Exodus 32:17

“And when Joshua heard the noise of the people, as they shouted, etc.] Dancing about the calf: when Moses went up into the mount, Joshua went with him, and tarried in a lower part of the mount all the forty days until he returned, (see <022413>Exodus 24:13) though not so low as the bottom of the mount where the people were, nor so near it as to know what they did there, for of their affairs he seems to be entirely ignorant; nor so high as where Moses was, or, however, not in the cloud where he conversed with God, for of what passed between them he had no knowledge, until declared by Moses: he said unto Moses, [there is a] noise of war in the camp; such a noise as soldiers make in an onset for…”

“The faithfulness of Moses in the office that had been entrusted to him was now to be put to the test. It was to be made manifest whether he loved his own glory better than he loved the brethren who were under his charge; whether he would prefer that he should himself become the founder of a “great nation,” or that the Lord’s promise should be fulfilled in the whole people of Israel. This may have been especially needful for Moses, in consequence of his natural disposition. See Numbers 12:3; and compare Exodus 3:11. With this trial of Moses repeated in a very similar manner Numbers 14:11-23, may be compared the trial of Abraham Genesis 22:0 and of our Saviour Matthew 4:8-10. Exodus 32:8 These…”

“Joshua had waited patiently during all the forty days, in the place where Moses had left him - below the summit of the mount, at a distance from the people, and out of the way of temptation. Joshua: Exo 17:9, Exo 24:13 they shouted: Exo 32:18; Ezr 3:11-13; Psa 47:1 There is a noise: Jos 6:5, Jos 6:10, Jos 6:16, Jos 6:20; Jdg 15:14; Sa1 4:5, Sa1 4:6, Sa1 17:20, Sa1 17:52; Job 39:25; Jer 51:14; Amo 1:14, Amo 2:2 Exodus 32:18”