Drinking Golden Bull: the erased ordeal in Exodus 32

Proceedings of the 8th CISMOR Conference of Jewish Studies, 2015

Verbum et Ecclesia, 2021

One of the most fascinating and heavily debated episodes involving gold in the Old Testament is the destruction of the golden calf described in Exodus 32:20. This study considers, for the first time, this episode from a materials science perspective. Textual analysis and experimental results indicate that it is plausible to make a gold mixture fit for later human consumption by using the three steps described in the passage. The results thus suggest that Exodus 32:20 could be an ancient reference to the most commented-upon materials processes of our day: reduce the size of matter through a top-down approach.

1980

The present investigation represents an exhaustive interpretation of the incident of the golden calf as it is related in Exodus 32. The study engages in a survey of hermeneutical paradigms from ancient to modern times to discover the insights of past generations of scholars, to aid in the understanding of the text, to provide a basis of continuity with the Jewish and Christian communities of faith through the centuries, and to determine the relationship between an interpreter and his Sitz im Leben. The history of the passages interpretation extends from the Old Testament scriptures through the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Hellenistic-Jewish writers, the Greek and Aramaic versions, the New Testament, the Patristic writers, the Rabbinical schools, mediaeval and post-Reformation eras to the rise and subsequent establishment of critical orthodoxy. The hermeneutical methods employed over this span of time vary greatly and have contributed to mutual suspicion within the theological a...

2018

In this paper, I describe various interpretations of the Golden Calf story in Exodus 32 and explore previous research on this story and the possibility of further research on the subject. There seems to be no doubt that this story is one of the most important and infl uential incidents in the Hebrew Bible for both Judaism and Christianity. To recount the exact content of the story, I cite the English Standard Version of verses 1 to 6 below. The incident happens when Moses is receiving the Torah at the top of Mt. Sinai: 1. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2. So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3. So all the people took off the r...

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2017

The golden calf episode in Exodus is both popular and perplexing. While it has a shared ancient Near Eastern heritage of understanding divine presence, it chooses to undermine that heritage to promote its particular agenda. This study clarifies the text by situating it more firmly in its ancient Near Eastern context and by addressing the biblical adaptations that emerge when we address each of the chapter’s distinct voices. It also considers the importance of perspective—what each character sees and how their vision affects their viewpoint—and the importance of divine visibility both within Exodus 32 and in the larger non-Priestly narrative.

How the Qur’an Interprets the Bible: Comparing Islamic, Jewish, and Christian Scriptures (New York: Paulist), 2020

The Bible and the Qur'an are arguably the most frequently cited and most misunderstood books in history, and the relationship between them is often discussed but regularly misconstrued. This book introduces readers to the Qur'an by exploring how Islamic as well as Jewish and Christian scriptures convey meaning by drawing on traditions about some of the most well-known characters found in both texts"-Provided by publisher.

2015

On the original nature of the "Golden Calf" of Exodus 32.

Pavol Bargár (ed.), The Bible, Christianity, and the Culture: Essays in Honor of Professor Petr Pokorný, 2023

A literary-critical analysis of the golden calf passage in Exodus 32:30 to Exodus 34:35. The chiastic (concentric) structure of this passage points to the question of God's accompaniment of Israel in the wilderness as the central theme of it and explains the composition of this otherwise very disparate text. The answer to the question, then, seems to be the obedience to the Mosais Law which in turn qualifies the passage as a late Deuteronomistic polemic against the priestly focus on the tabernacle that both precedes and follows this passage.

Old Testament Essays, 2020

In the Biblical account of the golden calf (Exodus 32), abnormal importance is devoted to the metal of the statuette, its origin, and even its destruction. The present analysis identifies this latter process as an act of cementation, a technique used in antiquity to separate gold from its alloyed metals, mainly copper. In parallel, the tabernacle symbolism reveals that pure gold is a marker of YHWH's theophany whereas goldcopper alloy is associated with the man-god relationship. Consequently, instead of condemning idolatry, the cementation treatment of the golden calf symbolizes the abortion of the project of divine residence in the tabernacle, the re-establishment of YHWH's distance from humankind, and the restoration of an intermediate divine figure between YHWH and the Israelites. It is concluded that, in Exodus 32, the transgression inherent in the making of the golden calf results from the combination of two antagonistic goals: the indirect worship of YHWH via the golden calf and closeness to the supreme deity via the tabernacle project.