Exodus 32:34

Exo 32:34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto [the place] of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.

Ver. 34. I will visit.] I will pay them home for the new and the old.

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 32:34-35. My angel shall go before thee — Some created angel that was employed in the common services of his kingdom, which intimated that they were not to expect any thing for the future to be done for them out of the common road of providence. When I visit — Hereafter, when I shall see cause to punish them for other sins, I will visit for this among the rest. From hence the Jews have a saying, that from henceforward no judgment fell upon Israel, but there was in it an ounce of the powder of the golden calf. And the Lord plagued the people — Probably by the pestilence, or some other infectious disease. Thus Moses prevailed for a mitigation of the punishment, but could not wholly turn away the wrath of God.

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

32:34 the place I told you about: Canaan, which God had promised to give to Abraham’s descendants (see 3:17; 32:13; 33:1). • when I come to call the people to account: Because of God’s mercy, judgment may not always come immediately (though in this instance God soon sent a plague, 32:35), but it will come for those who persist in sin (see Matt 13:24-30).

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

Verse 34. Lead the people unto the place] The word place is not in the text, and is with great propriety omitted. For Moses never led this people into that place, they all died in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb; but Moses led them towards the place, and thus the particle אל el here should be understood, unless we suppose that God designed to lead them to the borders of the land, but not to take them into it.

I will visit their sin] I will not destroy them, but they shall not enter into the promised land. They shall wander in the wilderness till the present generation become extinct.

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

(34) Lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken—i.e., continue their leader until Palestine is reached. (See Exo_3:8; Exo_3:17; Exo_6:4-8, &c.)

Mine Angel shall go before thee.—So far as the form of the expression goes, the promise is, as nearly as possible, a repetition of the original one, “Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared” (Exo_23:20). But the meaning of the promise is wholly changed, as we learn from the opening paragraph of the ensuing chapter (Exo_33:1-3). The “angel” now promised as a guide is not to be God Himself (“I will not go up in the midst of thee “), but a creature, between whom and God the distance is immeasurable.

In the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.—All sin is followed by suffering; the sequence is inevitable. God had now consented to spare His people, and to take them back into favour; but they were not to expect that matters would be with them as if their sin had not taken place. It would still be “visited upon them”—not, indeed, by instant death, but still in some way or other. The weary waiting in the wilderness for forty years may have been a part of the punishment (Num_14:33); but it may also have been inflicted on different persons in many different ways.

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

34. He yields, however, so far to Moses’ entreaty as to put off the punishment of the people to an indefinite future, and to bid Moses lead Israel on to Canaan, under the guidance—not indeed of Himself personally, but—of His angel. It is true, the angel usually (see on Exo_3:1, Exo_23:20) represents Jehovah so fully as not to be exclusive of Him: but Exo_33:2 (see the note), 3, shew that (unless the clause is a later insertion) it must be exclusive of Him here.

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.

And the Lord plagued the people,.... That is, continued so to do at certain times, with the pestilence, or other calamities; for this seems not to refer, as some think, to the slaughter of the 3000 men: the reason follows:

because they made the calf which Aaron made; that is, they provided him with materials to make it; they urged and solicited him to do it, and would not be easy without it, so that the making of it is ascribed to them; or they served it, as Onkelos; or bowed unto it, as Jonathan; with which agree the Syriac, Arabic, and Samaritan versions, which render it, they served, or worshipped, or sacrificed to the calf which Aaron made.

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

Behold, mine angel; not Christ, the Angel of the covenant, who had hitherto gone before them; but a created angel, as appears by comparing this with Exo 33:2,3,12; though Moses obtained the revocation of this threatening, Exo 33:14,17. I will visit their sin upon them; when I shall punish them for their other sins, which I foresee they will commit, I will remember and punish this also.

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

34. Now go, lead the people — The people having broken the covenant, Jehovah speaks as though he would have Moses depart from Sinai without having the tables renewed, or proceeding with the erection of the tabernacle, whose pattern had been shown him in the mount. He assures him of the presence of his Angel, as in Exo_23:20, but declares that the sin of the people cannot go unpunished. But Moses’s persistent intercession and mediation, as shown in the following chapter, led to a renewal of the covenant.

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

Lead the people unto the place, etc. This was a revocation of the sentence of death passed in verse 10. The people was to be spared, and Moses was to conduct them to Palestine. Mine Angel shall go before thee. Mine Angel not I myself. (compare Exo_33:2, Exo_33:3) Another threatened punishment, which was revoked upon the repentance of the people (ib, 4, 6), and the earnest prayer of Moses (ib, 14-16). I will visit their sin upon them. Kalisch thinks that a plague was at once sent, and so understands verse 35. But most commentators regard the day of visitation as that on which it was declared that none of those who had quitted Egypt should enter Canaan, (Num_14:35) and regard that sentence as, in fact, provoked by the golden calf idolatry (ib, 22).

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

My angel shall go before them - Some created angel that was employed in the common services of his kingdom, which intimated that they were not to expect any thing for the future to be done for them out of the common road of providence. When I visit - Hereafter he shall see cause to punish them for other sins, I will visit for this among the rest. From hence the Jews have a saying, that from hence-forward no judgment fell upon Israel, but there was in it an ounce of the powder of the golden calf.

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

Angel

(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").

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

אל אשר דברתי לך OF WHICH I HAVE SPOKEN UNTO THEE — Here we have an instance of לך connected with the verb דבר being used in place of אליך (i. e. where לך actually means speaking to, not as its usual meaning it, speaking “concerning” someone or “in the interest of” someone as often pointed out by Rashi; cf. e. g., Rashi’s comment on Genesis 28:15). Similar is, (1 Kings 2:19) “to speak unto him (לדבר לו) for Adonijah” (cf. Rashi on that verse).

הנה מלאכי BEHOLD, MINE ANGEL [SHALL GO BEFORE THEE] — My messenger, not Myself.

וביום פקדי וגו׳ AND IN THE DAY WHEN I VISIT [I WILL VISIT THEIR SIN UPON THEM] — At present I listen to you and will refrain from consuming them all at once — but ever and ever throughout the ages, when I am visiting them for their sins I shall visit them at the same time for a little of this sin in addition to their other sins for which I am then punishing them. Indeed no punishment ever comes upon Israel in which there is not part payment for the sin of the golden calf (cf. Sanhedrin 102a).

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.

AND NOW GO, LEAD THE PEOPLE. [G-d is saying here:] “Since I have repented from destroying them, lead them unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee — to the place of the Amorite, the Canaanite, etc.” However, He did not want to mention this expressly, for this was said in a manner of anger, as if to say: “What I have said to you, I shall do in your honor, but I will not forgive them their sin, for in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them — I will visit it upon them even after they come to the Land.” This was an allusion to the time of the exile, or to what our Rabbis have said that “No punishment [ever comes upon Israel] in which there is not a small part for the sin of the golden calf.”

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.