What did the Israelites do at the feast before the golden calf in Exodus 32:6?
They rose early, offered burnt offerings, brought peace offerings, then sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. The Hebrew phrase 'rose up to play' refers to lascivious, seductive dances tied to pagan idolatrous worship, expressing abject immorality.
Les explains that the Israelites were not worshiping Jehovah but a pagan, idolatrous god. In Exodus 32:6 they rose up early, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. Then the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play. Les teaches that the Hebrew word rendered 'rose up to play' meant they were naked and put on seductive, lascivious dances. Paganism and idolatry, he notes, were always steeped in abject immorality, and that immorality was part of their worship. They brought this right out of Egypt, made the golden calf, and went down into that lower level of human depravity.
And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
More Questions
What did the Israelites actually do in front of the golden calf?
With the calf set in the center of the camp, Israel sat down to eat and rose up to play, so what they did was simply a practice of the satisfaction of the flesh.
Where did the Israelites get the immoral worship practices they used at the golden calf?
The Israelites carried this immoral pagan worship practice right out of Egypt, and in making the golden calf they descended into that lower level of human depravity.
What was the Israelite worship of the golden calf really about?
With the calf at the center of the camp, the people sat down to eat and rose up to play, so that what they did was simply a practice of the satisfaction of the flesh.