third day Moses
brought them out of the camp to the foot of the mountain. There
was great thunder and lightning, and Mt. Sinai quaked and was
shrouded in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire. At the
sound of loud trumpets God called Moses up to the mountain and
spoke these words to him:
I am the Lord thy
God. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days thou shalt labor but on the
seventh thou shalt do no work.
Honor thy father
and thy mother.
Thou shalt not
kill.
Thou shalt not
bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor's goods.
Moses told the
people all the Lord had said, and they answered, with one voice,
"We shall do what the Lord has commanded."
Then the Lord
said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and I will give
you tablets of stone, with laws and commandments written so that
you may teach the people." Moses went up on the mountain and
was hidden by the clouds.
When nearly forty
days had passed and Moses had not returned, the people grew
anxious and then weary of waiting. And they demanded of Aaron that
he create a god to lead them on, for they did not know what had
become of Moses. Aaron had the people bring him their golden
earrings and jewels, which he melted and made into the shape of a
calf. The next morning the people rose early, offered sacrifices
before the golden calf, and sat down to feast.
When God saw what
they were doing, He became wrathful and sent Moses down with the
tablets bearing the commandments. As Moses neared the camp, he
heard the noise of the feast, and when he saw the golden calf he
became so angry that he threw down the tablets and they were
broken. Moses took the calf which they had made, burned it, and
ground it to powder. And as a punishment, many of the people were
killed.
Moses returned to
God and begged Him to forgive the Hebrews. God answered that Moses
should return to his people and lead them on toward the Promised
Land. He said He would send an angel to lead them, but that one
day they would still be punished for having made the golden calf.
And He ordered Moses to make two stone tablets like the first and
to bring them to Him on the mountain. Moses remained again on the
mountain for forty days and forty night, and wrote down the
commandments. And then God commanded the Hebrews to build an ark,
in which to house the tablets.
To make the ark
(which was concealed in a tent, or tabernacle) the people used
precious wood and built a beautiful box, which they covered with
gold, inside and out. Gold rings were set in the four corners, and
wooden sticks, covered with gold, were slipped through them to
carry the ark. They put away the tablets in the ark and carried it
with them through all their wanderings.
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