Exodus 32:10

Exo 32:10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

Ver. 10. Let me alone.] God is fain to bespeak his own freedom: as if Moses’s devotion were stronger than God’s indignation. Great is the power of prayer; able, after a sort, to transfuse a dead palsy into the hand of Omnipotency. For, Let me alone, the Chaldee hath, Leave off thy prayer: but Moses would not. If he get but his head above water, the Lord shall hear of David. {Psa 69:1-3}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 32:10. Let me alone — What did Moses, or what could he do, to hinder God from consuming them? When God resolves to abandon a people, and the decree is gone forth, no intercession can prevent it. But God would thus express the greatness of his displeasure, after the manner of men, who would have none to intercede for those they resolve to be severe with.

Thus also he would put an honour upon prayer, intimating, that nothing but the intercession of Moses could save them from ruin.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32:10 Now leave me alone: This apparent command was in fact an invitation to Moses to intercede for his people. Although the people deserved destruction, God was willing not to destroy them if Moses continued to stand before him as an intercessor. • I will make you, Moses, into a great nation: If Moses were willing, God would start over again, abandoning the rest of the children of Abraham and beginning now with the children of Moses. This was apparently a test of Moses’ understanding of God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

God showeth that the prayers of the godly stay his punishment.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

make of thee a great nation--Care must be taken not to suppose this language as betokening any change or vacillation in the divine purpose. The covenant made with the patriarchs had been ratified in the most solemn manner; it could not and never was intended that it should be broken. But the manner in which God spoke to Moses served two important purposes--it tended to develop the faith and intercessory patriotism of the Hebrew leader, and to excite the serious alarm of the people, that God would reject them and deprive them of the privileges they had fondly fancied were so secure.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Now therefore let me alone] Moses had already begun to plead with God in the behalf of this rebellious and ungrateful people; and so powerful was his intercession that even the Omnipotent represents himself as incapable of doing any thing in the way of judgment, unless his creature desisted from praying for mercy! See an instance of the prevalence of fervent intercession in the case of Abraham, Ge 18:23-33, from the model of which the intercession of Moses seems to have been formed.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) Let me alone.—This was not a command to abstain from deprecation, but rather an intimation that deprecation might have power to change God’s purpose. Moses was tried by an offer which would have exalted him at the expense of the people. He was allowed to see that he might either sacrifice the people and obtain his own aggrandisement, or deny himself and save them. That he chose the better part redounds to his undying glory.

I will make of thee a great nation—i.e., I will put thee in the place of Abraham, make thee the father of the faithful, destroy all existing Israelites but thee and thine, and proceed de novo to raise up a “great nation” out of thy loins.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. and I will make, &c.] The promise given to Abraham (Gen_12:2) is now restricted to Moses (cf. Num_14:12).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now, therefore, let me alone,.... And not solicit him with prayers and supplications in favour of these people, but leave him to take his own way with them, without troubling him with any suit on their behalf; and so the Targum of Jonathan,"and now leave off thy prayer, and do not cry for them before me;''as the Prophet Jeremiah was often bid not to pray for this people in his time, which was a token of God's great displeasure with them, as well as shows the prevalence of prayer with him; that he knows not how, as it were, humanly speaking, to deny the requests of his children; and even though made not on their own account, but on the account of a sinful and disobedient people:

that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: which suggests that they were deserving of the wrath of God to the uttermost, and to be destroyed from off the face of the earth, and even to be punished with an everlasting destruction:

and I will make of thee a great nation; increase his family to such a degree, as to make them as great a nation or greater than the people of Israel were, see Deu 9:14 or the meaning is, he would set him over a great nation, make him king over a people as large or larger than they, which is a sense mentioned by Fagius and Vatablus; and, indeed, as Bishop Patrick observes, if this people had been destroyed, there would have been no danger of the promise not being made good, which was made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, concerning the multiplication of their seed, urged by Moses, Exo 32:13 seeing that would have stood firm, if a large nation was made out of the family of Moses, who descended from them: this was a very great temptation to Moses, and had he been a selfish man, and sought the advancement of his own family, and careless of, and indifferent to the people of Israel, he would have accepted of it; it is a noble testimony in his favour, and proves him not to be the designing man he is represented by the deists.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Alone. One fully determined on revenge will bear with no expostulation; whence St. Gregory (Mor. ix. 11,) and Theodoret (q. 67,) look upon this as an incitement to pray more earnestly, seeing God’s servants have such influence over Him. The mercy of God struggled with his justice, and stopped its effects. --- Nation, as I promised to Abraham; or I will make thee ruler over a nation greater than this, as Moses explains it, (Deuteronomy ix. 14,) and as the like offer is made, Numbers xiv. 12. The Samaritan subjoins here, "And God was likewise much irritated against Aaron, and would have destroyed him; but Moses prayed for him:" which we are assured was the case, Deuteronomy ix. 20. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Do not hinder me by thy prayers, which I see thou art now about to make on their behalf.

I will make of thee; to come out of thy loins.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Let me alone — Do not interfere, and restrain the punitive outgoing of my wrath by the intercession which I see in thy heart. “Moses had not yet opened his mouth, but God foresaw the holy violence with which his importunity would besiege his throne.” — Bush.

That I may consume them — Exo_32:28 shows that about three thousand of the people perished before the consuming judgment that followed hard upon the sin, but Moses’s plea availed to modify the extent of the fearful stroke. Exo_32:14. The blending of justice and mercy in God’s revelations of himself to Israel is worthy of devout attention. His wrath is a fearful power, and may wax hot against transgressors of his law, and certainly will consume the unrepentant sinner; but he also “keepeth mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,” (Exo_34:7.)

I will make of thee a great nation — He intimates that he might destroy all the rest of the nation, and by means of Moses alone raise up the great nation of which the promise to the fathers had repeatedly spoken.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now, therefore, let me alone. This was not a command, but rather a suggestion; or, at any rate, it was a command not intended to compel obedience like that of the angel to Jacob me go, for the day breaketh". (Gen_32:26) Moses was not intended to take the command as absolute. He did not do so he "wrestled with God," like Jacob, and prevailed. That my wrath may wax hot. Literally, "and my wrath will wax hot." I will make of thee a great nation. (Compare Num_14:12) God could, of course, have multiplied the seed of Moses, as he had that of Abraham; but in that case all that had been as yet done would have gone for nought, and his purposes with respect to his "peculiar people" would have been put back six hundred years and more.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let me alone - What did Moses, or what could he do, to hinder God from consuming them? When God resolves to abandon a people, and the decree is gone forth, no intercession can prevent it. But God would thus express the greatness of his displeasure, after the manner of men, who would have none to interceed for those they resolve to be severe with. Thus also he would put an honour upon prayer, intimating, that nothing but the intercession of Moses could save them from ruin, that he might be a type of Christ, by whose mediation alone God would reconcile the world unto himself.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

let me alone

This whole scene affords a striking contrast between law and grace. (Cf) Moses’ intercession with Christ’s Joh 17:1-26 Israel was a nation, under probation Exo 19:5; Exo 19:6 believers under grace are a family, awaiting glory; Joh 20:17; Rom 5:1; Rom 5:2. For them there is "an advocate with the Father, whose propitiatory sacrifice never loses efficacy 1Jn 2:1; 1Jn 2:2. Moses pleads a covenant Exo 32:13. Christ points to a sacrifice Joh 17:4.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

הניחה לי LET ME ALONE — So far we have not heard that Moses had prayed on their behalf and yet He says “let Me alone!” which implies a refusal to his entreaty! But by saying this He opened the door to him (offered him a suggestion) intimating to him that if he prayed for them He would not destroy them (Shemot Rabbah 42:9; cf. also Berakhot 32a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

NOW THEREFORE LET ME ALONE, THAT MY WRATH MAY WAX HOT AGAINST THEM. The meaning of this cannot be “let Me alone and I will become angry,” for if His anger had not been aroused yet, why should it wax hot as soon as Moses leaves Him alone? But in line with the plain meaning of Scripture the meaning thereof is: “leave Me, and I will consume them in My burning anger,” similar in thought to the expression, let Me alone, and I will destroy them., Verse 14.By way of the Truth, [the mystic lore of the Cabala], the verse means: “My mercy will subside, and My attribute of justice will wax hot against them and I will consume them with it, for with Me [i.e. when the attribute of mercy is before Me], it has no power over them.” This is the meaning of the expression, And Moses besought the face of the Eternal his G-d, (“face of”) alludes to the attribute of justice (Bachya). being similar in usage to the expression, the face of the Lord Eternal G-d, the G-d of Israel. And so Moses mentioned [in his prayer] in the Book of Deuteronomy, O G-d Eternal — first the name of G-d with Aleph Dalet, which alludes to the attribute of justice. followed by the name of Yod Hei. It is possible that the word vay’chal (and he besought) is of the root t’chilah (beginning). [of the root t’chilah, meaning “beginning” or “first”], because [in the order of the attributes as they are arranged from lowest to highest, the one of justice] is nearest to us” (Ricanti). See also Bachya, in my edition, Vol. II, p. 332. Understand it and you will know.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.