As Moses conferred with God on Mount Sinai, in his absence they melted down their earrings and created a golden calf to worship. Bonfires raged. They partied. In the desert, hundreds of miles away from civilization, it felt like the right thing. It felt like a relief. The golden calf gleamed, this tangible thing. Now, upon finding out this sin, this transgression of idolatry, God was infuriated. He said to Moses, Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them. But Moses pleaded, and only because of this did God exercise compassion in exacting a
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