The Worship of the Golden Calf Painting by Nicholas Poussin National Gallery, London
No sooner had Moses received the Ten Commandments from God and was descending from Mount Sinai than he heard the sound of singing and dancing. To his horror he found the Israelites had lost patience with him for staying forty days and nights on the mountain and had decided, with Aaron's help, to make their own god to worship. Aaron had told them to donate their gold earrings and bring them to him to make into an idol of a golden calf and built an altar to sacrifice burnt offerings.
When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. (Exodus 32:19-20)
Moses smashing the stone tablets Painting by Rembrandt Gemaldergallerie, Berlin
Sin Has Consequences
God was angry with his people for their rebellion after he had shown them such incredible grace in saving them from slavery. The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
So Moses went back to the Lord and said,
“Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.(Exodus 32:30-35)