MISCONCEPTIONS

The Golden Calf – the return     

Exodus ch32:1- 35 describes the sin of the Golden Calf.  It was in violation of the 2^nd commandment just given 40 days before at Sinai and rabbinic commentaries suggest the ‘stain’ of this sin and paganism linger in the Jewish soul to this day.

What is usually overlooked and little taught is that the Golden Calf did not disappear with its destruction by Moses.  It reappeared some 500 years later in Jewish history at the division of the Jewish kingdom.

When the 10 tribes of the north separated soon after King Solomon’s death, and created their own kingdom under Jeroboam ben Nebat, he built two temples: one in the south, just above Jerusalem, at Beth-el, and another at the far north at Dan. That way his people would not need go to Jerusalem for Jewish festivals commanded in the Torah.

Each of these temples had at its centre a Golden Calf statue.

 

1 Kings ch 12:

	26 And Jeroboam said in his heart: 'Now will the kingdom return to the house of David.   27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then will the heart of this people turn back unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.'
	28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them: 'Ye have gone up long enough to Jerusalem; behold thy god(s), O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'
	29 And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan.
	30 And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
	31 And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi.
	32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he went up unto the altar; so did he in Beth-el, to sacrifice unto the calves that he had made; and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places that he had made.
	33 And he went up unto the altar which he had made in Beth-el on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up unto the altar, to offer.                                           (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09a12.htm#26)

 As well, according to the Kings text, Jeroboam ben Nebat, when announcing the two temples and the worship of the Golden Calf, used the exact words from Exodus 32 -- when the Jews at Sinai declared it as their divine ‘image’.

The only change is the word “behold” at the start instead of “This is” at Sinai. 

 

1 Kings ch 12

כח וַיִּוָּעַץ הַמֶּלֶךְ--וַיַּעַשׂ, שְׁנֵי עֶגְלֵי זָהָב; וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם, רַב-לָכֶם מֵעֲלוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם--הִנֵּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלוּךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.			28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them: 'Ye have gone up long enough  to Jerusalem; behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'      http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09a12.htm
	Exodus 32
	ד וַיִּקַּח מִיָּדָם, וַיָּצַר  אֹתוֹ בַּחֶרֶט, וַיַּעֲשֵׂהוּ, עֵגֶל מַסֵּכָה; וַיֹּאמְרוּ--אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלוּךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.	4 And he [Aaron] received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said: 'This is thy god, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'    http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0232.htm

NOTE: The above English translation of 1 Kings 12:28 uses the term ‘gods’ instead of ‘god’ due to the context and previous part of the sentence --  which mentions two calves.   The same logic is used to translate Exodus 32:4 where it is made singular in the English.

The Hebrew word  אֱלֹהֶיךָ  for ‘god(s)’ is identical in both I Kings and Exodus!

Thereafter/Later Times
 

The book of Kings attests the continuation of at least the temple in Beth-el throughout the life of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to its destruction in 722 BCE  -- and even beyond.

King Jehu is described as worshipping there 100 years after Jeroboam ben Nebat (2Kings ch 10:29) and its continued use to 722 and thereafter is attested by 2Kings 17:24-28.  There, it records that the King of Assyria sent back a priest from exile to Beth-el to educate the new arrivals in the religion of the land.

 

The Beth-el temple and its Golden Calf survived until destroyed by the Judean king, Josiah (640- 608 BCE) according to 2Kings 23:15.

2 Kings ch 10
כט רַק חֲטָאֵי יָרָבְעָם בֶּן-נְבָט, אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל--לֹא-סָר יֵהוּא, מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם: עֶגְלֵי, הַזָּהָב, אֲשֶׁר בֵּית-אֵל, וַאֲשֶׁר בְּדָן.   29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, the golden calves that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan.           http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09b10.htm
2 Kings ch 17
כד וַיָּבֵא מֶלֶךְ-אַשּׁוּר מִבָּבֶל וּמִכּוּתָה וּמֵעַוָּא וּמֵחֲמָת, וּסְפַרְוַיִם, וַיֹּשֶׁב בְּעָרֵי שֹׁמְרוֹן, תַּחַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל; וַיִּרְשׁוּ, אֶת-שֹׁמְרוֹן, וַיֵּשְׁבוּ, בְּעָרֶיהָ.		24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
כה וַיְהִי, בִּתְחִלַּת שִׁבְתָּם שָׁם, לֹא יָרְאוּ, אֶת-יְהוָה; וַיְשַׁלַּח יְהוָה בָּהֶם אֶת-הָאֲרָיוֹת, וַיִּהְיוּ הֹרְגִים בָּהֶם.		25 And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
כו וַיֹּאמְרוּ, לְמֶלֶךְ אַשּׁוּר לֵאמֹר, הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר הִגְלִיתָ וַתּוֹשֶׁב בְּעָרֵי שֹׁמְרוֹן, לֹא יָדְעוּ, אֶת-מִשְׁפַּט אֱלֹהֵי הָאָרֶץ; וַיְשַׁלַּח-בָּם אֶת-הָאֲרָיוֹת, וְהִנָּם מְמִיתִים אוֹתָם, כַּאֲשֶׁר אֵינָם יֹדְעִים, אֶת-מִשְׁפַּט אֱלֹהֵי הָאָרֶץ.		26 Wherefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying: 'The nations which thou hast carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land; therefore He hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.'
כז וַיְצַו מֶלֶךְ-אַשּׁוּר לֵאמֹר, הֹלִיכוּ שָׁמָּה אֶחָד מֵהַכֹּהֲנִים אֲשֶׁר הִגְלִיתֶם מִשָּׁם, וְיֵלְכוּ, וְיֵשְׁבוּ שָׁם; וְיֹרֵם, אֶת-מִשְׁפַּט אֱלֹהֵי הָאָרֶץ.		27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying: 'Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.'
כח וַיָּבֹא אֶחָד מֵהַכֹּהֲנִים, אֲשֶׁר הִגְלוּ מִשֹּׁמְרוֹן, וַיֵּשֶׁב, בְּבֵית-אֵל; וַיְהִי מוֹרֶה אֹתָם, אֵיךְ יִירְאוּ אֶת-יְהוָה.		28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

                                                       http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09b17.htm

2 Kings ch 23
טו וְגַם אֶת-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ אֲשֶׁר בְּבֵית-אֵל, הַבָּמָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יָרָבְעָם בֶּן-נְבָט אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל--גַּם אֶת-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ הַהוּא וְאֶת-הַבָּמָה, נָתָץ; וַיִּשְׂרֹף אֶת-הַבָּמָה הֵדַק לְעָפָר, וְשָׂרַף אֲשֵׁרָה.	15 Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he [Josiah] broke down; and he burned the high place and stamped it small to powder, and burned the Asherah.

                                                         http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09b23.htm