Tag Archives: Exodus

Here, Aaron’s steadfastness wavers in the absence of Moses, who is atop Mount Sinai, communing with God and receiving the Ten Commandments. Faced with the impatience and uncertainty of the Israelites, Aaron succumbs to their demands. They beseech him to fashion a god to lead them, and Aaron, inexplicably, obliges. He instructs them to contribute their gold earrings, which he molds into a calf-like idol. The people, in their eagerness, proclaim, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” The contrast between Aaron’s roles in Exodus 24 and Exodus 32 is striking.