Nehemiah 9:18

Neh 9:18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This [is] thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

Ver. 18. Yea, when they had made them a golden calf] An ounce whereof the Jews say is still to this day in all the punishments that befall them; though some of their Rabbis have the face to excuse this gross idolatry of their forefathers, Neh 9:18, εμοσχοποιησαν, Vitulificarunt (Piscat.).

And said, This is thy God] Exo 32:4. These be thy gods. It was the serpent’s grammar that first taught men to decline God in the plural number: Ye shall be as Gods, Gen 3:5

That brought thee up out of Egypt] Some of them, then, did mean to worship the true God, in this false manner; hence Exo 32:5, there is proclaimed a feast (not to the golden calf, but) to Jehovah. Here, then, falls to the ground the Papists’ plea for their image worship.

And had wrought great provocations] Or, blasphemies, 2Ki 19:3. Idolatry is no better. Jerome, as oft as be meeteth with this Hebrew word in the Book of Psalms (and that is five several times), he translateth it, to blaspheme.

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.

Neh_9:18

Thou careen down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven.

Go by the directions

I saw a picture once which has stuck to my memory for years and years. It was a picture of a dark, wild, stormy night, and a traveller was standing up in the stirrups of his horse at a parting of the way, trying to read the directions on the finger-post. How eagerly he is looking! I can see him yet-holding the lighted match carefully in his hands lest the wind should blow it out before he had read the directions I It was a good thing for him that there were directions, and it is a good thing we have them too. Where are our directions? They are--the Bible. That is Gods Word to us, telling us which road to take when we come to the parting of the way. Go by the directions. Do what God rays, and you will never go wrong. (J. Reid Howatt.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neh 9:18-19. Yea, they made them, a molten calf — This was a very high provocation, considering how little a time before God had expressly commanded them not to make any graven image, and how many cautious he had afterward given them against doing any such thing. Yet thou forsookest them not in the wilderness — Where, if thou hadst left them without thy conduct and support, they would have been utterly undone and lost. The pillar of cloud departed not, &c. — Notwithstanding their great provocations, thou didst still continue thy gracious presence among them, of which the pillar of the cloud was a glorious token.

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

18–20. The Golden Calf and God’s Mercy

18. molten calf … Egypt.] The language is based on Exo_32:4, ‘… made it a molten calf, and they said, These be thy gods (marg. This is thy god), O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’

wrought great provocations] Cf. Neh_9:26. The same word is rendered ‘blasphemies’ in Eze_35:12.

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.

Yea, when they had made them a molten calf,.... In imitation of the Apis, or ox of the Egyptians:

and said, this is thy god that brought thee out of Egypt; or the image of thy god, as the Arabic version, see Exo 32:4,

and had wrought great provocations; of all which nothing was greater than idolatry.

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

CHAPTER IX.

Blasphemies. By attributing the perfections of God to a senseless idol. Protestants follow the Septuagint, "provocations." Neatsoth (Haydock) properly implies words of an insulting nature. (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).

Great provocations. Or "great blasphemies," as the same word is rendered in Eze_35:12.

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

Connecting Statement:

In these verses, the Levites continue to praise Yahweh in the presence of the people of Israel.

you ... did not abandon them

Yahweh did not abandon the Israelites.

cast a calf out of molten metal

melted metal and molded it in the shape of a calf

The pillar of cloud ... the pillar of fire

See how you translated this in Nehemiah 09:12.

translationWords

cow

God

Egypt

blasphemy

compassion

desert

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.