Aharon HaKohen and the Golden Calf
Seeing Chur lying dead, Aharon reasons that if the people kill him too they will never be forgiven, so he lets them make the Golden Calf instead.
Rabbi Binyamin bar Yefes said in the name of Rabbi Elazar an explanation of what motivated Aharon to create the Golden Calf. He was motivated by the desire to save Klal Yisrael from a worse sin. He saw Chur (the son of Miriam) lying dead before him and he said to himself, “If I do not listen to them now, they will do to me as they did to Chur, and through me the following verse will be fulfilled: ‘Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the Sanctuary of Hashem?’ (Eichah 2:20). And if that happens they will never be forgiven. It is preferable that I let them worship the Golden Calf, for it is possible that they may yet find forgiveness for this through repentance.”