The Golden Calf and the Tablets of the Law

Moses reported these words of God to the people, and set up an altar of twelve stones at the foot of the mountain. Then he went up again onto the mountain where the Lord had taken his stand, bringing with him Aaron, Nadab, and seventy of the elders. They were not able to look upon the Lord; but they did see the place where God stood, whose form is said to have been wonderful, and his splendor glorious. Then Moses, called by God, entered the inner cloud that had gathered around God, and he is said to have remained there forty days and forty nights. During this time he was taught by the words of God about building the tabernacle and the ark, and about the ritual of sacrifice. Since these things were plainly told at great length, I have not thought it right to put them into so short a work as this one. [a]

But because Moses was away a long time, spending forty days in the presence of the Lord, the people gave up hope of his return and forced Aaron to make images. Out of metals melted together there came forth the head of a calf. The people forgot God, offered sacrifices to it, and gave themselves up to eating and drinking. When God saw these things, in his righteous anger he would have destroyed that wicked people, if Moses had not pleaded with him not to. Moses came back, bringing down the two tablets of stone written by the hand of God. When he saw the people given over to luxury and sacrilege, he broke the tablets, judging the nation unworthy to have the law of the Lord delivered to them. Then he called to his side the Levites, who had been assailed with many insults, and ordered them to strike down the people with drawn swords. Twenty-three thousand men are said to have been killed in that attack.

After this Moses set up the tabernacle outside the camp. Whenever he went into it, the pillar of cloud was seen standing at the door, and God spoke with Moses face to face. But when Moses begged to see the Lord in his own majesty, he was told that the form of God could not be seen by mortal eyes; yet he was allowed to see his back. The tablets that Moses had broken earlier were made again, and Moses is said to have stayed forty days with the Lord during this meeting with God. When he came down from the mountain, bringing the tablets with him, his face shone so brightly that the people could not look at him. So it was arranged that when he was to make God’s commands known to them, he covered his face with a veil, and spoke to the people the words of God in that way. In this part of the history an account is given of the tabernacle and the building of its inner parts. When it was finished, the cloud came down from above and so overshadowed the tabernacle that it kept even Moses from going in. These are the main things contained in the two books of Genesis and Exodus.