As this story begins, the Children of Israel have escaped Egypt, and are camped near Mount Sinai. Moses, their leader, as climbed up the mountain, and is receiving the Ten Commandments from Jehovah. The people get impatient, and think that perhaps Moses will not return, and they ask his brother Aaron, the High Priest, to make them new gods.

Aaron complies - which is surprising - given that he has been involved in the Exodus since the beginning, supporting Moses. But he does, and collects golden earrings, melts them down , and fashions them into a golden idol shaped like a calf. He builds an altar before the calf, and proclaims a feast to Jehovah.

God sees what is happening, and is angry, telling Moses that he will destroy these people, and start over again, using Moses to start a new church. Moses persuades God not to do this, reminding him of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet, as Moses descends from the mountain, carrying the Ten Commandments etched by the hand of God on two tables of stone, and sees the extent of the forbidden idolatry, he too is angry. He shatters the tables of stone, grinds the calf into dust, mixes the dust into water, and makes the people drink it.

What's the inner meaning of this story?

It's explained in detail in Arcana Coelestia, starting in section 10395. Every detail is important. Very briefly, though:

If we don't realize, or recognize, that the Word contains truths from God, we can react by "gathering to Aaron" - just being religiously observant in an external, perfunctory way.

Detached from internal worship, we gravitate to developing false ideas - idols - that we use in religious teachings and worship. Not knowing Moses's whereabouts means a total unawareness of the internal truths of the Word.

When Aaron gathers the earrings, that signifies the external church cherry-picking truths from the literal sense of the Word to support a man-made religion that reinforces what it loves.

We can think ways that churches that have done this, and on a personal level, there's a strong tendency for us to do this, too - to think shallowly, to extract things from the Word and mold them into idols, or justifications for the things we want to do.

The two tables of stone are inscribed on both sides. There are internals and externals of religion. We need both. This is the reason why the internal meaning of the Word is so important to us all; it contains the inner truths that we need to understand, and live by, and learn to love.

This is much too brief a summary to do the story justice; it's one of they key turning points in the religious history of humankind, and it has profound meaning for us as individuals, and for our churches and nations.

10393. Exodus 32

1. And the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain. And the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, Rise, make us gods to go before us; for this Moses, that man who caused us to come up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

2. And Aaron said to them, Pull away the ear-jewels of gold which are on the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.

3. And all the people pulled away the ear-jewels of gold which were on their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

4. And he received [the gold] from their hands, and fashioned it with a chisel, and made out of it a calf of molded [metal]; and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who caused you to come up out of the land of Egypt.

5. And Aaron saw it and built an altar in front of it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow there will be a feast to Jehovah ¹ .

6. And they rose up in the morning of the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

7. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go! go down; for your people have corrupted themselves, whom you caused to come up out of the land of Egypt.

8. They have suddenly departed from the way which I have commanded them; they have made for themselves a calf of molded [metal], and worshipped it, and sacrificed to it, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, who caused you to come up out of the land of Egypt.

9. And Jehovah said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

10. And you, let Me alone, and let My anger grow hot against them, and let Me consume them; and let Me make you into a great nation.

11. And Moses entreated the face of ² Jehovah his God, and said, Why, O Jehovah, does Your anger grow hot against Your people, whom You have led out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?

12. Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil He led them out, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from upon the face of the earth? Turn back from the heat of Your anger, and repent ³ of the evil against Your people.

13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself, and spoke to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens; and all this land which I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they will inherit it into the age ⁴ .

14. And Jehovah repented ³ of the evil which He said He would do to His people.

15. And Moses looked back and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand; the tablets were written on across them both, from the edge of one and from the edge of the other they were written on ⁵ .

16. And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

17. And Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted ⁶ , and he said to Moses, There is the noise of war in the camp.

18. And he said, It is not the noise of the cry in victory, and it is not the noise of the cry in defeat; the noise of a wretched cry I hear.

19. And it happened, as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dances; and Moses grew hot with anger, and threw the tablets out of his hand and broke them beneath the mountain.

20. And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it up till it was powder, and sprinkled it on the face of the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.

21. And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?

22. And Aaron said, Do not let your anger grow hot, O my lord; you know the people, that they [are set] on evil.

23. And they said to me, Make us gods to go before us; for this Moses, that man who caused us to come up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

24. And I said to them, Whoever has gold, pull it away; and they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.

25. And Moses saw that the people had become undisciplined; for Aaron had caused them to become so undisciplined that those rising up against them would annihilate them ⁷ .

26. And Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is for Jehovah, [come] to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to him.

27. And he said to them, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Put everyone his sword on his thigh; go to and fro ⁸ from gate to gate in the camp, and kill [every] man his brother, and [every] man his companion, and [every] man his neighbour.

28. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people on that day up to three thousand men.

29. And Moses said, Fill your hand ⁹ today to Jehovah (for [every] man has been against his son and against his brother), so that He may bestow a blessing on you today.

30. And it happened on the next day, that Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin. And now I shall go up to Jehovah; perhaps I shall make expiation for your sin.

31. And Moses returned to Jehovah and said, I implore You; this people has committed a great sin, and they have made gods of gold for themselves.

32. And now, if You forgive their sin - and if not, blot me out, I beg You, from Your book which You have written.

33. And Jehovah said to Moses, The one who has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.

34. And now, go! lead the people to what I have spoken of to you. Behold, My angel will go before you; and on the day of My visitation I will visit their sin upon them ¹⁰ .

35. And Jehovah struck the people because they made the calf which Aaron made.

CONTENTS

The internal sense in this chapter shows that no Church could be established among the Israelite people because their whole interest lay in external things and not in anything internal; and to prevent them from profaning the holy things of heaven and the Church their interiors were completely closed off. The fact that this people's whole interest lay in external things and not in anything internal is meant by the golden calf which they worshipped instead of Jehovah. And the complete closing off of their interiors to prevent them from profaning the holy things of heaven and the Church is meant by Moses' breaking the tablets containing the law, by his grinding up the golden calf, sprinkling the powder on the water, and giving it to them to drink, and also by the killing in the camp by the sons of Levi of up to three thousand men.

Footnotes: