Deuteronomy 9:17-19 - I lay prostrate before the Lord

9:17,18

Moses shattered the two tablets of stone. We are not told here why he did this, but going by other events in his life, it was probably a fit of temper, something he was prone to.  Even if it was temper, Moses then adopted a more helpful approach. He fasted and prayed again for forty days and nights. He did this because the sin the people had committed was provoking God to anger. We tend not to like the idea of God being "provoked" to anger, but this is because we do not take sin seriously enough.

9:19

Moses was afraid that God would actually destroy the people. However, the Lord listened to Moses. The people needed to appreciate their true nature, their need for salvation. This was the problem of the religious leaders in Jesus' day. They rejected Jesus because they would not admit their need of a saviour.