Exodus 32

Exodus 32:1

Ephrem the Syrian: For he was of the sons of Israel, whom terrible signs accompanied up to the sea, that they might fear; and blessed miracles surrounded in the waste desert, that they might be reconciled; but through lack of faith, for a slight cause, they rejected them, saying: As for this Moses who brought us up, we know not what has become of him. For they ceased to regard the mighty works that had been surrounding them. They perceived that Moses was not near them; so that for this cause that had come near, they drew near to the heathenism of Egypt. For Moses was for a little removed from before them, that the calf that was before them might appear, that they might worship it openly also; for they had been secretly worshipping it in their hearts. But when their heathenism from being inward became open, then Moses also from being hidden openly appeared; that he might openly punish those whose heathenism had revelled beneath the holy cloud which had overshadowed them. But God removed the Shepherd of the flock from it for forty days, that the flock might show that its trust was fixed upon the calf. While God was feeding the flock with all delights, it chose for itself as its Shepherd the calf, which was not able even to eat. Moses who kept them in awe was removed from them, that the idolatry might cry aloud in their mouths, which the restraint of Moses had kept down in their hearts. For they cried: Make us gods, to go before us. — Homily - On Our Lord

Exodus 32:4

Philoxenus of Mabbug: Now this is the first lust which conquered the world, and because of it the first transgression of the law took place. It destroyed the people in the wilderness by penalties of all kinds; from the table of lust they rose up and worshipped a dead calf. Incited thereby they were ungrateful for all the acts of grace which had been shewn unto them. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 – On Abstinence

Exodus 32:6

Ambrose of Milan: But he who has engulfed and plunged himself in such wallowing places, falls also into the snare of unbelief; for the people sat down to eat and to drink, and required that gods should be made for them. Hereby the Lord teaches us that he who gives up his soul to these two kinds of vices, is stript of the garment, not of a woollen vest, but of living virtue; that clothing which is not temporal but eternal. — Letter 58.16

Clement of Alexandria: Of old, the Word educated through Moses and after that through the prophets; even Moses was in fact a prophet. For the law was the education of children difficult to control. “Having eaten their fill,” Scripture says, “they got up to play,” using a Greek word which means not food but cattle fodder, because of their irrational gorging.And since they were continually filling themselves without obeying reason and playing without listening to reason, the law and fear followed them to restrain them from sin and to encourage them to reform themselves. — The Instructor Book 1

Gregory the Dialogist: But it must be carefully noted what it means that the rich man placed in the fire asks for his tongue to be cooled. For it is the custom of sacred Scripture sometimes to say one thing, but to indicate another by that same saying. Now above the Lord had described this proud rich man not as given to talkativeness, but as feasting excessively. And He did not narrate that he sinned by talkativeness, but that he sinned by pride and greed through gluttony. But because talkativeness usually abounds at feasts, he who is said to have feasted wickedly here is reported to burn more grievously in his tongue in hell. For the sin of talkativeness first serves those who feast wickedly, and after talkativeness the levity of jesting also follows. For that jesting follows gluttony, sacred Scripture testifies, which says: “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” But before the body is moved to play, the tongue is moved to jokes and empty words. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 40

Philoxenus of Mabbug: And together with the testimony of the Word we may also see from the fact itself how they came to offer praises before the calf in the wilderness, “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play;” until food had entered in blasphemies did not go forth, and until wine had been poured into them they were not clothed with the fornication which is against God. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 10 – On Gluttony

Philoxenus of Mabbug: Now this is the first lust which conquered the world, and because of it the first transgression of the law took place. It destroyed the people in the wilderness by penalties of all kinds; from the table of lust they rose up and worshipped a dead calf. Incited thereby they were ungrateful for all the acts of grace which had been shewn unto them. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 – On Abstinence

Exodus 32:7

Jerome: [Daniel 9:24-27] “‘Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished, and everlasting justice may be brought to bear, and that the vision and prophecy may be fulfilled that the Holy One of the saints may be anointed. Know therefore and take note that from the going forth of the word to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ the prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, and the street shall be built again, and the walls, in distressing times. And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain, and (the people that shall deny Him) shall not be His. And a people, with their leader that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end thereof shall be devastation, and after the end of the war there shall be the appointed desolation. And he shall confirm the covenant with many in one week; and in the middle of the week both victim and sacrifice shall fail. And there shall be in the Temple the abomination of desolation, and the desolation shall continue even unto the consummation and the end.’” Because the prophet had said, “Thou didst lead forth Thy people, and Thy name was pronounced upon Thy city and upon Thy people,” Gabriel therefore, as the mouthpiece of God, says by implication: “By no means are they God’s people, but only thy people; nor is Jerusalem the holy city of God, but it is only a holy city unto thee, as thou sayest.” This is similar to what we read in Exodus also, when God says to Moses, “Descend, for thy people have committed sin” (Exodus 32:7). That is to say, they are not My people, for they have forsaken Me. And so, because thou dost supplicate for Jerusalem and prayest for the people of the Jews, hearken unto that which shall befall thy people in seventy weeks of years, and those things which will happen to thy city… — Commentary on Daniel

Origen of Alexandria: Therefore just as the people are God’s when they do not sin but are no longer said to be his when they sin, so also the feats are the feats of sinners when they are hated by the Lord’s soul, but when they are ordained by the Lord, they are called the Lord’s. — COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF John 10.80

Exodus 32:9

Cassiodorus: So these sinners undergo a contrary experience: their necks which they fatally raised against the Lord are subjected to his sweet yoke with the humility which brings salvation. We recall that this often befell persecutors, so that having earlier maintained their idols by the most sacrilegious compulsion, they became proclaimers of our most holy religion. — EXPOSITION OF THE Psalms 128:4

Exodus 32:10

Augustine of Hippo: And in case you should suppose that he acted like this more from necessity than from charity, God actually offered him another people: “And I will make you,” he said, “into a great nation,” so leaving himself free to eliminate those others. But Moses wouldn’t accept this: he sticks to the sinners; he prays for the sinners. And how does he pray? This is a wonderful proof of his love, brothers and sisters. How does he pray? Notice something I’ve often spoken of, how his love is almost that of a mother. When God threatened that sacrilegious people, Moses’ maternal instincts were roused, and on their behalf he stood up to the anger of God. “Lord,” he said, “if you will forgive them this sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out from the book you have written.” What sure maternal and paternal instincts, how sure his reliance, as he said this, on the justice and mercy of God! He knew that because he is just he wouldn’t destroy a just man, and because he is merciful he would pardon sinners. — SERMON 88.24

Ephrem the Syrian: When he wished that [the fig tree] be uprooted, the event was similar to that earlier one, when the Father said to Moses, “Permit me to destroy the people.” He [thus] gave him a reason to intercede with him. Here too he showed the vinedresser that he wished to uproot it. The vinedresser made known his plea, and the merciful one showed his pity, that if, in a further year, [the fig tree] did not yield fruit, it would be uprooted. — COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 14:27

Jerome: On another occasion God said to Moses, “Let me alone … that I may consume this people,” showing by the words “let me alone” that he can be withheld from doing what he threatens. The prayers of his servant hindered his power. Who, think you, is there now under heaven able to stay God’s wrath, to face the flame of his judgment and to say with the apostle, “I could wish that I myself were accursed for my brethren”? — LETTER 128.4

Jerome: Moses resisted God and prevented him from destroying his people when God said to him: “Let me alone, that I may strike this people.” Just see the power of Moses! What does God say to him? Let me alone; you are compelling me, your prayers, as it were, restrain me; your prayers hold back my hand. I shoot an arrow; I hurl a javelin; and your prayers are the shield of the people. Let me alone that I might strike down this people. Along with this, consider the compassionate kindness of God. When he says, “Let me alone,” he shows that if Moses will continue to importune him, he will not strike. If you, too, will not let me alone, I shall not strike; let me alone, and I shall strike. In other words, what does he say? Do not cease your persistent entreaty, and I shall not strike. — HOMILIES ON THE Psalms 26

Exodus 32:12

Cassiodorus: By his very love and charm he begs the Lord to temper his justice with a little gentleness, so that he can be prevailed upon by those sinners with whom he was known to be justly angry. But we must notice that he did not say, “Change your ways wholly” but “Change your ways a little,” for this is more profitable to us when some lash of tribulation afflicts us. Often when admonished we can gain pardon for our sins by a most wholesome conversion. — EXPOSITION OF THE Psalms 89:13

Exodus 32:14

Augustine of Hippo: Though we sometimes hear the expression “God changed his mind” or even read in the figurative language of Scripture that “God repented,” we interpret these sayings not in reference to the decisions determined on by almighty God but in reference to the expectations of man or to the order of natural causes. — City of God 14.11

Augustine of Hippo: And the Lord gave up doing the evil he had said he was going to do to his people. The evil here means the pain, as in that passage: And his death was considered as a wrong (Sab 3,2). According to this interpretation, it is said that both good and evil come from God (Cf Si 11,14), but not referring to the malice through which men are evil. Because God is not evil, but he punishes the wicked with evils, because it is just. — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 143 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Exodus 32:15

Augustine of Hippo: For if we should designate a number which signifies the law, what will it be except ten? For indeed we hold it as most certain that the Decalogue of the law, that is, those very well known ten commandments, were first written by the finger of God on two stone tablets. But the law, when grace gives no aid, makes transgressors and exists only in the letter. For because of this especially the apostle says, “The letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” Therefore let the spirit be added to the letter so that the letter may not kill him to whom the spirit does not give life, but that we may practice the commandments, not by our own strength but by the gift of the Savior. — TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF John 122.8

Exodus 32:19

John Chrysostom: And Moses broke their tablet, having written for them, as it were, certain words; just as a schoolmaster would do, who having taken up the writing tablet, and found it badly written, throws away the tablet itself, desiring to show great anger; and if he have broken it, the father is not angry. For he indeed was busy writing, but they not attending to him, but turning themselves other ways, were committing disorder. And as in school, they strike each other, so also, on that occasion, he bade them strike and slay each other. — HOMILIES ON Colossians 4

Augustine of Hippo: Moses, angry, seems to have thrown to the ground and smashed the tablets of the covenant written by the finger of God. In spite of everything, the renewal of the covenant is represented with great mystery, because the Old Testament was to be abolished and the New established. It should be noted, however, how much he tried to intercede for the people before God who was so severe in punishing them. I have already stated elsewhere, in the work against the Manichaean Faustus, what I think it means that Moses reduced the molten calf to dust, throwing it into the fire and scattering the dust in the water (Cf Exodus 32,20), which he then gave to drink. village. 145 (Exodus 32.24). And they gave it to me, and I put it on the fire and this calf came out. Aaron makes a very brief summary, and does not say what he had done to get the molten calf out. Or has he lied, apologizing for fear, as if he had thrown the gold to perish in the fire and without it pretending it came out the shape of a calf? It is not credible that he said this inside, precisely because Moses could not hide what was inside the man with whom God spoke, and Moses does not accuse his brother of being a liar. 146 (Exodus 32.25). And Moses saw that the people were unrestrained, because Aaron had unbridled them to make their adversaries happy. It is necessary to notice how all the evil that the people did is attributed to Aaron, who agreed with them to do what they had impiously asked. The Scripture says rather that Aaron rampaged them, for giving in to their demands, and not that they would rampage themselves for having asked such a great evil. — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 144 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Exodus 32:20

Ambrose of Milan: Moses ground the head of the golden calf to powder, and cast it into water, and made the people drink of it; for their heart was hardened by the greatness of their perfidy, and he did thus that it might be softened and made refined by faith. Lastly, that woman who grinds meal well and fine shall be taken, but she who grinds ill shall be left. — Letter 64.3

Augustine of Hippo: Therefore perhaps that calf, being ground to powder, was cast into the water and given to the children of Israel to drink, that so the body of ungodliness might be swallowed up by Israel. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 35:26

Augustine of Hippo: For Moses ground down the calf’s head, and sprinkled it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink it. All the unbelieving are ground: they believe by degrees; and they are drunk by the people of God and pass into Christ’s body. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 89:23

Ephrem the Syrian: For Moses ground to powder the calf and caused them to drink it in the water of ordeal; that by drinking of the calf all those who were living for its worship might die. For the sons of Levi ran upon them, those who ran to help Moses and girded on their swords. For the sons of Levi did not know whom they should slay, because those that worshipped were mingled with those that worshipped not. But He, for Whom it was easy to distinguish, distinguished those who were defiled from those who were not defiled; so that the innocent might give thanks that their innocence had not passed unseen by the Just One; and the guilty might be convicted that their offence had not escaped the eye of the Judge. But the sons of Levi were the open avengers. Accordingly Moses set a mark upon the offenders, that it might be easy for the avengers to avenge. For the draught of the calf entered those in whom the love of the calf was dwelling, and displayed in them a manifest sign, that the drawn sword might rush upon them. — Homily - On Our Lord

Exodus 32:26

Augustine of Hippo: As the Scripture says before Aaron rampaged the people, we can rightly ask why no punishment is applied to him, nor when Moses commanded to kill everyone who found the Levites when going from door to door armed by the camp, nor when later what the Scripture says happened: And the Lord punished the people for the making of the calf that Aaron did (Exodus 32,35), especially considering that here the same thing is emphasized, repeating the same idea. Indeed, the Scripture does not say: And the Lord punished the people for the making of the calf which they had made, but Aaron did. And yet, Aaron is not punished. Moreover, what God had ordained about his priesthood before committing that sin was fulfilled. But God commanded that he and his children wash themselves. And in this way they received priestly ordination. God knows who he forgives until he changes for the better, and also knows who he forgives temporarily, even though he knows in advance that he is not going to change for the better, and he also knows who does not forgive, so that he can change for the better, and knows who does not forgive so he does not even wait for his change. And all this comes from what the Apostle says with admiration: How unsearchable are his judgments and searchable his ways! 149 (Exodus 33.1). Come on, come up from here, you and your people, that you brought from the land to Egypt. God, angry, seems to say: You and your people, that you took. Because, otherwise, he would have said: You and my people that I brought from the land to Egypt. They, when they asked for the idol, said: Well, to Moses, this man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what happened to him. (Exodus 32,1.23) They had failed to entrust their release to a man. God replies to them: You and your people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt, which is a matter of reprobation for them, not for Moses. For Moses did not intend anything other than to place his hope in the Lord, not in him, and to believe that they had been freed from that bondage by the mercy of the Lord, to give him thanks for it. But the merit of Moses before God, as his most faithful servant, was so great by the grace of God, that God said to him: Leave me, and I will destroy them with anger. In relation to this word: Leave me, it seems absurd to think that it is the expression of both the one who commands and the one who begs. Because if God sent him, the servant in his rebellion did not obey, and then it was not convenient for God to ask this to his servant, as if it were a favor, especially considering that God could destroy them, although the servant did not I would want it. Therefore, the meaning that this text has there is clear, since God made it clear with those words that he took great advantage of that people in his presence the fact that he loved them so much, the man whom the Lord loved so much that he warned us in this way, telling us that, when our sins weigh us down to the point that we are not loved by God, we can be represented before him by the merits of those whom God loves. Because when the Almighty says to man: Leave me, and I will destroy you, what else does he say but he would kill them if they were not loved by you? Therefore, the text says: Leave me, as if I wanted to say: Do not love them and I will end them, because your love for them intercedes before me so that it does not. But one would have to obey the Lord if he had said: “do not love them.” If he had said this as a mandate and not simply as an admonition and as a way of expressing that he would be relieved from applying the punishment, he would have to be obeyed. In any case, he did not leave the people without the scourge of punishment, despite the intercession of Moses. I do not know in what way, but God, who expressly terrified them with his voice, loved them in a more mysterious way, so that Moses loved them that way. 150 (Exodus 33.1). God says to Moses: Go on up from here, you and your people, that you brought from the land of Egypt, to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, “I will give it to your descendants.” In saying this, immediately, as if still talking to Moses by a hidden conversion, which in Greek is called apostrophe, he addresses the people already in these terms: At the same time I will send my angel before you and expel the Canaanite, and the Amorite, and to the Hittite, and to the Perizzite, and to the Girgash, and to the Jiveo, and to the Jebusite, and he will take you to a land flowing with milk and honey. I will not go up with you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on the way (Exodus 33,2.3). There is an extraordinary, admirable and profound mystery here, since it seems that the angel could have a greater mercy than the Lord, since the angel would forgive a stiff-necked people; God, if I went with them, I would not forgive them. In spite of everything, although God is somehow absent from them, he, who can not be absent anywhere, says that he will also fulfill what he swore to his parents through his angel. He seems to want to show here, too, that he does this precisely because he promised it to those righteous fathers, not because these now were worthy. What does it mean but it is not with them just because they are stiff-necked men, since God does not make him more propitious and savior than humility and piety? Well, to say that God is with stiff-necked men is merely to affirm that He is with them to correct and punish them. Therefore, when God is not in that way with the bad, he is forgiving them. And this is confirmed by the text that says: Turn your face away from my sins (Ps. 50,11). Because if you put it aside, it destroys them; for as the wax melts before the fire, so sinners perish before God (Ps. 67,3). — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 148 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Exodus 32:27

Caesarius of Arles: Behold true and perfect charity: he ordered the death of a few people in order to save six hundred thousand, with the women and children excepted. If he had not been aroused with zeal for God to punish a few men, God’s justice would have destroyed them all. — SERMON 40.1

Ephrem the Syrian: For the sons of Levi ran upon them, those who ran to [help] Moses and girded on their swords. For the sons of Levi did not know whom they should slay, because those that worshipped were mingled with those that worshipped not. But He, for Whom it was easy to distinguish, distinguished those who were defiled from those who were not defiled; so that the innocent might give thanks that their innocence had not passed [unseen by] the Just One; and the guilty might be convicted that their offence had not escaped [the eye of] the Judge. But the sons of Levi were the open avengers. Accordingly Moses set a mark upon the offenders, that it might be easy for the avengers to avenge. For the draught of the calf entered those in whom the love of the calf was dwelling, and displayed in them a manifest sign, that the drawn sword might rush upon them. — HOMILY ON OUR LORD 6

Gregory the Dialogist: Let them hear how Moses, when he saw that God was angry with His people, and commanded swords to be taken for executing vengeance, declared those to be on God’s side who should smite the crimes of the offenders without delay, saying, If any man is the Lord’s, let him join himself to me; put every man his sword upon his thigh; go in and out from gate to gate through the midst of the camp, and slay every man his brother and friend and neighbour. For to put sword upon thigh is to set earnestness in preaching before the pleasures of the flesh; so that, when any one is earnest to speak holy words, he must needs have a care to subdue illicit suggestions. But to go from gate to gate is to run to and fro with rebuke from vice to vice, even to every one by which death enters in unto the soul. And to pass through the midst of the camp is to live with such impartiality within the Church that one who reproves the sins of offenders turns aside to shew favour to none. Whence also it is rightly added, slay every man his brother and friend and neighbour. He in truth slays brother and friend and neighbour who, when he finds what is worthy of punishment, spares not even those whom he loves on the score of relationship from the sword of his rebuke. If, then, he is said to be God’s who is stirred up by the zeal of divine love to smite vices, he surely denies himself to be God’s who refuses to rebuke the life of the carnal to the utmost of his power. — The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 25

Exodus 32:28

Philoxenus of Mabbug: And that He might increase in them this fear, immediately, by the mouth of offence, the rod of His chastisement was revealed, and after the offence the Chastiser gave them no respite, because their servitude was not worthy of His longsuffering. Above their head the rod of justice hung continually, and immediately they committed sin they were chastened, and at the time of their offence they were beaten, and at the entrance of the path of their sins they forthwith received rebuke; for longsuffering teacheth the foolish servant contempt, and in order that that stupid nation, which in the manner of an evil-doing servant, sat in the house of God, might not [learn] contempt, the Chastiser took away longsuffering, especially when they went forth from Egypt. And we must also understand the object of that swift punishment in another way, and that there was not longsuffering as regardeth the correction of their sins; for God the Teacher took the people, like a child, from Egypt their nurse, that He might deliver unto them the doctrine of His knowledge, and might teach them the instruction of His wisdom. But the people, in their ignorance, when instruction had been delivered unto them, forgot it, and they never kept in remembrance the meditation of the commandments of God, and they were frequently punished with severity, so that, if it were only through fear of chastisement, they might lay hold upon the remembrance of instruction. The man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath day was stoned by all the congregation; and the earth opened and swallowed up others who were called by Moses, and who scorned him and came not; and fire went forth suddenly, and burnt up the bodies of others who thought lightly of his priestly office, and who sought honour for themselves; and others, who in the guise of paying honour, brought strange fire out of season, were burnt up by a tongue of fire which went forth from the tabernacle, and they perished; and others, because they asked for flesh and rejected the bread of angels, were tortured by the indigestion which came upon them; and others who went astray as concerning the calf, were pierced through by the swords of the Levites; and others, who were the cause of the revolt at the waters of trial were set apart for destruction; and others who murmured against the Lord perished by fiendish snakes; and likewise they all, because they strove against going into the land of promise, came to an end and were destroyed in the wilderness. To these offences, then, these punishments were united, and together with each act of wickedness a punishment straightway sprang up by its side, so that evil deeds might be suppressed by stripes, and sins by vengeance, and so that the people might be like a child who feareth the teacher who giveth him instruction, and that it might tremble before the Judge who would beat them like a wrongdoing slave. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 7 – Second Discourse on the Fear of God

Exodus 32:29

Gregory the Dialogist: It is therefore to be well weighed, when there is rest from chiding, how culpably peace is kept with the worst of men, if so great a prophet offered this as a sacrifice to God, that he excited the enmities of the wicked against himself for the Lord. Hence it is that the tribe of Levi, when they took their swords and passed through the midst of the camp because they would not spare the sinners who were to be smitten, are said to have consecrated their hands to God. Hence Phinehas, spurning the favour of his fellow-countrymen when they sinned, smote those who came together with the Midianites, and in his wrath appeased the wrath of God. — The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 22

Exodus 32:30

Jerome: By a threefold confession Peter blotted out his threefold denial. If Aaron committed sacrilege by fashioning molten gold into the head of a calf, his brother’s prayers made amends for his transgressions. If holy David, meekest of men, committed the double sin of murder and adultery, he atoned for it by a fast of seven days. — LETTER 77.4

Exodus 32:31

Augustine of Hippo: Moses says to the Lord: «I beg you, Lord; This people has committed a very great sin, because they became gods of gold. And now, if you really forgive their sin, forgive them; but if not, erase me from the book you have written ». In saying this, Moses says it is certain that the reasoning is concluded from what comes next: since God was not going to erase Moses from his book, he should forgive the people that sin. However, we must highlight the seriousness of the evil that Moses had seen in that sin, because he had thought that it could only be expiated with such a great punishment. Because he, who loved them so much, had said such things to God in their favor. — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 147 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Exodus 32:32

Ambrose of Milan: What reproaches Moses had to bear from his people! But when the Lord would have avenged him on those who reviled him, he often used to offer himself for the people that he might save them from the divine anger. What gentle words he used to address the people, even after he was wronged! He comforted them in their labors, consoled them by his prophetic declarations of the future and encouraged them by his works. And though he often spoke with God, yet he was inclined to address men gently and pleasantly. Worthily was he considered to stand above all men. For they could not even look on his face and refused to believe that his sepulcher was found. He had captivated the minds of all the people to such an extent that they loved him even more for his gentleness than they admired him for his deeds. — On the Duties of the Clergy 2.7.31

Ambrose of Milan: The greater the sin, the more worthy must be the prayers that are sought. For it was not any one of the common people who prayed for the Jewish people, but Moses, when forgetful of their covenant they worshiped the head of a calf. Was Moses wrong? Certainly he was not wrong in praying, who both merited and obtained that for which he asked. For what should such love not obtain as that of his when he offered himself for the people and said, “And now, if you will forgive their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of the book of life.” We see that he does not think of himself, like a man full of fancies and scruples, whether he may incur the risk of some offense, as Novatian says he dreads that he might. But rather, thinking of all and forgetful of himself, he was not afraid lest he should offend, so that he might rescue and free the people from danger and offense. — Concerning Repentance 1.9.42

Cassiodorus: What a holy man, most worthy of all praise! When he came down from Mt. Sinai to the camp and saw the people exultantly and sacrilegiously posturing before the idol, he was roused to anger, broke the tablets in front of them and ordered one or other of them to be slain by the sword. But when comprehensive disaster loomed, he prayed that he himself should be destroyed rather than that the entire nation should perish. Both attitudes were devoted and splendid. Moses was right to converse with the divine clemency, for he loved to carry out its decrees. At the same time that power is revealed by which we often escape the punishment of deserved death through the prayers of the saints. Not that anyone can change the Lord’s dispositions, but [we] must realize that the outcome is foreknown by him. — EXPOSITION OF THE Psalms 105:23

Jerome: He sought to imitate the shepherd who would, he knew, carry on his shoulders even the wandering sheep. “The good shepherd”—these are the Lord’s own words—“lays down his life for the sheep.” One of his disciples can wish to be anathema from Christ for his brothers’ sake, his kinsmen according to the flesh who were Israelites. If then Paul can desire to perish that the lost may not be lost, how much should good parents not provoke their children to wrath or by too great severity embitter those who are naturally mild. — LETTER 82.3

John Chrysostom: And being well skilled in the divine laws, he will say to him as Moses said to God, “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin;—and if not, slay me together with them.” For such are the bowels of the saints, that they think death with their children sweeter than life without them. He will also make the special season his advocate and shelter himself behind the sacred festival of the Passover; and will remind the Emperor of the season when Christ remitted the sins of the whole world. He will exhort him to imitate his Lord. — HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 3.2

Exodus 32:34

Clement of Alexandria: In this passage, he teaches him the art of educating. And well he might, for it was through Moses, in fact, that the Lord of the ancient people was the educator of his children. It is in his own person, however, face to face, that he is the guide of the new people. — The Instructor Book 1

Exodus 32:35

Salvian the Presbyter: Thus is it written: “The Lord therefore struck the people for their guilt on the occasion of the calf which Aaron had made.” What greater and more manifest judgment could God have made regarding sinners than that punishment immediately follow their sins? Yet, since all were guilty, why was not condemnation visited on all? Because the good Lord struck some with the swords of his sentence in order to correct others by example and to prove to all at the same time, his judgment by correcting, his love by pardoning. When he punished, he judged; when he pardoned, he loved. His judgment and love were unequal: his love was more evident than was his severity. — THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 1.11.48