Exodus 32:20

Burnt it] It was probably not solid, but consisted of a wooden core overlaid with gold: cp. Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 44:12. The total abolition of the idol is indicated in the threefold treatment of burning it, reducing it to powder, and casting it into the water: cp. Deuteronomy 9:21. This last action was more than a means of dispersing the very atoms of which it was composed. The people were made to drink the water, a grim symbol of retribution, with which may be compared the procedure in connexion with the 'water that causeth a curse' in Numbers 5:23 : see also 2 Kings 23:6.