Exodus 32:2

2 And Aaron said to them, Take ye the golden earrings from the ears of your wives (Take ye the gold earrings from the ears of your wives), (and) of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring ye them to me.

Exodus 32:2 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:2

And Aaron said unto them
Perceiving that they were not to be dissuaded from their evil counsel, and diverted from their purpose, but were determined at all events to have an image made to represent God unto them in a visible manner:

break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives,
of your sons, and of your daughters;
these were some of the jewels in gold they had borrowed of the Egyptians; and it seems that, in those times and countries, men, as well as women, used to wear earrings, and so Pliny ^F23 says, in the eastern countries men used to wear gold in their ears; and this may be confirmed from the instance of the Ishmaelites and Midianites, ( Judges 8:24 ) . Aaron did not ask the men for theirs, but for those of their wives and children; it may be, because he might suppose they were more fond of them, and would not so easily part with them, hoping by this means to have put them off of their design:

and bring [them] unto me;
to make a god of, as they desired, that is, the representation of one.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F23 Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 37.

Exodus 32:2 In-Context

1 Forsooth the people saw, that Moses made tarrying to come down from the hill, and it was gathered together against Aaron, and said, Rise thou, and make gods to us, that shall go before us, for we wot not what is befallen to this man Moses, that led us out of the land of Egypt. (And the people saw, that Moses was very long in coming down from the mountain, and so they gathered together around Aaron, and said, Rise thou up, and make gods for us, that shall go before us, for we know not what hath befallen this man Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt.)

2 And Aaron said to them, Take ye the golden earrings from the ears of your wives (Take ye the gold earrings from the ears of your wives), (and) of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring ye them to me.

3 The people did those things, that he commanded, and brought the earrings to Aaron;

4 and when he had taken those, he formed them by work of melting, and he made of them a molten calf (and he made a calf out of the melted gold). And they said, Israel, these be thy gods, that led thee out of the land of Egypt.

5 And when Aaron had seen this thing, he builded an altar before the calf, and he cried by the voice of a crier, and said, Tomorrow is the solemnity of the Lord. (And when Aaron had seen this thing, he built an altar before the calf, and he cried by the voice of a crier, and said, Tomorrow shall be a Feast to the Lord.)