Exodus 32:34

34 For right now, you go and lead the people to where I told you. Look, my Angel is going ahead of you. On the day, though, when I settle accounts, their sins will certainly be part of the settlement."

Exodus 32:34 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:34

Therefore now go, lead the people [unto the] place of
which I have spoken unto thee
That is, to the land of Canaan, which he had promised to their fathers and to them, and had directed Moses to bring them to:

behold, mine angel shall go before thee:
and not I, as Jarchi interprets it; not the Angel of the covenant, and of his presence, as in ( Exodus 23:20 ) but a created angel, which, though a favour, was a lessening of the mercy before promised and granted; and which gave the people a great deal of concern, though Moses by his supplications got the former blessing restored, ( Exodus 33:2 Exodus 33:4 Exodus 33:14 Exodus 33:17 ) :

nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon
them;
that is, when he should visit them in a way of correction for other sins, he would visit them in like manner for this sin, the worship of the golden calf; and so Jarchi well explains it,

``when I visit upon them their iniquities, I will visit upon them a little of this iniquity, with the rest of iniquities; and there is no punishment (adds he) comes upon Israel, in which there is not something of the punishment of the sin of the calf;''

and the Jews have a saying F20, that

``there is not a generation in which there is not an ounce of the sin of the calf.''


FOOTNOTES:

F20 T. Hieros. Taanith, fol. 68. 3.

Exodus 32:34 In-Context

32 And now, if you will only forgive their sin. . . . But if not, erase me out of the book you've written."
33 God said to Moses, "I'll only erase from my book those who sin against me.
34 For right now, you go and lead the people to where I told you. Look, my Angel is going ahead of you. On the day, though, when I settle accounts, their sins will certainly be part of the settlement."
35 God sent a plague on the people because of the calf they and Aaron had made.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.