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EXODUS 32:19 — KING JAMES VERSION 2
Exod 32:18Exod 32:20
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. Moses sees the apostasy and his anger burns — the same language used for God's anger in verse 10. The breaking of the tablets is simultaneously an act of anger and a covenant act: the tablets containing the covenant are broken because the covenant has been broken. Deuteronomy 9:17 records Moses' retrospective account of throwing them before the people's eyes. The broken tablets are a visual proclamation — the covenant you made is the covenant you have broken.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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Priya NairNote2mo ago
Anger at the Sacred Broken
When Moses comes down and sees the calf and the dancing, he smashes the two tablets of stone. His anger is so fierce that he destroys the very thing God had just written. I've been angry at injustice...
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Carlos RiveraNote1mo ago
Righteous Anger and Broken Tablets
Moses saw the calf and immediately smashed the tablets. Not because he was impulsive, but because he understood something crucial: you cannot simultaneously hold God's law and worship false gods. The ...
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Exodus 32:19 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy