The Golden Calf: Connecting Narratives

Today we're exploring the connection between two of the Golden Calf narratives Bible; namely Exodus 32 and 1 Kings 12. We discuss the story of Aaron, who made the golden calf, and Moses who destroyed it. And we talk about how this story may be told in light of the story of Jeroboam's calves he set up at Dan and Bethel. We go over some of the archaeology from sites like Tel Dan as well as go over what the calves symbolize - or atleast some options. And we ask to what extent the golden calves may have originally been a sanctioned Israelite custom. Let's dig in.
#archaeology #biblicalarchaeology #bible #exodus #aaron #goldencalf #jeroboam #ancientisrael #teldan
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Shoutout to Zach at ‪@WhatYourPastorDidntTellYou‬
If you'd like to read more here are just a few of the sources we used in this video:
Youn Ho Chung, The Sin of the Calf: The Rise of the Bible’s Negative Attitude Toward the Golden Calf. New York: T&T Clark, 2010.
John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan. JSOT Supplement Series 265. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000.
John R. Spencer, “Golden Calf,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, editor David Noel Freedman. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
N Wyatt, “Calf,” in DDD
M. ABERBACH & L. SMOLAR, Aaron, Jeroboam and the Golden Calves. JBL 86 (1967): 129-140.
L. B. PATON, Did Amos Approve the Calf-Worship at Bethel? JBL 13 (1894) 80-90.
J. M. SASSON, The Bovine Symbolism in Exodus, VT 18 (1968) 380-387.
J. M. SASSON, The Worship of the Golden Calf. Oriellt ami Occident (ed. H. A. Hoffner. AOAT 22: Neukirchen-Vluyn 1971) 151-159.
Mazar, Amihai. "The 'Bull Site': An Iron Age I Open Cult Place." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 247 (1982): 27-42.
A.H.W. Curtis, “Some Observations on “Bull” Terminology in the Ugaritic Texts and the Old Testament” in In Quest of the Past: Studies in Israelite Religion, Literature and Prophetism. Papers Re ad at the Joint British-Dutch Old Testament Conference, Held at Elspeet, 1988. Leiden: Brill, 1990.
Eric F. Mason, Edmondo F. Lupieri eds. Golden Calf Traditions in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Leiden: Brill, 2019.
Andrew R. Davis, Tel Dan in It's Northern Cultic Context. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013.
Ornan, Tally, "The Bull and its Two Masters: Moon and Storm Deities in Relation to the Bull in Ancient Near Eastern Art," IEJ 51 (2002): 1-26.
Alanne, Merje, Tel Dan ‒ Biblical Dan: An Archaeological and Biblical Study of the City of Dan. Dissertation, University of Helsinki.
Aviram Biran Tel Dan preliminary report publications in IEJ.
from the Iron Age II to the Hellenistic Period
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01:09 The Golden Calf in Exodus 32
03:40 The Golden Calves in 1 Kings 12
06:46 The "Historicity" Debate of these stories
08:25 Bethel and Tel Dan
09:25 Bull and Calf statues from archaeology
11:00 Who or what the calves are meant to symbolize
11:38 Apis Bull?
11:44 Hathor?
12:02 Moon god Sin?
12:24 Ba'al?
12:58 El & Yahweh?
15:08 Orthodoxy or Heresy?
18:10 The Sinai story in light of Jeroboam
21:46 Thanks!

[@agnelomascarenhas8990]

Excellent presentation.

[@Achill101]

Thanks for a well-done video. I was surprised seeing van Seters, a major scholar indeed, to defend the priority of the story in the Exodus over Kings. . . . Where I would differ from you is in the view of Jeroboam I. Archeology shows than Dan didn't belong to his kingdom but became Israelite later, under the Omrides or Nimshides. Also his claimed motivation to prevent pilgrimage to Jerusalem is suspect, because Jerusalem became the only acceptable place for worship only much later, in the 7th century BC. I see Dan and Bethel as normal temples of the northern kingdom of Israel that got their bad reputation only after the fall of the northern kingdom. The Exodus story would then condemn this aspect of the northern kingdom only hundreds of years after its fall.

[@cindirose3390]

Heavy

[@giffica]

Fantastic channel. I’m Jewish but I’ll be binging this channel very soon. I like your genuine approach to the subject. You aren’t trying to bs and fit your view into things you are taking the text as it is and finding parallels.

[@BeneaththeBible]

Thanks so much for your kind words. We’re both Christians and there are some videos where we bring the material more directly to bear on Christian theology and interpretation, but we do aim to stick to what we find in the text & history and respect other interpretations.

[@giffica]

@@BeneaththeBible Absolutely, I understand you have to transmit the tradition as you know. I love the channel, great stuff. Looking forward to future videos.

[@giffica]

If you guys want my personal view, the bull cult is Minoan. The four horned alter found in Israel is strikingly similar to the Minoan two horned alters. Especially how they develop on the island of Cyprus as a middle stage between Israel and Crete. More over, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you guys about the sanity hypothesis as well as Asher coming from Greek/Mycenaean tribes that likely brought this cult, hence one of the centers being dans later location and the story of samsom slotting into the idol god stuff.

[@js1423]

The Dutch call their film award the "Gouden Kalf" as well, while other countries have golden men, bears or beetles.

[@icypirate11]

Good to see you here. I love this channel and their honesty with the text.

[@js1423]

@@icypirate11 Hi! Good to see you as well! What did you think of Dr. Amar Annus-interview? I helped Zach a little in setting it up behind the scenes, since I live in the same part of the world as Dr. Annus.

[@davidadamovic1950]

Great vid! But I'm confused as to why the phrase "here are your gods (plural)... " is interpreted to mean one god?

[@TheRealTomahawk]

Well… The bull calf or the heifer, both have horns, and these gods are sometimes both male and female. However, they went with the less intimidating bullcalf, instead of the Baal with horns image which is scarier. Almost in every religion cattle is sacred. So the bull could represent Ptah/Osiris/Dionysus/Shiva Nergal, Tammuz? also Isis/Io/ Nanna (moon deity) Inanna Ishtar Aphrodite… so, it represents a one world religion And sometimes gives birth to the sun god. Also, it was made out of gold and the statue of Marduk (Satan) the god of Babylon was made out of solid gold, also Moses is sometimes shown with horns. I think it represents his divinity.

[@icypirate11]

Richard Elliot Friedman says that _Aaron and the Golden Calf_ story is possibly a polemic by a disgruntled Mushite priest when the kingdom divided. Even Aaron's two sons Nadab and Abihu are similar in name to Rehoboam's two sons Nadab and Abijah. Was Israel burning "strange fire" at Dan and Beth-El? The historicity of Genesis, and of the Exodus, and the political arguments between Judah and Israel caused me to seriously doubt the Christian god's existence. I see the stories/miracles of the prophets as political propaganda by Judah. It seems that much of the Old Testament has been worked and reworked by redactors/editors (JEDP theory). Its transmission was vastly different than that of the New Testament's mass copying. I have huge doubts of the New Testament being historical as well in light of contradictory narratives surrounding the birth, baptism, death, and resurrection stories. Dennis R. MacDonald has shown that there is a huge amount of _Homeric Epics_ influence and that much of the Jesus story, in the first gospel Mark, is basically a rewrite of Homer. When it's understood that much of the Biblical stories are exaggerated and copied from other myths, the divine hiddenness of God deafening.

[@TheRealTomahawk]

Who are Sennacherib and his god Nisroch?

[@TheRealTomahawk]

The apis bull represents Osiris/Dionysus Tammuz/Adonis or the youthful Nefertem son of Ptah like Tammuz

[@carstenmanz302]

Well, between the alleged Exodus events of Moses and the time of origin of the "biblical" Dead Sea Scrolls there are about 1000 years, to the myths of Genesis (OT) another estimated 2-3000 years (Deluge) and finally a few thousands more back to the so-called "prehistoric times" ("Adam, Eve" and the matter with the snake)😄 In short: The Old Testament tells stories that (allegedly) happened between 1000 and 8-10,000 years before its creation, i.e. even reaching into the Neolithic? There are very few tiny fragments of text before the Dead Sea Scrolls, some dating as far back as ca. 700 B.C. return. Amazing when you consider how extensively the history of Sumer, Mesopotamia or Egypt is documented - 3-4000 years before the creation of the Old Testament!

[@WalterRMattfeld]

(25 September 2023, Monday, 08:00 a.m. EST) My Secular Humanist research into the pre-biblical origins of the Bible has determined that behind the Golden Calf are two Egyptian bovine gods (Aaron proclaims : "These be your gods, O Israel"). In the southern Sinai archaeologists found a temple/shrine dedicated the Egyptian goddess Hat-Hor (also rendered Hathor). She was the patroness of Egyptian miners, who at Gebel Serbit el Khadim, mined copper and turquoise. Hat-Hor was a bovine goddess. In myth she could appear as a golden cow, or as a lovely young woman, with cow ears, horns, and a sun-disk between her horns. In the Bible, the King James Version of 1611, Israel is portrayed as worshipping the Golden Calf in a naked state, with loud song and dance. Hat-Hor's devotees honored her yearly, with drunken, naked, loud, boisterous song and dance. It is my conclusion that this Egyptian honoring of Hat- Hor, was recast in the Bible as Israel so doing with the Golden Calf. However, Egyptian myths do not understand Hat-Hor is the Golden Calf, She, she is the heavenly sky cow mother of the Golden Calf. Pharaoh Pepi, Dynasty 6, ca. 2300 BC in the Pyramid Texts Corpus says: "O Horus, do not leave me boatless, for I am a Golden Calf born of Heaven." Tomb art shows a small bark with an Egyptian man at its tiller, to steer it on an invisible heavenly Nile river. Seated before this helmsman is Horus, with human body and Hawk's head. Before Horus, stands on four legs, a hornless male calf, over its back hovers a polar star. In myth, the Golden Calf is a resurrected dead Pharaoh in the form of the Sun at sunrise. At sunset this Golden Calf is a mature bull who impregnates his heavenly sky cow mother Hat-Hor, to be born of her the next morning as the Sun at sunrise. So, Pharaoh Pepi's statement he is " a Golden Calf born of Heaven," is alluding to all of the foregoing. It is my understanding that the Bible has erred in associating the naked song and dance associated with Hat-Hor, by her devotees, to her son, the Golden Calf. For me, the sun disk atop Hathor's bovine head, between her horns, is alluding to her being the sky-cow-mother of the sun at sunrise, the Golden Calf. Today pilgrims climb Gebel Musa at night, to behold the sunrise at morning, they are all unaware that what they are beholding at sunrise, from an Egyptian point of view is the daily rebirth of the Golden Calf (a deceased Pharaoh being the Golden Calf). Pharaoh, in other titulars awarded him, is called "the mighty bull." Tomb art shows Pharaoh running a race with a bull's tail affixed to his lower back. For me, all of the above, explains the pre-biblical origins of the Bible's Golden Calf account. That is to say the Apis bull-calf has nothing to do with the Bible's Golden Calf, as claimed by some scholars. That is to say, Gebel Serabit el Khadim and vicinity, nearby Gebels Ghorabi (Mt. Choreb of the Greek Septuaginta Bible) and Saniyah possibly preserving mounts Horeb and Sinai. For more info just google "Academia Profile Walter R. Mattfeld," then scroll down to view my scholarly papers (40 papers) on the pre-biblical origins of the Exodus.

[@TheRealTomahawk]

I’ve come to the conclusion that because there’s two of them that they’ come to represent Ba’al Berith and El Berith. Ba’al Berith Lord of the covenant (perhaps they’re trying to steal the story of the God’s covenant with Abraham? Also El Berith god of the covenant. They are the ancient Cannanite deities. This is some other stuff I had saved or looked up However a Bull calf represents a young male like a Tammuz/Adonis or young Ba’al. Here’s another one: Min-Amun i.d.’d by the Greeks as Pan the deity of fertility and orgiastic rites. Here I found this: The composite god Amun-Min was known as Kamutef (“Bull of his mother”). In later periods, Min was linked to Reshep, the Semitic god of war and thunder. Both gods were thought to be married to Qadesh the Semitic love goddess, although Min was often considered to be the child of Reshep and Qadesh. It is perhaps unsurprising that the Greeks linked Min to their fertility god, Pan. Because of this association, they renamed named Akhmim, Panopolis (city of Pan). He was a god of the Eastern Desert, and a god and patron of traveling caravans. A reference in the Pyramid Texts to “the one who raises his arm in the east” is thought to relate to Min. He offered protection to travellers and traders and was also worshiped by the miners and masons who worked around the Wadi Hammamat. In this area, he was known as “Min, the (foremost) Man of the Mountain”. His association with the desert led to an association with foreign lands and with the god Set. Although he was associated with the desert, Min was a god of fertility and sexuality. He was associated with the Egyptian long-leaf lettuce (also a favourite food of Set)

[@pablomarques3684]

Like a midrash?