“Make us a god that will walk in front of us. We have no idea what happened to Moshe the man who brought us out of Mitzrayim.” (Shemos 32:1)
The Ramban stresses that they said: “a god that will walk in front of us.” They did not want a new god who had power to give them life — The World to Come or even This World. Rather they wanted someone to fill Moshe’s shoes.
From the time they left Mitzrayim until now they had traveled according to the word of Hashem as He conveyed it through Moshe. And now Moshe is lost. So they wanted to make a new Moshe who could show them where to travel.
The nation was confused and wondering … the sand dunes in the desert were long and continuous…. Who will lead them? The coffin of Moshe was floating in Heaven. A sense of mourning was in their hearts … Everyone was asking: “Who will walk in front of us?”
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