Commentary on Genesis and Exodus, Chapter 32 · Questions · Question 13 – Question 16
QUEST. XIII. Whether Aarons sin here is to be excused.
SOme goe about to excuse, or extenuate Aarons offence here. 1. Bernard alleageth, that Aaron was forced thereunto: Sceleratis tumultuantis populi contra volunt atem suam cessit clamoribus; Hee gave way unto the wicked clamours of the people against his owne minde. So also Theodoret, Vitulum formaré necessario coactus est; He was forced of necessitie to frame a calfe. And so he excuseth himselfe afterward by the peoples outrage, vers. 22. But nothing should have compelled Aaron to doe evill: he should have feared God, rather than man; and chosen to die, before he would see God dishonoured.
Epistol. 56.2. Ambrose saith, Ne que excusare tantum Sacerdotem possumus, ne que condemnare audemus, We can neither excuse so great a Priest, nor yet dare condemne him. But seeing Moses did afterward sharply reprove him, and the Lord would for this have slaine him, Deut. 9. there is no question, but that he most grievously sinned.
3. Some alleage by way of excuse, that all Aarons courses tended to have sought delayes till Moses comming, in that he called for their earings, which he thought would have beene gathered with much trouble, and businesse, then he casteth them altogether, and melteth them, and then caused it to bee fashioned with a graving toole: after that he made an Altar, and deferred the solemnitie till the next day, Oleaster. But all this being granted, it is so farre from excusing Aaron, that perfidiosior est assensus, &c. his consent is so much the more treacherous, dissembling his conscience, when he saw idolatrie so grounded, and rooted in the people, than if he had given a simple assent, Iun. in Analys.
4. Procopius saith, Quasi convitienda exprobrat, &c. Aaron doth as it were upbraid them, and scoffingly say unto them, These are thy gods, &c. but neither were these the words of Aaron, the people so said; neither is it like that Aaron being afraid of them, would have scoffed with them: wherefore that Aaron… sinne was very grievous, and inexcusable, doth now follow to be shewed in the next question.
5. Theodoret addeth, Primo populi impetum verbis comp…scere tentavit, &c. That first he tried to pacifie the heat of the people with words. But this is not expressed in the text: it may be he would have disswaded them, but that he saw them so violently carried, that there was no speaking unto them.
QUEST. XIV. Of the greatnesse of Aarons sinne.
AArons sin then is made manifest, & set forth by these circumstances. 1. In respect of his person, he had often conference with God, and by him the Lord had wrought great works and miracles in Egypt: therefore his example was so much the more dangerous, and his fall the greater. 2. The thing that hee consented unto, was a breach of the first table: it was not theft or adulterie, or such like, but wicked idolatrie: for, Spiritualia peccata graviora sunt; Spirituall evils are more grievous, Ferus. 3. Quod propriis manibus accipit, signum est effoeminati & servilis animi; In that he taketh their earings with his owne hands, it was a signe of an effeminate, and servile minde, Calvin. 4. He sinned also grievously in his dissimulation: when for feare hee against his owne conscience dissembled, and so betrayed the truth, Iun. 5. Borrhaius addeth, that he sinned two wayes beside, in usurping a lawgivers office, which belonged unto Moses: and in bringing in new ripes, and worship which God had not commanded. But Aaron offended not in the first, because Moses had left him governour in his place till he returned: but in the latter his presumption was great. 6. Aarons fall also appeareth in this, that after he made a golden calfe, seeing it to be pleasing unto the people, he was so forward afterward, both in making an Altar, and proclaiming a solemnitie, Pelarg.
QUEST. XV. Why it pleased God to suffer Aaron to fall.
NOw it pleased God to suffer Aaron to fall. 1. Vt humiliaretur, that he might be humbled, lest hee might afterward have beene too much lifted up, being called to bee high Priest, Ferus. 2. By this example we doe see, Sanctissimos interdum faede labi, &c. that holy men may sometime grossely fall, Borrh. 3. This sheweth, that Aarons Priesthood was not perfect, nor able fully to reconcile men unto God, seeing he himselfe was a sinner, Marb. Quomodo unus captivus alium liberaret? How should one captive deliver another, Ferus. Or one sinner make reconciliation for another? 4. And for this cause also, it pleased God to suffer Aaron to fall, Vt nemo de gratia sua praesumat, that no man should presume of his gifts or strength: but let him that standeth, (as the Apostle saith) take heed lest he fall, Ferus. 5. And by Aarons presumption, we see how dangerous a thing it is, to bring any thing into Gods service without his warrant, Borrh.
QUEST. XVI. How the golden calfe is said to be fashioned with a graving toole.
Vers. 4. ANd fashioned it with a graving toole, and made thereof a molten calfe. 1. The word here translated a graving toole, is chereth, which is sometime taken for a bag or purse, as 2 King. 5.22. where it is said, that Naaman bound two talents of silver in two bags, & gave them to Gehezi: and so some thinke that Aaron put all the peoples jewels and earings in a bag together, lest they might thinke he had converted any part thereof to his owne use, Cajetan: but the other word vajat…ar, he fashioned, is against this sense. 2. But most usually chereth is taken for a penny, style, or graving toole: and so some thinke, that Aaron with this instrument did draw a patterne, making the proportion of a calfe, which the workmen should follow in their casting. So R. Salom. Osiand. Lyran. 3. Others thinke, that with this instrument Aaron made a mould in clay, or such like matter, and the mettall cast into it received that forme, Tost. q. 10. Oleast. 4. Simlerus maketh a double use of this graving toole, Vnum in formand… typo, alterum in perpoliendo operefuso; One in making the mould, the other in polishing the worke after it was cast. 5. But I rather subscribe to Gallasius, that thinketh here is an foreign, a transposing of the words, putting the latter first: for the golden calfe was first cast and melted, and then polished and trimmed with a graving toole, as workmen use to doe.
6. This calfe was made by Founders worke: there are three wayes to make and frame things of mettall; either by hammering and beating them to some fashion; as the Cherubs upon the Arke were made; or by joyning the peeces and joints together, which are sunderly made; or by casting and melting it in a mould: and so was this golden calfe made, Tostat. qu. 10.