Thank you for the question on Moses shattering the Ten Commandments, “Did Moses shatter the original Ten Commandments in a fit of rage or was he following God’s wishes?”
As one reads Exodus 32, Moses shattered the Ten Commandments out of his anger when he saw the Israelites violating the commands of God.
Exodus 32 says this, “7 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ 9 “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened…
19 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. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it” (A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages).
It may be that Moses didn’t realized the depth of the Israelites’ sinful conduct while he was on the mountain. When he came down from the mountain and approached the camp, he saw the wild conduct of all the people. It wasn’t just a few people in their sinful conduct but most or all of the Israelites. It wasn’t that Aaron and the people didn’t hear the commandments for they heard it from God himself. When Moses saw what the people were doing, he realized that depth of offense to God and that they had broken the Ten Commandments. In his anger, he smashed it to demonstrate/illustrate that they had broken the Ten Commandments and that the Israelites can’t atone or restore it. It was no wonder that God wanted to kill them but Moses pleaded for mercy and God’s honor.
Was Moses following God’s wishes? I do not believe so otherwise he would not have Moses carved out another tablet of stone and bring it to him. God could have had Moses picked up the broken Ten Commandments and to keep them, but he did not do so.
SUMMARY: Moses in his anger smashed the Ten Commandments to illustrate forcefully the depth of the offense to God. It was broken and the people had no means to atone or to fix it, only God could do that for them in his mercy.
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