MOSES BREAKING THE TABLES.

WHILE Moses was upon Mount Sinai, receiving the Divine instructions, the people began to be impatient for his return, and at length, supposing that some fatal accident had befallen him, surrounded Aaron's tent, manifesting symptoms of rebellion. As they fancied themselves to be now without a leader, they insisted, in the most imperious manner, that Aaron should make them gods to go before them. The timid hierarch, though astonished at this demand, had not the courage to refuse his compliance with it, and order. ing them to bring him a quantity of their golden ornaments, he immediately converted these into an idol, to which the infatuated Israelites offered sacrifices, concluding their unholy worship with the most unbecoming revelry. Moses being warned by God of what was taking place, hastened down the mount, with the tables of the law in his hand, "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 waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount."* In the picture Moses appears upon a high ledge of the mountain, where he could overlook the whole encampment of the rebellious Israelites, accompanied by Joshua, who is seen at a little distance behind him on the right. On the tabular summit of a small detached portion of the hill appear those who had refused to join in the profane rites which the disaffected Hebrews were then in the act of celebrating, and had advanced to meet Moses and welcome his return to the camp. Upon the plain at the base of the mountain are seen the ungodly worshippers engaged in the solemnization of their forbidden rites with feasting and dancing, when Moses, indignant at the sight of such impiety, dashes the tables from his hands and breaks them.