Martin Hauge's Descent from the Mountain draws attention to the parallels between Israel's reaction to Yahweh's direct revelation of the Ten Words (Exodus 20:18-21) and the golden calf incident and its aftermath (Exodus 32-34). The two episodes are introduced similarly: "the formal contacts of 20.18 and 32.1 [are] possible signs of a referential relationship. While 20.18a represents an expansion of the visio motif in participle form and an extended description of what was seen, the sentence wayyar' ha'am in 18.b is identical to the introductory sentence in 32.1. And in both cases, the people's seeing results in an appeal introduced by imperatives and addressed to a leading figure" (46). Both incidents interrupt the narrative flow and "in both cases the interruption is connected to the position of Moses. In the first incident, the people's fright makes Moses the mediator by popular acclaim. The second results in the calf as a substitute for Moses as the people's leader, while the solution of the crisis makes the position of Moses supreme (34.29-35)" (47). The parallels lead to a sobering conclusion: First God speaks the Ten Words, and the people refuse to hear His voice. Moses is sent up the mountain as mediator, but while he's receiving the word of Yahweh they construct a new mediator, the calf. When Moses comes down, he smashes the tablets of the Ten Words that he's just received from Yahweh. Israel's history under Torah thus begins with a double rejection of the terms of the covenant.