Exodus 32:32

32 Now, please forgive them of this sin. If you will not, then erase my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people."

Exodus 32:32 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:32

Yet now, if thou will forgive their sin
Of thy free grace, good will, and pleasure; it will redound to thy glory, men will praise thy name on account of it; these people will have great reason to be thankful, and will lie under great obligations to thee, to fear, serve, and glorify thee; and in particular it will be regarded by me as the highest favour that can be asked or granted:

and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast
written;
not the book of the law, as Jarchi, written with the finger of God, the name of Moses was not written there; nor the book of the just, as the Targum of Jonathan, the list and catalogue of good men, that belonged to the visible church, called in after time "the writing of the house of Israel", ( Ezekiel 13:9 ) but rather the book of life, either of this temporal life, and then it means no more than that he wished to die, even immediately by the hand of God, which seems to be countenanced by ( Numbers 11:15 ) or else of eternal life, and is no other than the book of life of the Lamb, or God's predestination or choice of men in Christ to everlasting life, which is particular, personal, sure, and certain; and Moses asks for this, not as a thing either desirable or possible, but to express his great affection for this people, and his great concern for the glory of God; and rather than either should suffer, he chose, if it was possible, to be deprived of that eternal happiness he hoped for, and should enjoy.

Exodus 32:32 In-Context

30 The next day Moses told the people, "You have done a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can do something so your sins will be removed."

31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, "How terribly these people have sinned! They have made for themselves gods from gold.

32 Now, please forgive them of this sin. If you will not, then erase my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people."

33 But the Lord told Moses, "I will erase from my book the names of the people who sin against me.

34 So now, go. Lead the people where I have told you, and my angel will lead you. When the time comes to punish, I will punish them for their sin."