Exodus 32:18

18 But Moses said, Those aren't songs of victory, And those aren't songs of defeat, I hear songs of people throwing a party.

Exodus 32:18 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:18

And he said
Not Joshua, as Saadiah Gaon thinks, but Moses, in answer to what Joshua had said:

[it is] not the voice of [them that] shout for mastery;
that have got the better of it, and have obtained the victory, and shout on that account; or, "not the voice of a cry of strength", or "of a strong cry" {h}; that is, of men who have got the victory, and are in high spirits, and shout with a strong voice; and so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,

``not the voice of strong men that overcome in battle:''

neither [is it] the voice of [them that] cry for being overcome;
which is not a voice of shouting, but of howling; or, "not the voice of the cry of weakness", or "of a weak cry" ^F9; who being unable to stand their ground are conquered, and make a bitter outcry on falling into the enemy's hands, or being wounded shriek terribly, and so the above Targums,

``not the voice of the weak who are overcome by the enemy in battle:''

[but] the noise of [them that] sing do I hear;
as at a merry entertainment, either on a civil or religious account: Moses, who knew what the children of Israel had done, and what they were about, could better judge of the nature of the sound he heard than Joshua could, who knew nothing of what was transacting,

---

FOOTNOTES:

F8 (hrwbg twne lwq) "vox eorum qui respondeant fortiter", Tigurine version; "vox clamoris fortis", Drusius.
F9 (hvwlh twne lwq) "vox eorum qui respondeant infirmiter", Tigurine version; "vox clamoris debilis", Drusius.

Exodus 32:18 In-Context

16 God made the tablets and God wrote the tablets - engraved them.

17 When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting noisily, he said to Moses, "That's the sound of war in the camp!"

18 But Moses said, Those aren't songs of victory, And those aren't songs of defeat, I hear songs of people throwing a party.

19 And that's what it was. When Moses came near to the camp and saw the calf and the people dancing, his anger flared. He threw down the tablets and smashed them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.

20 He took the calf that they had made, melted it down with fire, pulverized it to powder, then scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.