Exodus 32:3

3. All the people brake off Kurtz observes that Aaron had “counted upon the vanity of the women and youth, and their love for golden ornaments, and he hoped that in this way he would excite such opposition in the community itself as would suffice to save him from having to offer a resistance which appeared to be dangerous . But he had entirely miscalculated . He knew but the surface of the human heart; the depths of its natural disposition were beyond his reach . All the people cheerfully broke off the golden ornaments from their ears, for they were about to accomplish an act of pure self-will; and in that case there is no sacrifice which the human heart is not ready to make . ”