When the Israelites disobeyed God at Mt. Sinai and tried making their own gods and rules , the results were deadly. The willingness of Moses to plead with God for mercy, even to the point of taking God's punishment on himself (Exodus 32:31) serves as a picture of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who gave His life as atonement for the sins of all. We learn of God's faithfulness to us in spite of our unfaithfulness to Him as we look at the continuation of the Exodus story. Exodus 32 is a study of what happens when people break away from the Word of God.