies}.