And Moses said to Aaron, What has this people done to thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin on them?
Moses has just come down from the mountain, burned the golden calf and made the people drink its powder. Now he turns to his own brother, and his question is a charge: Aaron was the man he had left in charge.
Moses asks what the people did to Aaron, as if some huge pressure must explain it.
Moses seems astonished at Aaron's conduct. "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?" The question implies that nothing they could have done was enough to cause what he had done. At the same time, Moses lets Aaron know that he is the most responsible: he is the one who has brought such a great sin on them. Aaron was the man left in charge while Moses was up on the mountain. He should have resisted, even if it meant being stoned.
The people asked for the calf. Yet Moses says Aaron brought the sin on them. Position explains the difference. A later record of the same day shows how far God's anger with Aaron went — and what held it back.
Without doubt he is seen as the responsible head of the people while Moses was away. That is why he is charged with such special guilt. The account makes it plain that he was not slow to fall in with the people's desires… Moses says, "And the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time." (Deut. 9:20) As with Israel, so with Aaron: the prayer of Moses spared them both from the outward punishment their sin deserved, but the guilt of the sin toward God remained.
Aaron never meant to give the people gods. He meant to keep a difficult crowd quiet, and that has a name.
In Aaron we see a picture of the fatal principle of expediency — man trying to manage the things of God. His excuse is that he thought it best to give in to the people's bad temper. He had no intention to make them gods.
Aaron's answer pushes the blame outward and shrinks his own part down to almost nothing. The story has already told us what he left out.
He tried to remove the blame from himself and put it onto the people. When sin first entered, Adam tried to put the blame onto Eve, as we saw in Genesis 3:12. The same thing in principle appears now that we have reached the first and greatest sin under the law. He also tried to make his sin look smaller, as we see in verse 24. He did indeed cast the gold into the fire. But verse 4 records more: the calf was not only "molten" — he also "fashioned it with a graving tool." By telling a half-truth he tried to disguise the whole truth.
One writer turns that hidden tool into a question for us:
It is very easy to use a graving tool today, unless we are watchful and dependent. What is the graving tool? I shall not tell you what yours is. It is whatever man's hand can work with in divine things. What comes out of it is something the eye can rest on — something that relieves you of the effort of walking in faith in the living God.
Moses asks the question; God settles the answer. Aaron divided the blame. God did not.
Aaron laid the blame on the people; but in God's eyes it is "as with the priest, so with the people." God knows the amount of guilt attached to each party, and wherever they may lay it on one another, God charges both alike.
Aaron's position made his guilt special. It did not make the people's guilt any smaller.
- Charged. Moses frames his question so that no answer can work: nothing the people did could excuse what Aaron did.
- Responsible. Moses had left Aaron in charge, and the man in charge carries the sin of those he was meant to guard. He should have resisted, even if it meant being stoned.
- Expedient. His defence was that he was only managing a difficult crowd. That is expediency: man handling God's things his own way.
- Evasive. He blamed the people, as Adam blamed Eve when sin first entered. He also said nothing about the graving tool — a half-truth to hide the whole truth.
- Exposed. When people shift blame onto each other, God knows what each one owes. He charges both alike.
And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord burn! thou knowest the people, that they are [set] on mischief.
Moses has come down from the mountain, smashed the tablets, and ground the calf to powder. Now he turns to the man he left in charge with one question: what did these people do to you, that you brought such a great sin on them? Aaron's reply begins by calming Moses down and ends by pointing at everybody but himself.
Aaron's first move is to take the heat out of the confrontation instead of facing the charge:
Aaron made light of the matter, as though Moses' anger was unnecessary. He told Moses that he knew the people and their tendency to do evil. So he blamed everything on the people. Where was his faith to withstand the people's folly?
What Aaron says about Israel is accurate. They were set on evil. But a true statement about other people is not a defence of yourself. Adam had already tried the same move:
I may try to excuse myself; but there I am, and that is the truth. As the proverb often says, 'He who excuses himself accuses himself.' "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate," said Adam. "You know the people, that they are set on evil," said Aaron; but that was no good reason for giving way to them and making a golden calf.
Moses does not ask what the people did; he asks what they did to Aaron. The question itself answers the excuse before Aaron has made it:
Moses seems astonished at Aaron's conduct. His question implies that nothing they could have done was reason enough for what he had done. At the same time, Moses lets Aaron know that, as the most responsible man, he is the one who has brought this great sin on them. He, as the man left in charge while Moses was up on the mountain, ought to have resisted, even to being stoned. It is just another instance of man's failure when placed in a position of responsibility.
Aaron describes the people as a force he could only go along with. That is exactly the failure. The people carried off the very man left in charge of them:
Whatever Aaron felt inside, the mood of the camp was for having a visible image of God, and so for going back to idolatry. Aaron fell under it. He was swept away with the current. By playing to the times, he did what popular leaders like him do: he led in turn the people who had led him. Corrupted by the people, he corrupted them.
Aaron's plea amounts to saying he handled a difficult crowd in the way that seemed best:
In Aaron we find a picture of the fatal principle of expediency, or of man's attempt to manage the things of God. His excuse is that he thought it best to humour the impatience of the people. He had no intention of making them gods.
The same instinct has done damage far beyond Aaron, and it left his own people weak. The closing phrase below comes from an older translation of verse 25:
Have not the greatest corruptions in the church come from the effort of good men to bless a popular feeling, with little thought of what they were really approving? Human expediency in the things of God quickly turns into discomfort and weakness. Aaron had listened to the people's cry instead of resenting it, and by listening he had made them "naked to their shame among their enemies."
The excuse did not clear Aaron. His rescue came from outside himself, and being spared is not the same as being innocent:
In Deuteronomy, Moses says, "And the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time." (Deut. 9:20.) He is clearly seen as the responsible head of the people while Moses was away. That is why he is charged with such special guilt. The account makes it plain that he was quick to fall in with the people's desires. As with Israel, so with Aaron. Moses' prayer spares both of them from the punishment God's government would have brought on their sin. But the guilt of that sin before God remained.
- Excuse. Aaron softens Moses' anger and shifts the blame onto the crowd. The one who excuses himself accuses himself.
- Evasion. What he says about the people is true, and still no reason for giving way to them and making the calf.
- Responsibility. Moses' question shows that nothing the people did was reason enough. The man left in charge should have resisted, even to being stoned.
- Reversal. Corrupted by the people, he corrupted them — the leader ends up led.
- Rescue. Expediency left the people exposed and shamed. Moses' prayer spared Aaron, but it did not remove his guilt.
And they said to me, Make us a god, who will go before us; for this Moses, the man that has brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him!
Moses is back from the mountain, and he turns on his brother with one question: what did this people do to you, to make you bring such a great sin on them? Aaron's answer is to repeat the people's own words back to him, as if quoting their demand explained why he gave in to it.
Aaron's reply points at the crowd. One writer sets it beside the excuse Adam made, and shows why it settles nothing:
I may try to excuse myself; but there I am, and that is the truth. As the proverb often says, "He who excuses himself accuses himself." "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate," said Adam. "You know the people, that they are set on evil," said Aaron. But that was no good reason for giving way to them and making a golden calf.
What Aaron says about the people is accurate — they did say it. Moses' question, though, already ruled out that line of defence:
Moses seems astonished at Aaron's conduct. "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?" The question implies that nothing they could have done was a good enough reason for what he had done. At the same time Moses lets Aaron know that, as the most responsible man, it is he who has brought this great sin on them. He was the man left in charge while Moses was up on the mountain, and he ought to have resisted, even if the people stoned him. It is another instance of man's failure in a position of responsibility.
The crowd never denied that Moses had led them out of Egypt — they said so in the same breath. Their problem was that he was out of sight:
The people do not mean to disown Moses. They fully recognise him as the man who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, but he was not then in their sight. This was their need — some present, visible prop to lean on, so that they no longer depended on what was invisible. They said to Aaron, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us." Their desire was urgent, and they would satisfy it at any cost. Without a murmur they bring their golden ornaments to Aaron. How deeply rooted is this principle in the human heart!
Aaron was not one voice among many. He held the place Moses had left, and Deuteronomy shows how God viewed his part in it:
One more detail in Deuteronomy helps us understand this. There Moses says, "And the LORD was so angry with Aaron that He was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time" (Deut. 9:20). Aaron plainly stood as the responsible head of the people while Moses was away. That is why he is charged with special guilt, and the story makes it clear that he was quick to fall in with the people's desires. As with Israel, so with Aaron. The prayer of Moses spared both from God's outward judgment on their sin, but the guilt of the sin toward God remained.
Aaron hands the guilt to the people; they had handed their gold to him. The chapter's last verse shows how God settled the account:
"Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made." Aaron laid the blame on the people. But God sees it as "with the priest, so with the people." He knows the amount of guilt attached to each party. Wherever they may lay it on one another, God charges both alike.
The sentence "we do not know what has become of him" has an uncomfortable echo. One writer turns it on Christians who are waiting for a Christ they cannot see:
Are the saints waiting patiently for Christ, dependent and subject to Him who has gone on high? Do they not act as if they did not know what has become of Him? Instead of letting His word and Spirit lead them, have they not set up calves of gold — idols to go before them, rejoicing in the works of their own hands?
- Absence. The trouble starts when the leader is out of sight. The people still credit Moses with bringing them out of Egypt, but they want something visible to lean on instead of depending on the God they cannot see.
- Demand. Their desire is urgent and they will pay any price. The gold comes off without a murmur when the aim is relief from waiting on God.
- Surrender. Aaron was left in charge and should have resisted, even if the people stoned him. God held him responsible, and was angry enough to destroy him.
- Excuse. Quoting the people's demand is not a defence but a confession. Adam blamed the woman, Aaron blames the crowd, and the man who excuses himself accuses himself.
- Verdict. Passing blame back and forth changes nothing. God knows what each side owes, and charges priest and people alike.
And I said to them, Who has gold? They broke [it] off, and gave [it] me, and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
Moses left Aaron in charge and went up the mountain. He came back to a golden calf, and here Aaron explains how it got there — an answer that leaves out what his own hands did.
The account earlier in the chapter says Aaron received the gold, fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a golden calf. His report to Moses leaves the tool out.
The chief weight of the sin lay upon Aaron, and his attempted defence was extremely feeble. He tried to remove the blame from himself and put it on the people. When sin first entered, Adam tried to put the blame on Eve, as we saw in Genesis 3:12. The same thing in principle appears now that we have reached the first and greatest sin under the law. He also tried to minimise his sin, as we see in verse 24. He did indeed cast the gold into the fire. But as verse 4 recorded, the calf was not only "molten" — he also "fashioned it with a graving tool." By telling a half-truth he tried to disguise the whole truth.
That kind of report is not unique to Aaron. It is the ordinary way people admit a fault while shrinking it.
Anyone honest enough to admit it will confirm how easily we may emphasise some details and omit or play down others, in order to present our failure in a less drastic way, so that the damage seems smaller (as an example of this kind of mitigating confession, compare Aaron's words "I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf" with the actual account, which says that he "fashioned it with a chisel and made of it a molten calf," Exodus 32:4, 24).
Aaron's opening move is to describe the people as the real problem. That defence has a long history, and it defeats itself.
I may try to excuse myself; but there I am, and that is the truth. As the proverb often says, "He who excuses himself accuses himself." "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate" — so said Adam. "You know the people, that they are set on evil," said Aaron; but that was no good reason for giving way to them and making a golden calf.
Moses asks Aaron why he brought such a great sin on the people. The question is already a verdict.
The question implies that nothing they could have done was reason enough for what he had done. At the same time Moses lets Aaron know that, as the most responsible, it is he who has brought so great a sin on them. As the man left in charge while Moses was up on the mountain, he ought to have resisted, even if it meant being stoned. It is one more instance of man's failure when in a position of responsibility. And notice the excuses that failure always uses. Not that he was to blame, but the people, who were full of mischief. He only told them to bring their gold, which he cast into the fire, and "there came out this calf!" Not that he made the calf — it came out of the fire! How flimsy are the excuses man makes for sin, until grace delivers him from guile.
The excuse does more than dodge blame. It hands the work of a man's hands over to some higher power.
Man's doing was making the calf. When it was made, they said Providence did it (as Aaron told Moses, "I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf"); then they worshipped it.
Aaron listened to the crowd instead of standing against it. Commentators trace great damage in the church to that same habit.
Have not the greatest corruptions in the church come from good men trying to put God's stamp on a popular feeling, with little thought of what they were really approving? Image-worship itself was simply "the calf which came out" of the honour paid to the memory of saints. Good men tried to turn that honour to good account, but it is idolatry in the sight of God. In the things of God, doing what suits the moment soon turns into discomfort and weakness. Aaron had listened to the people's cry instead of being angry at it, and by listening he made them "naked to their shame among their enemies." And is it not always so? Wherever man's will has worked, and worked well, it has produced weakness. The desire may be satisfied, but leanness enters the soul.
The Spirit of God kept the graving tool in the record, and that tool is still within reach today.
As though the calf had made itself and come out! The Spirit of God is careful to tell us that he made it with "a graving tool" (verse 4). It is very easy to use a graving tool today, unless we are watchful and dependent. What is the graving tool? I will not tell you what yours is. It is whatever man's hand can work with in divine things. It produces something the eye can rest on, and that spares us the exercise of walking in faith in the living God.
Aaron survives the day, but not because his answer held up. Moses records elsewhere how close Aaron came to being destroyed.
One more detail in Deuteronomy may help us understand this. There Moses says, "And the LORD was so angry with Aaron that He was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time" (Deut. 9:20). Without doubt he is seen as the responsible head of the people while Moses was away, and so the special guilt falls on him. As with Israel, so with Aaron: the prayer of Moses spared both from the governmental consequences of their sin, but the guilt of the sin toward God remained.
- Deed — Aaron did not just throw gold into a fire. He shaped the calf with a graving tool, and his own account drops that detail.
- Denial — He told a half-truth to hide the whole truth. He blamed the people, just as Adam blamed Eve.
- Deflection — Man's hand made the calf. Then man said a higher power did it, and his own work became an accident.
- Damage — Pleasing the crowd in the things of God left Israel naked before their enemies. Where man's will gets its way, leanness enters the soul.
- Deliverance — The prayer of Moses spared Aaron, but the guilt stayed. Excuses stay flimsy until grace frees a person from guile.