The Israelites Build a Golden Idol While Moses Is Gone

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: What is the meaning of that which is written, "And the people saw that Moses delayed" (Exodus 32:1)? Do not read "delayed" (boshesh), but rather "the sixth hour has come" (ba'u shesh) [the plain sense being that Moses tarried]. For when Moses ascended on high, he said to Israel: At the end of forty days, at the beginning of the sixth hour, I will come. At the end of forty days, Satan came and threw the world into confusion. He said to them: Moses your teacher, where is he? They said to him: He ascended on high. He said to them: The sixth hour has come, and they paid him no heed. He has died, and they paid him no heed. He showed them an image of his bier. And this is what they said to Aaron: "For this Moses, the man," and so forth (Exodus 32:1).