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THE GOLDEN CALF part 1

WHO WEARS THESE SHOES?

The children of Israel were headed into Baal country. It wasn’t Baal country 400 years earlier, when they left it, during a famine, to reside in Egypt. But this was 400 years later, and the folks who moved into the land while the Israelites were gone, were really fond of some fun gods, and one of them, a storm god, was named Baal.

Maybe I should explain what I mean by ’fun.’ There is this darling story about how Baal’s sister, the goddess Anat (referred to in Egyptian 19^th Dynasty texts as “The Queen of Heaven,” a similar type to Ishtar or Isis) was slumming around in the form of a cow one day when her brother Baal spotted her, and changed himself into a bull so he could have sex with her.   Seventy (70) times he had sex with her, and then died (presumably from exhaustion.) The story goes on from there about how it doesn’t rain while Baal is dead, and how his sister searched for him, yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyway, Baal is not the golden calf. Baal is sometimes pictured riding a bull, but not a calf.   He was a storm god, and actually, individual thunderclouds were referred to as “the calves of Baal.”    Hummm. Well, I suppose someone could make that association with the LORD, that consuming fire they saw on top of the mountain?     Some one might claim that the golden calf idol was the offspring of Baal and his sister?      Such a claim or assumption would be quite useful, really, and would go a very long way toward smoothing out the entry of three million people into a land resettled for generations by people who revered Baal.   But , that’s not what Aaron apparently says about the calf. . . so we have to leave that speculation and move on.

HEY, I’M STILL STANDING, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Aaron doesn’t scold them. He doesn’t agree with the people who told him to get up and make them idols, either. He is lukewarm? He just does it. We don’t know what exactly he was thinking, we only know what he did. His only reply was to tell people to break off the golden earrings that were in the ears of their family members and to bring those to him. They did. Most of the earrings undoubtedly were little golden amulets that were popular in Egypt, in the shape of cobras or cows heads etc.   They were worn to ward off evil. It was attractive jewelry that served a dual purpose. The Lord had recently given the people the law of servants, through Moses, which stipulated that if after seven years a bondservant did not wish to go free from his master, a hole was to be punched in their ear and an earring inserted to show that they belonged forever as a servant to their master. So, collecting up all the other earrings served a double, even a triple purpose of removing the old Egyptian idol amulets, and clearing the way for this new law, while also providing raw materials for what the idol.

It was Aaron’s idea to do it this way. One might think, that because the new law about servants had come out, that maybe everyone had removed their earrings and Aaron was just wisely targeting a potential supply of gold sitting around that no one could use anymore, except that he tells the people to break them out of the ears of their wives and sons, so apparently it was not the case that everyone had quit wearing them. Was Aaron trying to squeeze the most good out of a bad situation? Was Aaron simply trying to make a cover for himself and justify his actions? Or ,was Aaron just needing raw material to make the idol?

Next we are told that Aaron used the golden earrings to make the golden calf idol. Idols of this time were wooden (which explains how Moses later burned it and pounded it into dust) and were carved, then the molten gold was poured out into a sheet and then hammered and spread over the wooden surface by a metal worker with a “graving tool.”

YOU MAY NOW KISS THE BRIDE

Aaron doesn’t say anything recorded when he is finished. The mob does. The group of rowdies looked on the golden calf “and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”  (Ironically, these are the same exact words that Jeroboam would later use, hundreds of years later, to re-introduce golden calf worship to what was then the nation of Israel.) There is never any indication that Aaron made more than one golden calf, so the plural ‘these’ probably refers to the idol amulet earrings that Aaron melted down to make the gold.   But Aaron doesn’t scold them.   Nobody does. Instead, “when Aaron saw it” he built an altar in front of it. There is no record that anyone asked him to build an altar in front of it.     Then, he acts as high priest and proclaims that “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.”   No mention of Aaron being in agreement with the mob, or in conflict with the mob.   It is more like the mob decides the calf is one thing, and Aaron decides it is something entirely different (Yahweh), and they just enjoy the unity of the golden calf and plan to get along peacefully and celebrate.

Did they celebrate like Egyptians? No.  Aaron and the people got up the next morning and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. Now, These burnt animal sacrifices of cattle were abhorrent to the Egyptians. Pharaoh and Moses had discussed about sacrificing to the LORD back when after the third plague had hit Egypt. Moses said then that the Israelite sacrifices to the LORD would be an ‘abomination’ to the Egyptians and that they might likely get stoned to death, by the Egyptians, if they performed their sacrifices inside of Egypt. Moses wanted to go three days journey away from Egypt to perform the animal sacrifices. So, this part doesn’t seem very Egyptian, but what happened next sure does.

The Egyptians were somewhat unique among the nearby ancient peoples, in that they are pretty much the only ones who represent and worship their gods in animal form. Most all other ancient civilizations tended to portray and worship their gods (like Baal) in human form. Well, having been in Egypt for the past 400 years, I suppose it would not be unexpected, if Aaron were going to make an idol of the LORD, that he might make it in an animal form.    But, why in the world, would the Israelites accept the idol, this representation, this golden calf??

WRAP HER UP, I’LL TAKE HER HOME WITH ME.   WRAP HER UP, SHE IS ALL I NEED.

It is said to be ‘tradition’ that when the Israelites went across the Red Sea, they saw the LORD going before them as an ox, pulling them out of Egypt. But the scriptures don’t say that here, (and this idol is a calf, not a big ox, and not an adult bull.) So WHY would the Israelites ever accept this calf or associate it with the LORD ‘Yahweh.’ ? Several reasons come to mind, lets look at them.

When Jacob and the children of Israel first entered into Egypt, the scripture tells us that they brought their cattle with them. Joseph cautioned them that “every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians,” warning them that Egypt was a topsy-turvy place where people thought like Cain, and not like Able. When Joseph presented his family before Pharaoh, he introduced them as shepherds whose trade had been to feed cattle. Pharaoh then told Joseph to take the best of them, and put them in charge of Pharaoh’s cattle too, and gave them land for their herds.   Later on, when a great famine hit Egypt, scripture tells us that the “money failed” and Joseph told the Egyptians to bring what? Their cattle to trade for bread so they might live.   2+2=4. The Israelites soon owned or managed all the cattle in Egypt. It was their THING. It was a unifying symbol of their national identity in Egypt.

Much later than Jacob and Joseph (like 400 years later), during the plagues of Egypt, the 3rd, 5th, and 7th plagues each involved or resulted in the cattle of the Egyptians dying, while the cattle of the Israelites remained safe and unharmed. This was so profound, that after the ninth plague, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron that he was totally willing to let all the Israelites go, right then and there, BUT they had to leave their cattle. Moses said no, we will leave, and we will take our cattle with us. Pharaoh said no deal then, and threw Moses and Aaron out of his sight. The whole thing came down to one sticking point in the end, the Israelites cattle!   Eventually, after the 10th plague, Pharaoh allowed them to leave and to take their cattle with them. This generation of Israelites had truly become such “an abomination” that the Egyptians gave them or “loaned” to them whatever the Israelites wanted, just to get them gone and on their way out of Egypt, even gold and jewels. The scriptures indicate that they essentially ‘plundered’ Egypt on their way out.

You can easily imagine people cursing the Israelites on their way out of Egypt- “Be gone, you and your damnable cattle! Take your stinking beasts and go!” On the other hand, if you were an Israelite, you might be slapping a cow on the rump with one hand, and playing with your new jewels in your other hand, and thinking, “Damn, cattle are sweeeeeet!!!”

THAT’S ALL I NEED TO KNOW

So what would cattle represent to the Israelites?

When the LORD plagued Egypt, the Egyptian cattle died, but not their cattle. So the calf could easily be seen as a symbol of their security through the LORD. Cattle were their sustenance, their livelihood, and their original occupation. Cattle were necessary for sacrifices and offerings to the LORD. The LORD made sure that they had cattle when they left Egypt.

A calf is also a symbol of a new birth through the LORD. The Israelites just experienced a sort of new birth as a nation, when they passed through the waters and left Egypt, where they had grown and increased. And, they had just finished making this New Covenant thingy with the LORD, to become a holy nation of priests. So, no doubt they might see this as a symbol of new birth through the LORD.

But this is not just any new birth, oh no.    This was a birth of blessing and golden good fortune, and of material increase through the LORD.   Yes, presents, lots and lots of presents!     Stuff they would not even have, without the LORD.

DOOOOOO YOU, FEEL, LIKE I DO ?

The Israelites spent 400 years surrounded by idol worship. They grew up with it. They were used to people relating to and expressing their emotions to idols. So what could seem more natural to them than making an idol of the LORD to relate to?  It was just an easier format that somebody clever may have come up with to facilitate the people worshipping and remembering all of God’s blessings.   Sounds pretty high-minded, noble and spiritual, right? Pretty tough to speak up and trash such good intentions, isn’t it,?   And, if you pride yourself on being intelligent and fair minded, you might pride yourself on being able to see both sides of this issue, and all the positives and negatives and say nothing, right?

Well, that’s how Israel ended up worshiping a symbol of holy blessing, new birth, and sustenance. They were antsy.   They wanted to do something I guess, and this is what they did.    You know, it is written, that there is a way, a way that seems right to a man, but which, in the end, leads to destruction. . .

But wait, there’s more.

TUNE IN AGAIN NEXT TIME, when we will explore the golden calf in Egyptian mythology. (Oh yes, yes, the “golden calf” can be found mentioned in the Egyptian Pyramid texts as early as the Egyptian 5th and 6th Dynasties.   It was a part of Egyptian religious tradition. )   Toodles for now.               (c) RLM