15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, [with] the two tables of the testimony in his hand—tables written on both their sides: on this side and on that were they written. 16 And the tables [were] God's work, and the writing was God's writing, engraven on the tables. 17 And Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, and said to Moses, There is a shout of war in the camp. 18 And he said, It is not the sound of a shout of victory, neither is it the sound of a shout of defeat: it is the noise of alternate singing I hear. 19 And it came to pass, when he came near the camp, and saw the calf and the dancing, that Moses' anger burned, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and shattered them beneath the mountain. 20 And he took the calf that they had made, and burned [it] with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed [it] on the water, and made the children of Israel drink [it].
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 32:15-20
Commentary on Exodus 32:15-20
(Read Exodus 32:15-20)
What a change it is, to come down from the mount of communion with God, to converse with a wicked world. In God we see nothing but what is pure and pleasing; in the world nothing but what is sinful and provoking. That it might appear an idol is nothing in the world, Moses ground the calf to dust. Mixing this powder with their drink, signified that the backslider in heart should be filled with his own ways.