Moses was angry and bitterly disappointed. He had been on the heights of Mount Horeb for many days, communing directly with God. When he returned to the people with the "two tables of the testimony, or law, in his hands, he found the children of Israel worshiping the golden calf they had made for themselves. Moses was so angry that he smashed the tables of stone, burned the golden calf in the fire, and severely chastised the people for their infidelity to the one God.
We have probably all felt a certain sympathy for Moses. We know what it can feel like, even in far less crucial situations, to have gained some illumination in prayer and communion with God, divine Mind, only to feel cast down by facing total lack of response by others to our inspiration. We may find the general materialism of the age too often pressing on our sensibilities and easily turning our mountaintop experiences into occasions of despair. Our own failure to maintain consistent spiritual inspiration, and what we perceive as other people s shortcomings, may seem so real to us at times that we are liable to react in anger and frustration and lose our spiritual standpoint. At such moments we wonder if we will ever reach a height of inspiration again, so that we can really do our part toward healing the idolatry of worshiping other than God, divine Principle, Love.
But the Bible is reassuring on this point. We read in Exodus that the Hebrew leader hews two more stone tablets and retraces his steps up the mountain to listen anew to God's message. This time God reveals Himself to Moses as "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." Ex. 34:6. In humility Moses asks forgiveness for his own and his people's sins. He learns the requisite patience, love, and humility that enable him to lead the Hebrew people out of their slavery and toward the Promised Land.
