Exodus 32:21-24

AARON'S EXCUSES

"And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought a great sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on evil. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off: so they gave it me; and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf"

Aaron's excuses recorded here did him no honor. He would have blamed the people instead of himself, even implying that he did not actually intend to make an idol, suggesting that he was merely playing in the fire, and out walked that calf! Nevertheless, Moses squarely charged him with having brought a great sin upon the people. Furthermore, "We learn from Deuteronomy 9:20 that Aaron's abetting of the people's sin evoked the severe displeasure of God, and that his life was only spared on the intercession of Moses."[17] As noted above, in the exceedingly unfavorable light in which Aaron appears here, we have the proof of the impossibility of such an effective downgrading of one of Israel's national heroes having been accomplished at a much later date. Only the full and unequivocal truth of this historical event can account for its having been recorded here by Moses, his own brother!