Exodus 32:29

29 And Moses said to them, Ye have filled your hands this day to the Lord each one on his son or on his brother, so that blessing should be given to you.

Exodus 32:29 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:29

For Moses had said
To the Levites, when he first gave them their orders:

consecrate yourselves today to the Lord;
devote yourselves to his service, by obeying his orders, slaying those, or the heads of them, who have cast so much contempt upon him as to worship the golden calf in his room; and which would be as acceptable to him as the offerings were, by which Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the Lord; and as these Levites were consecrated to his service this day, on this account:

[even] every man upon his son, and upon his brother;
not sparing the nearest relation found in this idolatry, and for which the tribe of Levi is commended and blessed in the blessing of Moses, ( Deuteronomy 33:8 Deuteronomy 33:9 ) and as it follows,

that he may bestow a blessing upon you this day;
which was their being taken into the service of God to minister to the priests in the sanctuary, to bear the vessels of the Lord, and for their maintenance to have the tithes of the people: this day was, according to the Jewish writers ^F19, the seventeenth of Tammuz, or June, on which day the Jews keep a fast upon this account.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Sedar Olam Rabba, c. 6. p. 18. Pirke Eliezer, c. 46.

Exodus 32:29 In-Context

27 And he says to them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every one his sword on his thigh, and go through and return from gate to gate through the camp, and slay every one his brother, and every one his neighbour, and every one him that is nearest to him.

28 And the sons of Levi did as Moses spoke to them, and there fell of the people in that day to the three thousand men.

29 And Moses said to them, Ye have filled your hands this day to the Lord each one on his son or on his brother, so that blessing should be given to you.

30 And it came to pass after the morrow , that Moses said to the people, Ye have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up to God, that I may make atonement for your sin.

31 And Moses returned to the Lord and said, I pray, O Lord, this people has sinned a great sin, and they have made for themselves golden gods.