פירוש על שמות 32:22

כי ברע הוא [THOU KNOWEST THE PEOPLE] THAT THEY ARE SET ON EVIL — They always go on the wrong way and with temptations, before the Omnipresent.

THOU KNOWEST THE PEOPLE, THAT THEY ARE SET ON EVIL. Aaron is saying: “They proceeded along the path of evil. They told me to make them a guide in the place of my lord until he returns to me, for perhaps he will return, and then they gave me the gold and I cast it into the fire³⁶⁷Verse 24. and behold there came out this calf for them, for they had an evil intention as to the gold, [and wanted] to worship it and sacrifice to it.” But because Aaron did not want to speak at length about their corruption, he spoke briefly and said, and there came out this calf,³⁶⁷Verse 24. meaning, “there came out for them this evil matter that my lord sees.”

כי ברע הוא. They were already so deeply involved in the sin, having been used to the idolatry they had been addicted to in the hundreds of years in Egypt.