Could the radiance in Moses face be linked to the golden calf incident and the second set of tablets?
Indirectly, yes, but more to the point, it is related to the anger of the Lord.
After having fasted 40 days and nights on the mountain with God, Moses received the first set of 10-commandments. Meanwhile, people on the bottom of the mountain committed a great sin of worshipping the golden calf.
Ex 32:7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
God was extremely angry, angry enough to destroy them all.
11But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.
Moses successfully pleaded for the people.
Later,
19When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
God's initial anger was transferred to Moses. Moses showed God's anger against the Israelites.
Once again, Moses went up the mountain and received the second set of commandments tablets. Again he came down the mountain, but this time, something was different.
Ex 34:29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
People reacted with godly fear to seeing Moses' face. They stayed away from Moses.
31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.
After reassurance from Moses, they were still somewhat afraid of seeing his face. Moses came up with a plan.
34But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
Could this radiance have been linked to the two incidents?
Indirectly, yes, in terms of the timing of it, but it was more directly due to the transfer of anger from the Lord to Moses. Moses represented God in the eyes of the Israelites.
