Exodus 32:30

“And it came to pass on the morrow, etc.] The eighteenth day of Tammuz it was, the same writers say, that Moses implored the mercy of God for Israel. Jarchi on (<023211>Exodus 32:11) says it was on the seventeenth day the tables were broke, on the eighteenth the calf was burnt, and on the nineteenth that Moses went up to intercede for them: that Moses said unto the people, ye have sinned a great sin; the sin of idolatry, (see <023221>Exodus 32:21) from whence it appears, that all that were guilty of it were not slain, perhaps only some of one tribe; and there was great reason to fear, that as wrath was gone forth it would not stop here, but others would fall a sacrifice to the divine…”

“Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin--Moses labored to show the people the heinous nature of their sin, and to bring them to repentance. But not content with that, he hastened more earnestly to intercede for them.”

“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…”

“32:30-35 This further intercession for the people may have been needed because of Moses’ new recognition of how serious the sin really was.”

“Ye have: Exo 32:31; Sa1 2:17, Sa1 12:20, Sa1 12:23; Sa2 12:9; Kg2 17:21; Luk 7:47, Luk 15:18 peradventure: Sa2 16:12; Amo 5:15; Jon 3:9; Ti2 2:25 an atonement: Exo 32:32; Num 16:47, Num 25:13; Job 42:7, Job 42:8; Rom 9:3; Gal 3:13; Jam 5:16 Exodus 32:31”

“After Moses had thus avenged the honour of the Lord upon the sinful nation, he returned the next day to Jehovah as a mediator, who is not a mediator of one ( Gal 3:20), that by the force of his intercession he might turn the divine wrath, which threatened destruction, into sparing grace and compassion, and that he might expiate the sin of the nation. He had received no assurance of mercy in reply to his first entreaty ( Exo 32:11-13). He therefore announced his intention to the people in these words: "Peradventure I can make an atonement for your sin." But to the Lord he said ( Exo 32:31, Exo 32:32), "The sin of this people is a great sin; they have made themselves a god of gold," in…”