1When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
2Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molded calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.”
6They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! 8They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 10Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
11Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and turn away from this evil against your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
14So Yahweh turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.
15Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other. 16The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.”
18He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory. It is not the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.” 19As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain. 20He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.
21Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?”
22Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23For they said to me, ‘Make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ 24I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25When Moses saw that the people were out of control, (for Aaron had let them lose control, causing derision among their enemies), 26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh’s side, come to me!”
All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27He said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’” 28The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. About three thousand men fell of the people that day. 29Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, for every man was against his son and against his brother, that he may give you a blessing today.”
30On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”
31Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. 32Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
33Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. 34Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35Yahweh struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron made.
The Mosaic Covenant followed the form of the fourteenth/thirteenth century B.C. Hittite International Treaties. This is not unexpected since Moses was educated as a prince of Egypt, so he would have been taught the matters of the military, law, and international diplomacy, among other subjects. With information on the Hittite treaty form and reading Exodus 19-25, we may understand better several elements within these chapters, as well as the remainder of the books of Moses.
In the words of Professor Kenneth Kitchen, an ancient Near Eastern historian and Egyptologist:
"Sometimes some elements are omitted, but the order of them is almost invariable, whenever the original texts are sufficiently well preserved to be analyzed. This is, therefore, a stable form in the period concerned." Ancient Orient and Old Testament, p. 93.
Let us examine the breakdown of the international treaty along with the Mosaic account:
1. The Date: "third month after the children of Israel had gone out of Egypt, on that same day when they came into the wilderness of Sinai." (Exod 19:1-2)
2. Geographical Setting and Activity of the King (the Suzerain): "the wilderness of Sinai . . . before the mountain." (Exod 19:1 -2)
3. Mediator of the Covenant (title, activity, and message of the Suzerain) (Exod 19:4-25)
a. The Mediator: Moses and his activity (Exod 19:3)
b. The message of the Suzerain: Israel will be His people if they pay attention to His words, and keep His covenant (Exod 19:4-25)
(1) God's intent to make the covenant (Exod 19:4-6)
(2) Israel's response to God's words: "All that Yahweh has spoken we will do." (Exod 19:7-8)
(3) Moses repeats to the people of Israel the response of Yahweh and His instructions on how to prepare for the reception of the covenant (Exod 19:9-15)
(4) The reception of the covenant (Exod 19:16-25)
The covenant is first given in Exodus 20-31, and then broken in Exodus 32-33, but immediately renewed in Exodus 34 (compare Deuteronomy and Joshua 24).
1. The Preamble: The purpose of the Preamble is to identify the Suzerain (the great King), who is the creator of the covenant that gives it to the vassals. The focus is on the majesty and power of the king (Exod 20:1; Deut 1:1-5; Josh 24:1-2a).
2. The Historical Prologue: The Historical Prologue rehearses the past relationship between the Suzerain and the vassal, recounting the benevolent deeds the great King has already performed on the vassal’s behalf. By grounding the covenant in this history of grace, it calls the vassal to obey out of gratitude rather than mere obligation. In the Mosaic covenant this appears in the reminder, “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exod 20:2; Deut 1:6-3:29; Josh 24:2b-13).
I have relied on the class notes of Professor Ralph Alexander, Western Seminary, 1973-1974; Kenneth A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament, pp. 90-102; Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King; George E. Mendenhall, "Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East," Biblical Archaeologist, 17:2-3 (1951); and Cleon L. Rogers, "The Covenant with Moses and Its Historical Setting," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 14:3 (Summer, 1971), pp. 141-155.