Of all the sins the Israelites committed in the wilderness, making the golden calf may have provoked the greatest anger from the Lord. The sin of idolatry, prohibited in the Second Commandment, continued to be a snare to the Israelites through most of their history. Later, as the apostles spread the Christian faith throughout world, they repeatedly encounter this sin among the Gentiles. In this lesson we look at the essence of idolatry, why it is so offensive to the Lord, and its various manifestations in our own world today.