And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger grew hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.
And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought a great sin upon them?"
And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord grow hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, 'Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.' And I said to them, 'Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off'; so they gave it me: and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf."
And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose; for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies: then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoso is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me."
FAMOUS MONASTERY OF SAINT CATHERINE IN THE SHADOW OF MOUNT SINAI
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.
It was in this monastery that Prof. C. Tischendorf discovered one of the oldest and most valuable manuscripts of the Bible in existence. Tischendorf made three visits to the monastery, in 1844, 1853, and 1859. On the first visit he found forty-three leaves of the manuscript in a wastebasket. Later he found the entire manuscript with the exception of a few pages. It was published by Czar Alexander II in celebration of the first millennium of the Russian Empire. A traveler says, "When on a visit to Mount Sinai in March, 1877, I saw a copy of the magnificent four volume edition in the convent library and mentioned the name of Tischendorf, the sub-prior kindled up in indignation and called him a thief, who had stolen their greatest treasure on the pretext of a temporary loan; and when I reminded him of the large reward of the Emperor of Russia, who had furnished a new silver shrine for the coffin of Saint Catherine, he admitted it reluctantly, but remarked that they did not want the silver, but the manuscript--the manuscript which their monks could not read and were about to throw into the fire."
