cution of the prescribed work, improving his faculties, and endowing him with an ingenuity and tact wholly extraor dinary, if not superhuman.-To devise ;' Heb. 'to think thoughts; Gr. to architectonize;' Chal. To teach artificers;' i. e. to act in the capacity of superintendent or overseer.-Carving of timber;' as there is elsewhere no intimation of there having been any carved work about the tabernacle, the original might here perhaps better be rendered 'cutting,' than 'carving,' denoting all the work of joiners and carpenters. The Heb. term is the same with that rendered 'cutting' in the succeeding clause of the verse. Aholiab ;' i. e. the tabernacle of the Father.

What moral precept is repeated in this connection, and why is it introduced here? v. 12–17.

Verily; Heb. 'notwithstanding, nevertheless;' q. d. "You are indeed about to be employed in an important and sacred work, one requiring great assiduity and despatch; nevertheless let it not be thought that this circumstance affords sufficient ground for encroaching upon holy time with the work in which you are engaged. Let the most urgent business come to a pause during the hallowed hours of the sabbath.'-' That doth sanctify you;' i. e. by an external consecration of the race of Israel to myself, as a sign and token of which the sabbath is ordained as a day of worship, and of rest from secular labor.-'Shall be cut off;' i. e. by premature death, which was supposed to be the punishment inflicted for daring crimes when there were no human witnesses to bear testimony to the fact.'Was refreshed;' Heb. 'fetched breath;' applied to God by anthropopathy.

What did Moses receive from God when he had made an end of speaking with him on the mount? v. 18.

CHAPTER XXXII.

What is said of the people when they saw that Moses delayed to come down from the Mount?

'Delayed.' The primitive sense of the original is to be ashamed, and as long tarrying or waiting for a person's coming is apt to be attended with a sensation of shame or displacency, as Judg. 3. 25. 'they tarried till they were ashamed,' the word is applied to tarrying or delaying the time. Gr. Kechronike,' from 'Chronizo,' to procrastinate, a derivative from Chronos,' usually rendered time, but in many cases more legitimately signifying delay. Thus Rev. 10. 6. And sware... that there should be time (Chronos) no longer;' i. e. that there should be no longer delay until the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when the events predicted should come to pass.-The people gathered themselves together;' i. e. some of them; as appears from Paul's allusion to the same event, 1 Cor. 10. 7. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them.'-'Unto Aaron;' or, as it may be rendered against Aaron;' besetting him in all probability in a violent and tumultuous manner, and clamorously demanding of him that he should comply with their request. It cannot but be supposed that Aaron at first earnestly opposed the measure, but was at length overcome by the importunity and menaces of the people. -Make us gods;' i. e. an image or visible symbol of the Deity, which should at their pleasure go before them, Moses having now been a considerable time absent, and the pillar of cloud in the mean time having remained stationary.

What circumstances rendered their conduct in this proposition peculiarly aggravated? Ex. 20. 4. and 24. 3.

What did Aaron say to them, and what was the result? v. 2-4.

'Golden ear-rings;' the very jewels, without doubt, of which they had despoiled their oppressors at their depar ture from Egypt. It is altogether probable that Aaron made this proposition to them in the secret hope that they would be unwilling to devote their choicest treasures to this object, and that while they were wavering in reference to the project Moses might return, whose presence would crush the growing evil in the bud. But he was disappointed in their readily yielding up their ornaments.

"Fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf. But if it were run or cast in a mold, as is implied by the word 'molten,' how could it properly be said to have been fashioned afterward? The literal rendering of the original is, 'He fashioned it with a gravingtool, and made it a calf of molten work:' by which we understand that he first formed a model, perhaps of wood, with the instrument here mentioned, by means of which a mold was constructed, and in the mold the calf was cast; it may be, in imitation of the Egyptian deities Osiris and Apis.-These be thy gods;' i. e. this is thy god; as we find it rendered Neh. 9. 18. They made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy god.' It is not to be supposed that the Israelites had suddenly sunk to that degree of insensate infatuation that they could believe this molten fabric, the work of their own hands, to be the true God of their nation, the Almighty Being who had brought them from Egypt, wherefore this language is to be regarded as equivalent to This is the sign, or symbol, or memorial of the God who brought, &c. See this phraseology illustrated in the note on Gen. 17. 9-11. In the same words Jeroboam spoke of the golden calves which he caused to be set up in Bethel, 1 Kings, 12. 28. 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.' The Psalmist thus alludes to this transaction;' Ps. 106. 19, 20."They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.' It is possible that Aaron might have had an eye in forming the image to the cherubic figure, which was composed in part of that of the ox, and which was perhaps regarded as an hieroglyphic of some of the attributes of the Divinity.

What ceremonies did they institute in honor of the image, and what was the deportment of the people? v. 5, 6.

"When Aaron saw (it);' i. e. when he saw that the image was received with so much applause, and regarded merely as a symbol of the Divine presence. To the Lord;' or, 'for the Lord.' By the use of this language, it would seem that Aaron's object was as much as possible to prevent

the people from centring their minds upon the fabrication of their hands instead of upon Jehovah, the proper object of their worship. But whatever might have been his private views, the transaction is thus characterized by the Holy Ghost; Acts, 7. 41. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the work of their hands.' So Jehu could boast of his zeal for the Lord of hosts, while yet he was a worshipper of the golden calves of Jeroboam; 2 Kings, 10. 16, 29.- Rose up to play;' i. e. to engage in singing, dancing, and other modes of merriment. This import of the phrase is confirmed by the fact, that what one writer terms 'playing,' 1 Chron. 15. 29. another, 2 Sam. 6. 16. calls dancing. It is a word also sometimes applied to whoredom; idolatry being esteemed a kind of spiritual adultery.

What command did the Lord in the mean time give to Moses, what did he say of the people, and what intention did he express concerning them? v. 7-10.

Go, get thee down.' The Gr. here adds the word 'quickly,' as does Moses himself in speaking of the event, Deut. 9. 12. Arise, get thee down quickly.'-' Corrupted ;' this implies both their idolatry, and the consequent judg ment which they had brought upon themselves, in which twofold sense the original word occurs, Gen. 6. 11—13. upon which see note. In a tone of indignation, as if they had forfeited all claim to be longer considered his people, he says to Moses, thy people have corrupted themselves. -Let me alone;' Chal. Leave off thy prayer before me.' This was designed to try, tempt, or prove the spirit of Moses; to ascertain whether the prospect of becoming great and distinguished himself would overweigh his regard for the interest of his people..

What did Moses say in order to avert the threatened wrath, and what was the argument which prevailed with God? v. 11-14.

'Besought the Lord; Heb. 'earnestly besought the face of the Lord.' To this intercession of Moses the Psalmist

alludes, Ps. 106. 23. Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them. For mischief; Heb. in evil, in malice;' i. e. maliciously; Gr. with maliciousness. Repent of this evil against thy people;' Heb. 'be compassionate over the evil to (or of) thy people;' Gr. 'be merciful unto the evil of thy people,' a sense which is doubtless implied in the words, though the Hebrew phrase imports also the evil of punishment which the Most High is entreated to forbear. Therefore the Chal. adds, 'Repent of the evil which thou purposedst to do unto thy people.The Lord repented;' rendered in the Gr. 'the Lord was propitiated ;' the same word which occurs in the prayer of the publican, Luke 18. 13. 'God, be merciful to me a sinner;' Gr. 'be propitiated to me ;' i. e. by the intervention of a mediator. The publican therefore does not rely upon the absolute mercy of God irrespective of an atonement.

What did Moses bring down with him from the mount, and how are they described? v. 15, 16. 'Tables.' These tables, as we are clsewhere informed, were of stone; by which we are doubtless to understand a substance similar to that of the precious stones; beautiful and splendid in the highest degree, as well as durable, that it might correspond with the remaining articles of the tabernacle-furniture. Thus the Jews: The first tables were hewn out of the sapphire of the throne of God's glory.' The two tables were probably designed to close together like the lids of a book, and by their being written on both sides is meant that their right and left hand leaf or side were each of them to be occupied with letters.

What is said of Joshua, what did he observe to Moses, and what was Moses' reply? v. 17, 18. The ignorance of Joshua respecting the real nature of the uproar in the camp evinces that he had not, after ascending the mount with Moses, ch. 24. 13. as yet returned thither again; so that the inference is obvious that Joshua, as well as Moses, was forty days in the mount, though not in the same part of it. How he was sustained or employed