(א) וַיַּ֣רְא הָעָ֔ם כִּֽי־בֹשֵׁ֥שׁ מֹשֶׁ֖ה לָרֶ֣דֶת מִן־הָהָ֑ר וַיִּקָּהֵ֨ל הָעָ֜ם עַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן וַיֹּאמְר֤וּ אֵלָיו֙ ק֣וּם ׀ עֲשֵׂה־לָ֣נוּ אֱלֹהִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֤ר יֵֽלְכוּ֙ לְפָנֵ֔ינוּ כִּי־זֶ֣ה ׀ מֹשֶׁ֣ה הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֤ר הֶֽעֱלָ֙נוּ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם לֹ֥א יָדַ֖עְנוּ מֶה־הָ֥יָה לֽוֹ׃
(ב) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵהֶם֙ אַהֲרֹ֔ן פָּֽרְקוּ֙ נִזְמֵ֣י הַזָּהָ֔ב אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּאָזְנֵ֣י נְשֵׁיכֶ֔ם בְּנֵיכֶ֖ם וּבְנֹתֵיכֶ֑ם וְהָבִ֖יאוּ אֵלָֽי׃ (ג) וַיִּתְפָּֽרְקוּ֙ כָּל־הָעָ֔ם אֶת־נִזְמֵ֥י הַזָּהָ֖ב אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּאָזְנֵיהֶ֑ם וַיָּבִ֖יאוּ אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹֽן׃ (ד) וַיִּקַּ֣ח מִיָּדָ֗ם וַיָּ֤צַר אֹתוֹ֙ בַּחֶ֔רֶט וַֽיַּעֲשֵׂ֖הוּ עֵ֣גֶל מַסֵּכָ֑ה וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ אֵ֤לֶּה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶעֱל֖וּךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
(ה) וַיַּ֣רְא אַהֲרֹ֔ן וַיִּ֥בֶן מִזְבֵּ֖חַ לְפָנָ֑יו וַיִּקְרָ֤א אַֽהֲרֹן֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר חַ֥ג לַה' מָחָֽר׃
(ו) וַיַּשְׁכִּ֙ימוּ֙ מִֽמָּחֳרָ֔ת וַיַּעֲל֣וּ עֹלֹ֔ת וַיַּגִּ֖שׁוּ שְׁלָמִ֑ים וַיֵּ֤שֶׁב הָעָם֙ לֶֽאֱכֹ֣ל וְשָׁת֔וֹ וַיָּקֻ֖מוּ לְצַחֵֽק׃ (פ)
1. When the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aharon and said to him, “Get up! Make us a god(s) who shall go before us, for this one - Moshe the man, who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has became of him.”
2. Aharon said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3. And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aharon. 4. He took them from them their hands, shaped them with a carving tool and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god / These are yours gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
5. When Aharon saw, he built an altar before it; and Aharon called out: “A festival to the Eternal tomorrow!”
6. They arose early early the next day, and offered up burnt offerings and brought offerings of well-being; they sat down to eat and drink, and then rose to dance.
21. Moshe said to Aharon, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such great sin upon them?” 22. Aharon said, “Do not be enraged, my lord. You yourself know that this people is bent on evil. 23. They said to me, ‘Make us a god(s) to lead us; for this one - the man Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what became of him.’ 24. So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off!’ They gave it to me and I hurled it into the fire and out came this calf!”
(1) באזני נשיכם [BREAK OFF THE GOLDEN PENDANTS], WHICH ARE IN THE EARS OF YOUR WIVES — Aaron said to himself: women and children have a love for their ornaments; perhaps the matter will be delayed because they will hesitate to give their ornaments, and in the meantime Moses may arrive. They (the men), however, did not wait until the women and children made up their minds but they took the ornaments off themselves (cf. v. 3: they took off the pendants which were in their ears; there is no reference to the pendants belonging to the women) (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 21). (2) פרקו is an imperative plural derived from פרק which is used for the singular, just as בָּרְכוּ is derived from בָּרֵךְ (פרקו and ברכו are both masculine imperative Piel).
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 32
Our Sages deduced that Aharon, seeing that Hur had been killed, made the calf because he was afraid. Their evidence that Hur was killed is that he is never mentioned after this. But it is certainly implausible that Hur would have been more righteous that Aharon, refusing the make the calf when Aharon did not.
Others say that what Aharon was afraid of was that if they killed him, then God would kill them all. The real question is how Aharon could become God's priest after having made an idol....
Others say that they deceived Aharon, making a calf-shaped mold into which he unwittingly threw the gold: "I hurled it into the fire and out came this calf!" This is ridiculous too. How could God choose someone to serve Him who would be so stupid as to be fooled in this way?
Saadia says that Aharon's intent was to unmask the secret idolaters among the people through trickery.
Ramban on Exodus 32:1
What they needed was a new "man of God." You can learn from Aharon's excuse to Moses that it is as I have explained: "They said to me, 'Make us a god to lead us' " - not a god to worship. He explained to Moshe, "As long as you were gone, they needed a guide. If you should return, they would leave him and follow you, as they had done at first." In fact, this is exactly what happened. As soon as the people saw Moshe, they abandoned the calf contemptuously, letting Moses burn it and grind it to powder without anyone intervening. In fact, they fled from the calf without Moshe's saying a word to them. If they had really worshipped the calf, they certainly would not have let Moshe burn it without stoning him to death!
Bekhor Shor on Exodus 32:4; 5
This is your god. Literally, "These are your gods," a plural of majesty, or perhaps they referred to the calf and Aharon, thinking that he would lead them. When Aharon saw this. That they were under the impression that he would work a miracle so that the calf could lead them.
When Aharon saw this. When he saw that the calf was alive. For Psalms 106:20 describes it as feeding on grass. When Aharon saw that Satan's effort had succeeded, he realized that nothing he could would stop them.
He built an altar. As a ploy to put them off.
"Tomorrow shall be a festival of the Lord!"He said, "tomorrow" rather than "today," assuming that Moshe would show up before they actually worshipped it. That is the straightforward interpretation of this verse. But Leviticus Rabbah interprets it midrashically as follows: Aharon "saw" many things. 1) He saw his newphew Hur murdered for reproving them...2) He also "saw" - that is, he understood - that it would be better if the infamy of this sin was attached to him than to the Israelites as a whole. 3) He also saw that if he let the Israelites build the altar, this one would bring a pebble and that one would bring a stone and it would be done in no time, while if he built it himself, he could take his time, hoping that meanwhile Moshe would show up.
A festival of the Lord. His intent was for the sake of Heaven, he was sure that Moshe would come, and they would worship the true God.
Ramban on Exodus 32:5
When Aharon saw. He saw them "bent on evil." He built an altar...and...announced: "Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord!" so that they would be sacrificing to the Lord, on the altar that he built, rather than building their own "altars to Shame" and sacrificing to someone other than God alone. It is possible that he said "Tomorrow" in order to delay until Moshe returned....Notice that is does not say they offered sacrifices "to it." For some of them were directing their worship toward the Holy One, as Aharon had announced, while others were indeed sacrificing to the calf...And, if perhaps, it was Aharon who offered the sacrifices, this would explain why the subject of "bowed low to it and sacrificed to it," is not made explicit. Aharon's action was directed toward God, but their intention was to offer it to the calf.
Many of the English translations were adapted from The Commentators' Bible by Michael Carasik