Shemot 32:18

18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for gevurah, neither is it the voice of them that cry of chalushah; but the noise of them that sing that I hear.

Shemot 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,

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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.

Shemot 32:18 In-Context

16 And the Luchot were the ma’aseh Elohim, the writing was the Mikhtav Elohim, engraved upon the Luchot.

17 And when Yehoshua heard the kol HaAm as they shouted, he said unto Moshe, There is a noise of milchamah in the machaneh.

18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for gevurah, neither is it the voice of them that cry of chalushah; but the noise of them that sing that I hear.

19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the machaneh, that he saw the Egel, and the mecholot (dancing); and the anger of Moshe burned hot, and he threw the Luchot out of his hands, and broke them at the foot of HaHar.

20 And he took the Egel which they had made, and burned it in the eish, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the mayim, and made the Bnei Yisroel drink of it.