992 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness,.... Aben Ezra remarks that this was after they journeyed from Horeb; but before they came thither, even as soon as, they were in the wilderness, they provoked the Lord, as by their murmuring for water at Marah, when they had been but three days in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath,.... The word "also" shows that they had provoked him before, but this instance is given as a very notorious one; here they made the golden calf and worshipped it, while Moses was on the mount with God, receiving instructions from him for their good. Near to this place a rock had been smitten for them,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone,.... The tables of the law, the same law which forbid idolatry, and which they had lately heard from the mouth of God himself: even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you; which they had agreed unto, and solemnly promised they would observe and do, Exodus 24:7, then...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone, written with the finger of God,.... The letters were of his devising and forming, the writing was his, the engraving them on the stones was his own doing; and which was done to show its original, to stamp a divine authority on it, and to denote its duration; see Exodus 31:18 and on them was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights,.... The time of Moses's stay in the mount, when it was just up, and not before: that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, [even] the tables of the covenant, as in Deuteronomy 9:9. Aben Ezra observes, that this shows that the day the tables were given to Moses the calf was made.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto me,.... The omniscient God, who knew what was doing in the camp of Israel, though Moses did not, of which he informs him: arise, get thee down quickly from hence; from the mount where he was; and the word "arise" does not suppose him to be sitting or lying along, neither of which postures would have been suitable,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying,.... After he had given him the two tables, and before his departure from the mount: I have seen this people; took notice of them, their ways, and their works: and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people; unwilling to submit to, and bear the yoke of my commandments; see Exodus 32:9.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let me alone, that I may destroy them,.... Do not say one word to me on their behalf, or entreat me to spare them, and not destroy them: and blot out their name from under heaven; that no such nation may be heard of, or known by the name of Israel: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they; of his family, whereby the Lord's...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So I turned and came down from the mount,.... As the Lord commanded: and the mount burned with fire; as it had for six weeks past, ever since the Lord's descent upon it; and so it continued, for the words may be rendered, "and the mount was burning" (b); and yet this did not deter the Israelites from idolatry: and the two tables of the covenant...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I looked,.... When he was come down from the mount, and was nigh the camp: and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God; that plainly appeared by what they had done, and at which he was amazed; and therefore a behold is prefixed to it, it being such a gross sin, having so much impiety and ingratitude, and stupidity in it: and made you...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands,.... In wrath and indignation at the sin they were guilty of: and brake them before your eyes; as an emblem of their breach of them by transgressing them.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I fell down before the Lord,.... In prayer for Israel who had sinned; but this he did not immediately after he had broken the tables, but when he had first ground the calf to powder, strewed it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it; and when he had chided Aaron, and ordered the sons of Levi to slay every man his brother: as at...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure wherewith the Lord was wroth against you,.... Which was exceeding vehement, as appeared by his words to Moses, forbidding to intercede for them, that he might consume them, and make of him a greater nation; wherefore he dreaded the issue of it, lest it should be to destroy you; that that should be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord was very angry with Aaron, to have destroyed him,.... For complying with the request of the people in making a calf for them, and for that miserable shift he made to excuse himself; which so provoked the Lord, that he threatened to destroy him, and he was in danger of being cut off, had it not been for the intercession of Moses: and I...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made,.... Which was the object of their sin, which lay in making and worshipping it; see Isaiah 31:7 and burnt it with fire, and stamped it; with his feet after it was burnt, to bring it into small pieces: and ground it very small; or, as the Targum of Jonathan, "ground it in a mortar well;'' the burnt...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the Lord to wrath. These places are not mentioned in the strict order in which the provocations were made at them; for they provoked the Lord at Massah by murmuring for water, before they provoked him at Taberah, by complaining as it should seem of their journeying; for Massah was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadeshbarnea,.... From whence the spies were sent to search the land, though previous to it they had the following order to go up and possess it; see Numbers 32:8 saying, go up and possess the land which I have given you; this they were bid to do, before they desired the spies might be sent to search it first;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. Either from the time he first had and took knowledge of them and visited them, before his departure from Egypt to the land of Midian; (see Exodus 2:11 compared with Acts 7:25); or from the time that he was sent to them to deliver them out of Egypt; see Exodus 5:20 and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first,.... Which Jarchi says are the selfsame said above, Deuteronomy 9:18, but doubled or repeated, because of the order of his prayer. The words "at the first" are not in the text; and, as before observed, we do not read that Moses fell down at the first forty...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I prayed therefore unto the Lord,.... What follows is a different prayer from that in Exodus 32:31 and agrees better with that in Deuteronomy 9:11, delivered before he came down from the mount, yet could not be the same, because delivered at another forty days and nights: and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thine inheritance:...