Exodus 32:20

Exodus 32:20

And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

a. ASV:  And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

b. YLT: And he taketh the calf which they have made, and burneth it with fire, and grindeth until it is small, and scattereth on the face of the waters, and causeth the sons of Israel to drink.

c. Amplified Bible Classic: And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

d. Septuagint: And having taken the calf which they made, he consumed it with fire, and ground it very small, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel to drink it.

e. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: And he took the calf that they had made and burnt it in fire. He ground it to a fine powder and sprinkled it over the water, he made the Children of Israel drink

1. “And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder…”

a. [And he] took [Strong: 3947  lâqach, law-kakh'; a primitive root; to take (in the widest variety of applications):—accept, bring, buy, carry away, drawn, fetch, get, infold, × many, mingle, place, receive(-ing), reserve, seize, send for, take (away, -ing, up), use, win.]

b. [the] calf [Strong: 5695 ʻêgel, ay-ghel; from the same as H5696; a (male) calf (as frisking round), especially one nearly grown (i.e. a steer):—bullock, calf.]

c. which [Strong: 834 'aher ash-er' a primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number); who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.:--X after, X alike, as (soon as), because, X every, for, + forasmuch, + from whence, + how(-soever), X if, (so) that ((thing) which, wherein), X though, + until, + whatsoever, when, where (+ -as, -in, -of, -on, -soever, -with), which, whilst, + whither(- soever), who(-m, -soever, -se). As it is indeclinable, it is often accompanied by the personal pronoun expletively, used to show the connection.]

d. [they had] made [Strong: 6213 ʻâsâh, aw-saw'; a primitive root; to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application:—accomplish, advance, appoint, apt, be at, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, bruise, be busy, × certainly, have the charge of, commit, deal (with), deck, displease, do, (ready) dress(-ed), (put in) execute(-ion), exercise, fashion, feast, (fight-) ing man, finish, fit, fly, follow, fulfill, furnish, gather, get, go about, govern, grant, great, hinder, hold (a feast), × indeed, be industrious, journey, keep, labour, maintain, make, be meet, observe, be occupied, offer, officer, pare, bring (come) to pass, perform, pracise, prepare, procure, provide, put, requite, ×sacrifice, serve, set, shew, × sin, spend, × surely, take, × thoroughly, trim, × very, vex, be (warr-) ior, work(-man), yield, use.]

e. [and] burnt [it] [Strong: 8313 sâraph, saw-raf'; a primitive root; to be (causatively, set) on fire:—(cause to, make a) burn((-ing), up) kindle, × utterly.]

f. [in the] fire [Strong: 784 ʼêsh, aysh; a primitive word; fire (literally or figuratively):—burning, fiery, fire, flaming, hot.]

g. [and] ground it [Strong: 2912 ṭâchan, taw-khan'; a primitive root; to grind meal; hence, to be a concubine (that being their employment):—grind(-er).]

h. to [Strong: 5704  `ad ad properly, the same as 5703 (used as a preposition, adverb or conjunction; especially with a preposition); as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with):--against, and, as, at, before, by (that), even (to), for(-asmuch as), (hither-)to, + how long, into, as long (much) as, (so) that, till, toward, until, when, while, (+ as) yet.]

i. powder [Strong: 1854 dâqaq, daw-kak'; a primitive root (compare H1915); to crush (or intransitively) crumble:—beat in pieces (small), bruise, make dust, (into) × powder, (be, very) small, stamp (small).]

2. “...and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.”

a. [and] strawed [it] [Strong: 2219 zârâh, zaw-raw'; a primitive root (compare H2114); to toss about; by implication, to diffuse, winnow:—cast away, compass, disperse, fan, scatter (away), spread, strew, winnow.]

b. upon [Strong: 5921 zârâh, zaw-raw'; a primitive root (compare H2114); to toss about; by implication, to diffuse, winnow:—cast away, compass, disperse, fan, scatter (away), spread, strew, winnow.]

c. [Strong: 6440 pânîym, paw-neem'; plural (but always as singular) of an unused noun פָּנֶה pâneh; from H6437); the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.):— accept, a-(be-) fore(-time), against, anger, × as (long as), at, battle, because (of), beseech, countenance, edge, employ, endure, enquire, face, favour, fear of, for, forefront(-part), form(-er time, -ward), from, front, heaviness, × him(-self), honourable, impudent, in, it, look(-eth) (-s), × me, meet, × more than, mouth, of, off, (of) old (time), × on, open, out of, over against, the partial, person, please, presence, prospect, was purposed, by reason of, regard, right forth, serve, × shewbread, sight, state, straight, street, × thee, × them(-selves), through ( -out), till, time(-s) past, (un-) to(-ward), upon, upside ( down), with(-in, -stand), × ye, × you.]

d. [the] water [Strong: 4325 mayim, mah'-yim; dual of a primitive noun (but used in a singular sense); water; figuratively, juice; by euphemism, urine, semen:— piss, wasting, water(-ing, (-course, -flood, -spring)).]

e. [and made the] children [Strong: 1121 bên, bane; from H1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.):—afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-) ite, (anoint-) ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-) ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, × came up in, child, colt, × common, × corn, daughter, × of first, firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, × in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, +mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, rebel, + robber, × servant born, × soldier, son, +spark, steward, + stranger, × surely, them of, + tumultuous one, valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.]

f. [of] Israel [Strong: 3478 Yisrâʼêl, yis-raw-ale'; from H8280 and H410; he will rule as God; Jisraël, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity:—Israel.]

g. [to] drink [of it] [Strong: 8248 shâqâh, shaw-kaw'; a primitive root; to quaff, i.e. (causatively) to irrigate or furnish a potion to:—cause to (give, give to, let, make to) drink, drown, moisten, water.]

1). How many museums would pay good money to purchase the real golden calf if it was attainable? It’s impossible of course because its gone, but if they COULD purchase it, what do you think they would pay? I surmise they would give quite a sum of money. I am not declaring that we should avoid museums, I love going to museums and viewing things from history, whether it be Roman, Syrian, Egyptian Israelite whatever the culture, but I look at these things through spiritual eyes.  Getting back to the golden calf, we have the difference of God’s attitude about one particular idol and man’s attitude. This idol influenced a bunch of Israelites to sin against God, so much so that three thousand men were put to death (Genesis 32:28). This idol was ground to powder and put in their water and they were forced to drink it. I’m sure it did not taste good but the fact they had to drink water flavored with something that caused the death of 3 thousand men got the point across.