Exodus 32: 19, 20
...Moses' anger burned and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.
While Moses spent time on the mountain with the Lord, the people gave up on him and had Aaron make an idol out of the gold earrings they gave him, against the Laws they had just agreed to before Moses went back up the mountain.
We again see Moses' anger. He knew that they all deserved death for this gross idolatry, so he allowed himself to throw this temper tantrum and broke the God-inscribed tablets of the Law that the people broke.
But God is long-suffering, so this is what Moses did:
And he took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it.
The Sun shining on the water through the powdered gold would give it the appearance of red blood! So the people all had to drink this blood-looking water, admitting that they deserved to shed their blood for this sin.
God commanded that they never eat or drink the blood of their sacrifices, because the life is in the blood. When someone "shed blood," it meant taking a life. This water wasn't blood, it just looked like blood. Medicine has shown that gold will not harm the human body. God knew this, so that's why He had Moses handle the situation this way.
But now Moses had to carve out two more tablets for God to write on, because the Law cannot be broken, it still stands; we can only break ourselves on it.
O my Father, thank You for Your great patience and mercy and grace upon us. Thank you for Your goodness and kindness and gentleness with me. Thank you for recording all these events, telling us of all these people who lived before us, so that we could learn from their mistakes, and even more, their successes.
Thank You, Father, for showing us Who You are, and for being there for us. You made Moses to be meek, but his temper cost him dearly. Help us to overcome our shortcomings, so we can be more like You, and enjoy Your blessings.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
