And on the way he heard a noise; and he said to Joshua, “What is that noise?”
And Joshua said, “It sounds like shouting. There must be a battle.”
But Moses said, “It sounds to me like singing.”
So they came in sight of the camp. And there was the Golden Calf, and all the people singing and dancing around it. And Moses was so angry that he took the tables of stone and threw them down the mountain, and they broke in pieces. And the people were ashamed and afraid. And he told them what a foolish and wicked thing they had done. “God,” he said, “has just been telling me that we must not worship images.” And he destroyed the Golden Calf.
Then he went again upon the mountain, and asked God to forgive his people. And God gave him the Ten Commandments over again. Thus the Children of Israel met God at the mountain, and were told what they must do, and were ready at last to start upon their journey to the Promised Land.
XIII
THE PROPHET AND THE KING
NCE upon a time, when the world was younger than it is at present, and people believed that all the animals could speak Hebrew if they only would, a man was riding on an ass along a country road.
Sometimes the way went between wide farms which stretched out over the flat land. Sometimes it lay between vineyards, and had a stone wall on the right and on the left. Sometimes the man hastened the ass, striking her with a stick; because he had been sent for by the king and was in a hurry. Sometimes he let the ass take her own time, and she strayed now on this side of the road and now on that, cropping the thistles; because, although the man had been sent for by the king, he was not quite sure whether he ought to go or not.
The man’s name was Balaam and the king’s name was Balak. They were both of them heathen; that is, they did not know so much about God as the Children of Israel knew. But God knew them, and to Balaam God sometimes spoke, and told him what was right and what was wrong; so that people came to Balaam, even from distant lands, that he might tell them the will of God. Thus before a battle, a general or even a king might come and say, “Tell me, Balaam, is God for me or against me? Shall I lose or win?” And Balaam would go away by himself and ask God, and God would speak in Balaam’s soul and teach him what to say, and Balaam would come back and say it. Many people thought that Balaam could do quite as he liked, and bless or curse as he pleased, and they said, “See, Balaam, here is gold and silver: come now, bless me and curse my enemy.” But Balaam would speak only that which the Lord God taught him to speak.