God again called Moses to Mount Sinai. For forty days and forty nights Moses stayed there, listening to the words of God. Finally God gave him two stone slabs on which were written the Ten Commandments.God again called Moses to Mount Sinai. For forty days and forty nights Moses stayed there, listening to the words of God. Finally God gave him two stone slabs on which were written the Ten Commandments.
Meanwhile the Israelites had become tired waiting for Moses. They went to Aaron and said, "Make us gods to worship. Moses does not return. We do not know what has happened to him."
"Bring me all the gold ornaments of your wives and daughters," said Aaron. When the ornaments were brought, he melted them and then formed a golden calf. The people said: "Here is your god, O Israel."
The Israelites worshipped the golden calf and sacrificed before it. On the mount, God said to Moses, "Go down, for the people are sinning against Me. They have turned from the ways I taught, and are worshipping a golden calf. I will destroy them, because they are ungrateful." But Moses prayed God to spare the people.
Then, carrying the two tables of stone, Moses descended Mount Sinai. As he came near the camp, he saw the golden calf. The people were dancing before it.
In his anger Moses threw down the two slabs of stone, breaking them into thousands of pieces. He took the golden calf and flung it into the fire. The people were sorry for their sins and did penance.
Again Moses went up to Mount Sinai, to pray for the people. God told Moses to make two tables of stone like the ones he had broken. On them Moses wrote the Ten Commandments.
God told Moses to have a beautiful box made, lined and covered with gold. On the cover were to be placed the golden images of two angels. This was to be the Ark of the Covenant. Inside this box the two tables of Law were to be kept. A linen tent embroidered in beautiful colors was to be made to house the Ark of the Covenant. This tent was the Tabernacle.
The Israelites made all these things, as God had ordered. The Tabernacle became the center of God's worship until the Temple of Solomon was built.
- from My Bible History in Pictures, by Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, D.D., 1934; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael J O'Doherty of Manila, Philippines