The golden calf story is not simply one of the many biblical accounts of human sin. It is placed right after the conclusion of God's covenant with Israel and functions to replace the God-given instructions to Moses for proper worship before these had even been completed. All this gives the calf incident a definitive quality. It is in the story of Israel as a covenant people what the Fall (Gen. 3) is in the story of humankind: an act that defines Israel's character as rebellious, just as the Fall defined humanity's persistent tendency as rebellious.
In consequence, the relationship of Israel to God is immediately redefined as that of a sinful people totally dependent on God's forgiving grace, just as humanity's relationship to God was, from the beginning, a relationship based on God's forgiving grace. There never was a period in Israel's history marked by faithful covenant keeping, just as there never was a golden age of harmony between humans and God between Creation and Fall.
--Waldemar Janzen, Exodus (Believers Church Bible Commentary; Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2000), 410.
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