"So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain" (Ex. 32:19b).
Moses knew what to expect when he returned to the camp, but upon seeing the idolatrous display before him—the golden calf, the riotous dancing, the giddy singing—he burned with anger to the point that he broke the stone tablets upon which was written the Law of God. During the forty days he had spent in the presence of the Lord, he saw nothing but purity and holiness. This must have been “culture shock” unlike any other. No doubt Moses found himself unprepared for the scene that awaited him, and his reaction was one of violent, passionate anger. This anger seems to have been born, not out of personal displeasure with the sin of the Israelites, but out of a righteous indignation at their dishonor of God.
By breaking the tablets of the Law, hence displaying the broken covenant between God and man, and by burning the calf and making the Israelites drink the bitter water, Moses hoped to impress upon the people the seriousness of their sin. By smashing the tablets, he showed them that they had lost God’s favor. Though God could have had the tables left behind on the mount, he allowed Moses to take them and thus show the people with a visual display what their sin had done. This way they would know what blessings they had lost because of their sin against the Lord. Some people think that Moses sinned in breaking the tables, but it seems to be an act of justice rather than of passion, and we do not find that he speaks of it afterward with any regret or with any need of repentance.
Moses also ground the calf into powder and made the Israelites drink it. This signified to the people that the curse they had brought upon themselves would bring bitterness to their lives—“The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways” (Prov. 14:14a). In this sense, these were the waters of Marah, the waters of the bitterness of sin, of its curses and its dreadful consequences. Israel had incited the anger of God and of Moses. The people had broken the covenant with Jehovah, and they had despised His Word and His promises. Though their sin had brought them pleasure for a moment, it soon turned into bitterness. And so it is with all sin. Though it might seem enjoyable for a season, exciting, irresistible, fulfilling, it is a drink that quickly turns bitter, bringing devastation, ruin and sorrow.
Why is sin so devastating? What about sin causes people to become blind to its bitterness? How does sin deceive people, causing them to think that it will bring happiness and fulfillment? What do you need to do to keep from being deceived by the lust of sin? Read and meditate on Galatians 5:16–26.
