Exodus 32:2

2 And Aaron says to them, Take off the golden ear-rings which are in the ears of your wives and daughters, and bring them to me.

Exodus 32:2 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:2

And Aaron said unto them
Perceiving that they were not to be dissuaded from their evil counsel, and diverted from their purpose, but were determined at all events to have an image made to represent God unto them in a visible manner:

break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives,
of your sons, and of your daughters;
these were some of the jewels in gold they had borrowed of the Egyptians; and it seems that, in those times and countries, men, as well as women, used to wear earrings, and so Pliny ^F23 says, in the eastern countries men used to wear gold in their ears; and this may be confirmed from the instance of the Ishmaelites and Midianites, ( Judges 8:24 ) . Aaron did not ask the men for theirs, but for those of their wives and children; it may be, because he might suppose they were more fond of them, and would not so easily part with them, hoping by this means to have put them off of their design:

and bring [them] unto me;
to make a god of, as they desired, that is, the representation of one.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 37.

Exodus 32:2 In-Context

1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people combined against Aaron, and said to him, Arise and make us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what is become of him.

2 And Aaron says to them, Take off the golden ear-rings which are in the ears of your wives and daughters, and bring them to me.

3 And all the people took off the golden ear-rings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

4 And he received them at their hands, and formed them with a graving tool; and he made them a molten calf, and said, These thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

5 And Aaron having seen it built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation saying, To-morrow a feast of the Lord.