Was Aaron Punished for Making the Golden Calf?
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How many Israelites were left after 3000 perished in Exodus 32:28? Did Aaron receive any punishment for making the golden calf?
Exodus 32:1 says, “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’” Aaron told them to bring their golden jewelry to be melted down and formed into the image of a calf. After he did this, they all said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” The next day Aaron organized a big party to “worship” this golden calf. The worship was composed of “burnt offerings,” “peace offerings,” eating, drinking, and playing.
On the mountain, God informed Moses that this activity was taking place. “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.’” (Exodus 32:7). God sought to destroy them, but Moses interceded for the people and went down from the mountain to confront the problem. He found Aaron and the others singing and dancing. Moses put a stop to this sinful activity. He took the calf and had it burned with fire. He then ground up the remnants and scattered it on the drinking water. Was Aaron punished? Moses made Aaron and the others drink the water as a punishment for their sin. So, yes, Aaron was punished for this sin.
There was another group, however, that did not cease in their sinful activities. The Bible describes these people as being “unrestrained.” The King James Version says, “naked,” but the correct translation is unrestrained. In other words, they had not ceased from committing the sin of idolatry and all the other sins that went along with it. For those who did not cease from engaging in this behavior, Moses commanded the Levites to kill them. Exodus 32:28 says that 3000 men died as a result. Verse 35 records that a plague was also send upon the people as punishment for the sin of idolatry.
The questioner asks how many Israelites were remaining after this. Part of the answer is found in Numbers 1:45-46 which says, “So all who were numbered of the children of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel— all who were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty” (603,550). This number did not include the Levites, the women, or the children. Some estimate that there were between 1.5 and 2 million Israelites including everyone. So, there were many people left after this incident. By the end of the book of Numbers, there are roughly the same amount of people. The number recorded in Numbers 26:51 is 601,730. This is just one of many examples in the Bible of God punishing people for their sins. It shows that God takes sin very seriously. The great sin that was committed here was changing God to accommodate the people’s wishes. This is the same sin that Paul discusses in Romans 1:22-23, “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” The pride of humanity is to create everything in our own image, but God is not subject to our desires. He is holy, righteous, and sovereign. He stands above humanity and does not change himself to satisfy our sinful desires. Seeking to change God in such a way is a sin greater than all others, because it denies who God is, and cuts mankind off from having a relationship with the one true and living God. We should look at examples like this in the Old Testament and fear offending God. Exodus 32:33 says, “And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.”