1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, "Up, make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."
2 And Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."
3 So all the people took off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten calf; and they said, "Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
The people are ideas. The ideas of materialism, gold and erotic passions, represented here by the golden calf have not yet been completely transmuted or lifted up into spirituality. Once again Aaron or the intellect listens to the desires of the body. The path to Spiritual Illumination is not necessarily a straight one. Often times there are slips backward and it is these slips that we are warned against over and over.
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to YHVH."
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
7 And YHVH said to Moses, "Go down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves;
8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"
9 And YHVH said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people;
10 now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation."
11 But Moses besought YHVH, his gods, and said, "O YHVH, why does thy wrath burn hot against thy people, whom thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
In one sense, this passage tells us that the sincere prayer of the soul can intercede somewhat with the Law. In other words, the Law is merciful. However the Law is not set aside, for the people are still punished, but not so harshly. In another sense, the student has asked for a second chance and, if sincere, he will get it.
12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thine own self, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.'"
14 And YHVH repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mountain with the two tables of the testimony in his hands, tables that were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the work of gods, and the writing was the writing of gods, graven upon the tables.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."
18 But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear."
Worshiping the golden calf has come to symbolize honoring material wealth above the spiritual. In this sense we can understand Moses' anger. There is always a price to pay whenever we turn our backs on our spiritual life. It will not go unpaid.
19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
The spiritual consciousness is not yet in charge of the lower passions and they are out of control. The body must be brought into harmony with the higher intellect and the soul. The result of this chaotic condition is that the newly developed spiritual consciousness loses its balance between the masculine and the feminine, the tablets. And they are broken.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made the people of Israel drink it.