Exodus 32:18

18 To whom Moses answered, It is not a cry of men exciting to battle, neither the cry of men compelled to fleeing, but I hear the voice(s) of singers.

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 and made by the work of God; and the writing of God was graven in the tables. (and made by God's work; and God's writing was engraved on the tablets.)

17 Forsooth Joshua heard the noise of the people crying [out], and he said to Moses, (The) Yelling of fighting is heard in the tents.

18 To whom Moses answered, It is not a cry of men exciting to battle, neither the cry of men compelled to fleeing, but I hear the voice(s) of singers.

19 And when Moses had nighed to the tents, he saw the calf, and (the) dances; and he was wroth greatly, and he threw out of his hand(s) the tables, and he brake them at the roots of the hill. (And when Moses came close to the tents, he saw the calf, and the people dancing; and he was greatly angered, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and he broke them at the foot of the mountain.)

20 And he took the calf, which they had made, and he burnt it, and brake it till (in)to powder, which he sprinkled into the water, and gave thereof (to) drink to the sons of Israel (and then he made the Israelites to drink it).