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BIBLE MYSTERIES -
the Mystery of
The Golden Calf
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Is there a mystery surrounding the Golden Calf? The tale of misguided
idolatry
on the part of the newly-freed Israelites, as told in Exodus Chapter
32, appears fairly straightforward.
However, the text does raise some questions. For example, verses 4 and
8 say: These be thy gods, O
Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. What
'gods' could they have been thinking of? Bulls and cows figure
prominently in worship in the ancient world, and Egypt was no
exception. One of
the best known was the bull Apis;
he could be said to represent re-birth [of the ancient god Osiris], and
thus might represent the re-born nation of Israel out of bondage and in
the
wilderness.
To the left is seen the Egyptian bull, Apis, considered to represent
the re-birth of the ancient god, Osiris. Reverence of this figure dates
to the early dynasties and persisted into late times; he was considered
an 'intermediary' between the gods and man. A sun-disk can be seen between
his horns. To the right we see Hathor,
daughter goddess of the sun-god
Re, a solar disk between her
horns;
she was thought to be the mother of the Pharoah, the source of his
divinity. In Palestine Hathor
was seen as equivalent to Astarte,
or Ashtaroth.
She was especially identified with the turquoise mines of the Sinai
peninsula [presumably the same region in which the Israelites were
'wandering'.] Hathor is
taken strictly to mean 'house of Horus' and is associated with the sycamore [probably the 'sycamore
fig'], but was widely known in the ancient Mediterranean world as a
'sky-god'.
Hathor
was seen as a nourishing
goddess, often connected with fertility
in women. One tomb relief
carving shows the cow Hathor suckling the Pharoah Amenhotep II. In
poetry she was called golden,
a natural affinity with the sun
in the ancient mind. As a goddess
connected with 'love', music, singing and dancing were associated with
her.
Ashtaroth is the plural
form of the word ashterâh
which means 'increase' but is applied as 'flock'. Actually this is used
as the name of a settlement in the area of Bashan [Deut 1:4]. In Egypt
the name was astiratu and is
mentioned in the Tel el-Amarna letters as Aštarti. This city is identified in
Gen 14:5 as Ashteroth Karnaim
'Ashtaroth of the two horns'.
The Bible mentions the goddess as Ashtoreth in I Kings 11:5;
she is noted as the Phœnician goddess of love [< 'increase'],
although in Canaan she was known as Astart, the spouse of the
chief god Baal. Hebrew
scribes took the original name Astart(e)
and combined it with bôsheth
[or bûshâh]
'shame' in order to dishonor Astart(e)
as 'Ashtaroth' or 'Ashtareth'.
There is a Hebrew word 'âthar
which means 'abundant' ['increase'] or 'multiply' [Ezk 35:13], but also
'deceitful' [Pr 27:6]. The same Hebrew word - of different origin - is
used to mean 'to pray' or 'supplicate' [Is 19:22]; it relates to an
Arabic term for 'slaughter for sacrifice'. It cannot be stated with
authority that the Hebrew 'âthar
is related to the Egyptian name Hathor,
but the word may have mirrored the name of this deity in the mind of
the Semites of Palestine.
Furthermore, at the base of Mt Sinai, where the Israelites encamped,
they were accompanied by Moses' wife's relatives who were Midianites.
The Midianites worshiped the god Baal-Peor. The Hebrew peôr means 'gap', but
it was a mountain in
Moab; it relates to a root pâ'ar
'to yawn, open
wide' [Is 5:14 'opened']. In this author's mind this can be related to
the Hebrew pâr
'bullock, calf' [Josh
18:23 - Pârâh]
as
'breaking forth', from a root pârar
'to divide, break up, make void'.
This in turn might be related to pârâ 'be
fruitful' [increase], from
which derives pereh 'a
wild ass'.
The Israelites waited restively under Mt Sanai for the return of Moses;
in Ex 32:22 Aaron says: the
people ... are set on mischief.
The Hebrew word for 'mischief' is ra', which is somewhat
reminiscent of the Egyptian sun-god Re. Ex 32:25 states that Moses saw that the people were naked; for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their
enemies. The Hebrew word for 'naked' is pâra'.
The word used for 'calf' in Exodus is 'êgel 'a male calf'; it
derives from a root meaning 'round' [with the idea that a young bull frisks around.] In Lev 9:2-3 Moses
directs the priests to sacrifice a young calf ['êgel] as a sin-offering.
Some commentators point to Ex 32:5: ... and Aaron made proclamation and
said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD
[JHVH],
which they believe indicates that Aaron thought he was worshipping JHVH
but was going about it in an apostate manner. The fact that the calf is male may lend
credence to this position. Still, there is much data herein presented
that the molten calf
was actually a heathen idol: the 'gods'
which led the Israelites out of Egypt. Although the word for
'G·d' in
Genesis 1:1 is a plural form [Elohim],
there is no evidence that JHVH was ever
seen in the plural; indeed, Deut 6:4 empahtically states that our G·d is one LORD
[JHVH].
Furthermore,
the evidence presented here would seem to indicate that the profane
golden image was consecrated to a sun-god or a sky-god, quite in
keeping with Canaanite practices. It should be remembered that the
thundering cloud of the LORD
hung mightily over the mountain
above their heads [Mt. Paran; v. Deut 33:2, Hab 3:3],
and that Moses
tarried upon the mountain for forty days. Not only did the congregation
not know what had happened to their governor, they also didn't know
when - or if - they would see the sun again. Ex 17:6 shows that the
people thirsted under Mt. Horeb [or Mt. Sinai], and the Hebrew chôrêb means
'parched, dry, desolate'. They were almost certainly at a desolate
location in a parched desert landscape.
It would not seem unreasonable, under the circumstances, that the
people decided that the 'gods' needed a propitiation in order for
Israel to show its gratitude for their deliverance, and to plead for
the sky to be opened to sunlight. They might
naturally turn to a sky-god or a sun-god to change their apparent
fortunes. They did not perform human sacrifice, but rather were heard
'singing and dancing' [above & Ex 32:18-19].
It is also worthwhile to note that, since the Ten Commandments had not
yet been revealed to the congregation of Israel, the idolatry of the
golden calf had not yet been ritually proscribed. Certainly Israel may
have had previous knowledge of G·d's displeasure with using
'images', but the practice preceded the Exodus notwithstanding. In
Joshua 24:14 the leader states: put
away the gods which your
fathers served on the other
side of the flood and in Egypt. In
the next verse he urges Israel to reject: the gods
of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell... Thus, even after the
experience at Mt. Sinai, it would appear that the Israelites were prone
to go whoring after foreign gods.
When Jeroboam severed Israel twain and
deserted Jerusalem, he realized that he must offer a new place in which
to worship the LORD; he fashioned two golden calves and
set them in 'ancient high places', one in Beth-el and the other in Dan
[I Ki 12:28-9]. He uses the same words that appeared in Exodus: behold thy gods, O Israel, which
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Verse 31 states that
Jeroboam made an house of high
places... The word used for 'high places' [bâmôth] can also
indicate 'mountains', although it is not translated as such in the KJV
[likewise in Assyrian.]
The association of Par
with a fire-god or sun-god may be preserved from ancient times in
today's Parsees, a sect in India that originated in Old Persia and is
connected with Zoroastrianism.
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