Ten Commandments and Golden Calf 

Basic Info

Exodus 19:1—20:17, 32:1–29

According to Exodus 19, 3 months after the People of Israel crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt, God called Moses to Mount Sinai to make a covenant with him. He gave him the Ten Commandments and a bunch of other laws. The Ten Commandments were understood as an expansion of the great law to love God and neighbor. The first few commandments are about loving God: only one God, no idols of God, no swearing by God’s name, and keeping a Sabbath day for resting and celebrating God’s goodness. The second group of commandments is about loving other human beings, starting with one’s parents. They include prohibitions against killing, adultery, stealing, lying, and wishing your neighbor’s spouse or belongings was your spouse or belongings. This was the Mosaic Covenant. If the people honored God by keeping these laws, then God would love them (the Chosen People) and protect them.

Moses was away on the mountain getting these laws from God for a long time. The people got scared and pestered Aaron to make them an idol. Aaron collected gold from everyone, which was fashioned into a Golden Calf. The people worshipped the Golden Calf. Moses came down from the mountain and was so enraged that they had (1) made an image of a god and (2) worshipped an idol, that he threw the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments on the ground and broke them! The Golden Calf was destroyed. God understood Moses’ actions and remade the tablets. The stone tablets with the Commandments were considered the most sacred object that the People of Israel possessed. They were kept in a big ark (box) known as the Ark of the Covenant. Many centuries later, the Ark of the Covenant was lost. The film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) was about finding this ark.

Today many people think of the Ten Commandments as confining or restrictive, but not the People of Israel. Think of what it was like for them to be enslaved in Egypt. Under slavery, there is no law except whatever the master says it is, and that can change from moment to moment. The rule of law is an awesome concept for those who have been ruled by the whim of anyone in power. With these laws, the people got used to self-governance during their 40 years in the wilderness. After this period of adjusting to no longer being slaves, they entered the Promised Land.

What to Look For

• The stone tablets with the Law
• The people’s mood or attitude (fearful, worshipping, celebrating, chastised, etc.)
• Moses’ reaction to the presence of the Golden Calf
• Moses’ interaction with God
• God’s appearance
• The Ark of the Covenant

Questions to Focus a General Interpretation

Does the artwork emphasize Moses’ reverence for God and the Law, the people’s reaction to the Golden Calf, Moses’ reaction to the Golden Calf, or the resolution when the new set of tablets had been delivered?

Questions to Guide a Personal Interpretation

Allow the artwork to call you to reflect on the current relationship between various idolatries and the Law. Where in the artwork would you find yourself?

Questions to Suggest a Historical Interpretation



What is the mood of the artwork? How might this mood reflect a mood that was prevalent in the artist’s time and place?