Exodus 32:4

And he took them from their hands, and bound them in a wrapper, and wrought it with a tool, having made a molten calf; and he said, These, Israel, are thy gods, which brought thee forth from the land of Mizraim.

AND THEY SAID, THESE ARE THY GODS, O ISRAEL, WHICH BROUGHT THEE UP OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT. This verse also will teach you [that they had no intention of worshipping it as an idol], for there is no fool in the world who would think that this gold which was in their ears is that which brought them up out of the land of Egypt. Rather, they said that the power of that figure brought them up out of there. Thus you will find that in no place does it say of the calf, “which brought us ‘out’ of Egypt,” for they acknowledged Him Who said, I am the Eternal thy G-d, who brought thee ‘out’ of the land of Egypt, and that it was by His Great Name that He delivered them from there. Instead, they said in many places who brought thee ‘up,’ for they took it to be in place of the great hand, 14:31. — that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over. It is with this intention that Scripture says, Thus they exchanged their Glory for the likeness of an ox that eateth grass, and there it is said, They forgot G-d Who had delivered them, Who had done great things in Egypt; wondrous works in the land of Ham, terrible things by the Red Sea., Verses 21-22. They forgot His word which He commanded them. Thus they transgressed the prohibition, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, as I have hinted there, and you will understand this.

ויצר אותו בחרט. Aaron took the gold from someone else, tied it all together in a cloth where he squeezed it together until they made a mould such as used to shape wax or soft clay. The makers of the mould recessed the shape of a calf in the bottom of the mould. Afterwards, the gold was thrown into this mould. Once it had melted in the crucible into which the mould was placed, the gold had assumed the shape of a calf when retrieved from the crucible after it had cooled. (verse 24) A similar procedure is described in Kings II 5,23 [this interpretation of that verse by our author is most unusual. Ed.]

אלה אלוהיך ישראל, these will serve henceforth as your elohim, for you to address in your prayers for all your needs; you will serve them in order to obtain your needs.

ויצר אותו, “he fashioned it with a graving tool.” He kept experimenting with different shapes, hoping all the time that Moses would come back. Everything he did was motivated by an attempt to preserve the glory of the Lord. This is clearly hinted at in the remarks of the last of the prophets, Malachi, who in Malachi 2,7 refers to Aaron in the following words: כי שפתי כהן ישמרו דעת ותורה יבקשו מפיהו כי מלאך ה' צבא-ות הוא, “for the lips of the priest guard knowledge, and men seek rulings from his mouth, for he is a Messenger of the Lord of Hosts.” It is also written there in verse 6: ורבים השיב מעון, “and he prevented many from becoming guilty of trespasses." [At the beginning of that chapter the prophet had referred to the person he was describing as the model Levite, clearly none other than Aaron who was appointed High priest seven months after the episode described in our portion. Ed.] If the Israelites had killed Aaron there would have been no possible way for them to become rehabilitated as they would have been guilty of what is described in Lamentations 2,20: אם יהרג במקדש כהן ונביא, ”alas priest and prophet are slain in the Sanctuary of the Lord.”