Overall meaning : Allah, Exalted be He, tells us in these verses about the test to which He had put Moses’s people and how As-Samiree led them astray after Moses, peace be upon him, had left them to hold communion with his Lord. He said to him, ‘Why have you come to Mount At-Tur in such haste ahead of your people, Moses?’ Moses replied, ‘They are following closely on my heels and they will soon catch up with me. I have hurried on ahead to You, my Lord, so You will be well-pleased with me.’ Allah then said to him, ‘We tried your people with the worship of the calf after you had left them, and As-Samiree led them astray, by bringing it forth for them and calling them to worship it, and they obeyed him.’
The Almighty then informs us about Moses’s return to his people and what he said to them: Moses went back to his people, very angry and full of sorrow. ‘My people,’ he said, ‘Did your Lord not make you a gracious promise, such as His sending down the Torah and granting you victory over the enemies?! Did, then, the time of its fulfilment seem too long to you?! Rather, by so doing you wanted your Lord’s wrath to fall upon you and become justly deserving of it, and so you worshipped the calf and disobeyed my commands!’
Then, pointing out the flimsy excuses and ridiculous justifications they made, Allah states: They said, ‘Moses, we did not break our promise to you of our own accord, but we were made to carry the heavy burden of Pharaoh’s people’s ornaments, then we threw it into the fire. As-Samiri also cast in what he had collected.’
As-Samiree then produced for them out of the molten gold the image of a calf, which made a lowing sound like that of cattle. As-Samiree, as well as those he had tempted, said, ‘This is your god and the god of Moses, which Moses has forgotten here.’
Did those who worshiped the calf not see that it could not speak to them or return them any answer, and that it had no power at all to protect them against any harm or do them any good?!