So Moses tells some of the men to take their swords. Where Moshe was the more Theocratic Leader reacting on the words and will of G-d was Aaron a more democratic leader, reacting on the words and will of the people, he served. When Moses seemed to take a long time in returning from the mountain, the Israelites turne… Original Question: When Aaron yielded to the demands of the Israelites to build the golden calf (Exodus 32), God punished the people but was Aaron punished for his compromising sin?. For example, when the people come to Aaron and ask for another representative, since they don’t know what happened to Moses the man, the sages interpret Aaron’s actions as a stalling tactic. The deeper question that I struggle with each year is how the people fell into sin standing next to a mountain covered with smoke and fire while a pillar of fire stood in the midst of the camp. Perhaps Aaron was atoned when he and the other Levites came and stood with Moshe and they slew all those that stood apart from them just as Pinchas took a stand against sin in a later portion and received a special blessing from Elohim. It is apparent that despite all the good intentions, the sin of the Golden Calf is still characterized as the sin of idolatry, the greatest sin in the Torah, a violation of the second of the Ten Commandments. According to the Bible, the golden calf (עֵגֶּל הַזָהָב ‘ēggel hazāhāv) was an idol (a cult image) made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai.In Hebrew, the incident is known as ḥēṭ’ ha‘ēggel (חֵטְא הַעֵגֶּל) or the Sin of the Calf.It is first mentioned in Exodus 32:4. Learn more about our classes here. Moses indicated that Aaron at least should … Doing so would be akin to the sin of the golden calf, a belief in an object or an idea, which simply put, cannot provide something better than the current situation. While the Egyptians were on their heels, God split the Red Sea, and the Israelites passed through safely. The Sin of the Golden Calf and Covenant Renewal. What the calf represented is debated by scholars. עֵגֶל מַסֵּכָה, Ex. The Son of Man Four, The Golden Calf | C W Johnson | ISBN: 9781494317485 | Kostenloser Versand für alle Bücher mit Versand und Verkauf duch Amazon. Aaron was saved only through the mercy and compassion of God and Moses reasoning and attempt tp make atonement.And the LORD smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made. [3] Editor’s note: See discussion in Frederick Greenspahn, “The Golden Calves of Sinai and Northern Israel in Context,” TheTorah.com (2015). The narrative of the Golden Calf, found in Ki Tisa, raises a wealth of questions about the nature of the sin, the motivations and emotions that precipitated it, and its far-reaching repercussions. In R. Binyamin Lau’s 2016 internet essay on Parashat Ki Tissa, he references the classic Midrash analogizing the sin of the Golden Calf, cited by RaShI: Shemot 34:1 “And the LORD Said unto Moshe: Hew thee… Moses was still on the mountain with God when the golden calf happened. Read More, Copyright © 2021 The Israel Bible All Rights Reserved. His existence is worthless, as all he knows or learned in his life, to him, stems from an imagined physical god, not the true metaphysical God. Perhaps it was Please support us. YHWH’s fury at the golden calf—even to the point of wanting to destroy the Israelites altogether—is thus even more understandable than if the sin had been merely the violation of the Decalogue. Before God punished the Israelites for their sin, He gave them first a chance to repent and mend their ways.For “Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, ‘Who is on the LORD’s side? The Talmud Yerushalmi (Ta’anit4:5) states: Similarly, the Talmud Bavli (Sanhedrin102a) States: These statements point to the centrality of this story in Jewish cultural memory. I have no trouble seeing this happening. I. Launched Shavuot 5773 / 2013 | Copyright © Project TABS, All Rights Reserved. Kenneth Emerson Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA. www.parkview-umc.org. He destroys the golden calf, grinds it to a powder and dissolves it in water, which he forces the people to drink. The golden calf happens in Exodus 32. Good intentions clearly do not have the power to transform the quality of an action. He uses the gold to form a golden calf, and the Children of Israel proclaim, “This is thy god, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”. By: Rev. 2. The commentators try to find ways to minimize his involvement and explain his reasoning much like you have. Yehudah HaLevi, the author of the Kuzari, written in the 12th century, discusses the sin of the Golden Calf at length. Therefore, perhaps his deeds are mitigated somehow. Thinking that Moses was dead, the people panicked as they were now alone in the wilderness with no leader and no intermediary between themselves and God (see Aliza’s comment above). Except that the Israelites hadn’t received this commandment. 26 The sin of the golden calf was a “decree of … God certainly held the people accountable for their corruption (Exodus 32:7–10) and was ready to destroy them for their sin. It shows man’s inherent weakness and God’s justice and compassion and also portrays Moses as both slayer and mediator and a means of atonement. The sin of the Golden Calf was one of the spiritual nadirs of the early history of the Children of Israel, and it was seized upon by Christianity in its attempt to both demonstrate the stiff-necked nature of the Jewish people and rationalize that fulfillment of the Torah's commandments was required only for those who had sinned with the Calf. Verses 29 & 30 remind me of how sin coucheth at the door (Gen 4:7) as both speak of brother against brother and a blessing for those who comprehend their sin. Once he realized the sin committed, he tried to rectify by building an altar and proclaiming that, “To-morrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” I think this was prophetic because TODAY is the Day for turning to the Lord in repentance. If we don’t know the true God, we will make our own deities. The steps in the sin are noted in the narrative. from the University of Chicago. The Sin of the Golden Calf. The biggest problem with their sin, according to HaLevi, is that they decided through their own design how to best serve God, when serving God is about obedience, and serving Him through methods He has commanded. He then takes the golden calf and melts it down. By Rav Amnon Bazak . Golden calf, idol worshipped by the Hebrews during the period of the Exodus from Egypt in the 13th century bc and during the age of Jeroboam I, king of Israel, in the 10th century bc. The narrative of the Golden Calf, found in Ki Tisa, raises a wealth of questions about the nature of the sin, the motivations and emotions that precipitated it, and its far-reaching repercussions. Most telling is the fact that Aaron continues on to become the High Priest as if nothing had happened at all. Aaron’s actions seem indefensible, yet he continues to serve as High Priest even after the incident of the golden calf (indeed, he doesn’t even start to serve until after). I also think his explanation to Moshe of how he’d thrown the gold in the fire and a calf came out is quite plausible. He throws down the tablets, smashing them at the base of the mountain. Moses ascended Mount Sinai on the 7 th day of the Jewish month of Sivan with the stated intention of being gone for forty days and returning on the morning of the forty-first day. The Apis bull, Hathor or Osiris? Upon returning, Moses is very angered by the false idol they have created and destroys both the tablets given to him and their Golden Calf. The story of the golden calf, the greatest scandal of the wilderness period, is recalled in Deuteronomy 9:9‑21 (Parashat Eikev), based on the fuller account in Exodus 32 (Parashat Ki Tissa). 32:4; עֶגְלֵי זָהָב I Kings 12:28), the golden image made by Aaron at the behest of the Israelites and venerated near Mount Sinai (Ex. Everything was going so well: The Exodus from Egypt, the Splitting of the Red Sea, the pillar of fire, the cloud, water from the rock. The Sin of the Golden Calf. Then would he melt the gold and produce a calf from it. Many commentators also struggle, as you do, with the fact that people fell into sin … So the king took counsel and made two golden calfs. Golden Calf Idolatry vs. Carved Cherubim on Ark of the Covenant While the Calf was condemned as gross idolatry, the Ark was a permitted non-idolatrous religious image, sanctioned by … Designed for both Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike, The Israel Bible offers a unique commentary that seeks to explain God’s focus on the Land of Israel alongside the original Hebrew text, transliteration of select Hebrew verses, and the New Jewish Publication Society translation. Among his many books are, The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis, The Promise to the Patriarchs, and Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness. Why do you think Aaron did what he did? Rabbi Knopf offers a fresh take on a story you thought you knew in his Shabbat message for Parashat KI Tisa. In other words, prior to the sin of the golden calf the Shechinah was prepared to dwell within every Jew; every Jew would have been his own personal Mishkan. At first glance, the sin ruined all of God’s plans. The people have done a very bad thing. Moses had disappeared into the cloud-enveloped heights of Mount Sinai. His first sin was listening to the people and his subsequent sin(s) were his actions. After an extended break, the narrative returns to the people, awaiting Moses at the base of the mountain. Now fully appreciating the gravity of their actions, Moses returns to the mountain to again ask God’s forgiveness on behalf of the people. He mentions that the sin was not replacing God, but since they saw Moshe go up the mountain with no food or water, and was there for forty days, they were worried that he died, and they were looking for a medium for them to connect to God. God accepts. Many (perhaps all) participated in the sin, but God limited the penalty to those who possibly instigated it. Each year, as I consider this matter of the golden calf and Aaron’s explanation to Moshe as to how it happened, I find it curious that Aaron is never directly condemned by Elohim for his part in this. "Into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay" (Prayer book Version). Once we turn and repent TODAY, To-morrow is the new beginning we hope for–Restoration to God and to each other.Where the priest, sinned, the prophetic utterance offered a way out of the mess Israel had just gotten themselves into. Praise HIM Who keeps me in HIS Way!! The Sin of the Golden Calf. The sin was the sin of idolatry, violation of the first commandment. 1. Rashi explains that the sin of the Golden Calf originated in a misunderstanding. It always makes me wonder what hope I have of maintaining my faith when I have only HIS Word to cling to in this day. Also, the people were not substituting the golden calf for the worship of the one true God, but using artificial means of man’s design and making to worship Him. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard and an M.A. What the calf represented is debated by scholars. We have, perhaps, gotten used to the idea that women are absent from many of the pivotal stories of the Torah. Note - 1. 32 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods that will go before us. Once they made it to the other end unharmed, God drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea. https://www.patreon.com/GodsBeforeHimWho was the golden calf of the book of Exodus? So many miracles! I think that he was trying to work out the situation in the best way that he could with the resources he had at hand. R. Tuck . This incident is full of lessons. They notice that Moses is late in returning, and they turn to his brother Aaron, asking him to build a new messenger to replace the missing Moses. The sin of the golden calf and the laws pertaining to the errant woman share the common themes of adultery and the imbibing of a potentially deadly elixir. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Forty days and nights would elapse before his return. The Israel Bible points out that Moses was concerned should God wipe out the people and start over with him, as He suggested, the promise to the forefathers to give their descendents the Holy Land might no longer be binding. 1. Moses tells the Israelites they have "sinned a great sin" and seeks atonement from God. While God certainly showed mercy here in this situation, it should also be remembered that this legacy of not fulfilling God’s commands was passed down to Nadab and Abihu upon whom judgment fell thus acting as a punishment to Aaron as well, The Israel Bible is the world’s first Tanakh (Bible) centered around the Land of Israel, the People of Israel, and the dynamic relationship between them. How could they not? They had made for them "a molten calf" (ver. He first commands the people to bring their jewelry. In fact, the Talmud states that at that point in time, the Jewish people were entirely righteous, insusceptible to sin. 10:5; 11:2). In addition to the Shabbat in the respective parashiot Ki Tisa and Ekev, sections of it are read on the four “minor” fast days both in … The Ten Commandments happen in Exodus 20. GOLDEN CALF (Heb. At this time, he contributed regularly to local scholarly journals authoring dozens of original expositions and ruminations in Hebrew. Moses was still on the mountain with God when the golden calf happened. The comments below do not necessarily reflect the beliefs and opinions of The Israel Bible™. The Sin of the Golden Calf. Images of bulls and calves were common in Near Eastern religions. Golden calf, idol worshipped by the Hebrews during the period of the Exodus from Egypt in the 13th century bc and during the age of Jeroboam I, king of Israel, in the 10th century bc. Then in the desert, as Moses was on Mount Sinai retrieving the 10 Commandments, the Israelites did what we often see in the Old Testament. May 31, 2018 - Explore Alice Faye's board "Golden calf" on Pinterest. You mention such an interesting point. Moses’ personal intercession on behalf of his people saved them. He knew that which they were asking was wrong and tried to delay the whole process by asking the gold from the women. The calf first appears in the time of Moses (Ex 32), but golden calves were also worshipped in Northern Israel during the monarchy. Mentioned in Exodus 32 and I Kings 12 in the Old Testament, worship of the golden calf is seen as a supreme act of The sin of the Golden Calf divides Parashat Ki Tisa into two parts – before the sin and after it. When Moses goes to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, the Israelites create a Golden Calf to worship from their impatience of his absence. I can see him throwing the gold into the fire and it congealing into a glob as it melted. According to the Mishna, Aaron was a peace-maker. However, the sin of the golden calf is one such motif for its role in Israel’s apostasy at Sinai (Exod 32), the “sin of Jeroboam” in making golden calves at Dan and Bethel (1 Kgs 12), and Hosea’s condemnation of the “calf of Samaria” (Hos 8:6; cf. Hi Kevin, welcome to the discussion! They have violated the first words of YHWH’s law, given through the prophet: to not make any silver or gold representations of YHWH. The Sin of the Calf:‎ The Rise of the Bible’s Negative Attitude toward the Golden Calf A gold cultic statue of a young bull, whose worship the biblical authors condemned. He said to the people, ‘You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. God concedes to Moses’s argument and allows him to take the stone tablets to the people. At some unspecified time before that, the congregation became restless. The Golden calf If 600,000men left Egypt only 3000 were punished. Therefore the men who worshiped the calf was very very few. Prof. Joel Baden is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale University. The Levites stood with him and were commanded to go … Moses’ ascent of Mount Sinai (and the ensuing sin of the golden calf), is preceded in Exodus by instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle’s ritual laver (Ex.30:17-21). In Hebrew, the incident is known as ḥēṭ’ ha‘ēggel (חֵטְא הַעֵגֶּל) or the Sin of the Calf. Why do you think he is permitted to serve as High Priest after this? The sin of the Golden Calf was man’s futile attempt to grasp what man cannot grasp. What was in the air when a nation that just experienced the greatest moment in human history fell so far, so fast? The two fundamental sins noted in the Torah are the sin of the Golden Calf on the 17th of Tammuz, and the sin of the Spies on Tisha B’Av. Medically, it is well known that people who have sexual encounters with dozens of male and female strangers over short time periods will have compromised immune systems. Mentioned in Exodus 32 and I Kings 12 in the Old Testament, worship of the golden calf is seen as a supreme act of apostasy, the rejection of a faith once confessed. The sages discuss Aaron’s role in the sin at great length. As well, as Diana mentioned, when he sees the calf, and the reaction of the people, he declares the next day as a holiday for God. 2 So Aaron said to them, “Break off the gold earrings that are on the ears of your … 32 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods that will go before us. In Canaanite literature, the chief god El is sometimes called a b… They had just left Egypt, a culture full of worshiping gods through the tangible here on earth, and the Israel Nation was searching for a physical representation of God on earth, through which they could connect to Him. Aaron was complicit in breaking a commandment of God.Though he made the calf and the altar and declared a feast, he was not the actual instigator and was one of the many who received mercy. The incident of the Golden Calf is one of the most perplexing in all of Chumash. Upon returning, Moses is very angered by the false idol they have created and destroys both the tablets given to him and their Golden Calf. Sometimes, we just have to do the best we can in difficult situations. [4] Although it is true that the calves are presented as their own sin (see e.g., 2 Kings 17:16), it would seem that the biblical authors, having decided that the only proper worship of YHWH was that which took place in Jerusalem, polemicized against non-centralized worship by describing it as idolatrous, at least rhetorically. (#8) "THE SIN OF THE GOLDEN CALF" I. Israel's Terrible Sin A. "A Miserable Bride" The Gemara (Gittin 36b) records the words of Ula: "It is a miserable bride who prostitutes herself under the very wedding canopy," commenting on the verse – "While the King was still at His banquet, my nard gave forth its fragrance" (Shir Ha-Shirim 1:12). He therefore pleads with God to be merciful and spare the people. February 20, 2019 February 20, 2019 SiteAdmin Hebrew, Judaism, Tanach, Theology. That is 5% of the total or out of 100 men only 5 died. Aaron asks the people to gather gold jewellery from their wives and children. As with any other sin, the punishment is death, and the only proper response is repentance. Then he grinds it into powder. This centrality is further evident from the amount of times a part of this story appears as one of the official Torah readings for holidays, making it the most frequent story read in synagogue in the course of the year. Class 12: Explaining the Inexplicable: The Sin of The Golden Calf, Part 1 – How could they do it? by Rabbi Pinchas Kasnett. 32 [] When the people saw that Moses delayed [] in coming down [] from the mountain, they [] gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, [] make us gods [] that will go before us. [1] Editor’s note: for a different approach to this problem, see Deena Grant, “What Was the Golden Calf?” TheTorah.com (2013). The Law of the Goring Ox: Is It Neutered? Do Not Covet: Is It a Feeling or an Action? window.location.replace(""); 18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that … Exodus 32 relates that the Israelites, anxious about Moses' prolonged absence, demanded that *Aaron provide a god to lead them. The reason it happened was because he hadn’t come back and the Israelites were getting worried. See more ideas about golden calf, bible class, bible lessons. This was a terrible and serious departure from God. Everything was going so well: The Exodus from Egypt, the Splitting of the Red Sea, the pillar of fire, the cloud, water from the rock. Read 2 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. In Egypt, a bull, Apis, was sacred to the god Ptah and emblematic of him. The craftsmen that came out of Egypt were used to working with Gold and therefore copper was added to give the calf strength. In hopeless defence he said that a calf suddenly appeared out of the fire (kind of witchcraft) and last but not least he tried to delay all by promising a festival after building an altar for HaShem next to the golden idol. - … The Sin of the Golden Calf? Although this verse makes no distinctions between any of these episodes, two out of these ten incidents were particularly severe. It seems in Exodus 32:5 that Aharon felt remorse that he followed the desires of the people to make a graven image. The text twice repeats that the laver served the purpose of preventing death. When Moses goes to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, the Israelites create a Golden Calf to worship from their impatience of his absence. He confronts his brother for leading the people astray, and calls upon all those who are for God to join him; the Levites join Moses and enact God’s justice among the people. I like Kevin’s thought that perhaps he was trying to do the right thing in his heart by keeping the peace. It is first mentioned in Exodus 32:4. There are 3 different punishments stated for the sin of the Golden Calf, two of which are ambiguous in nature. Psalm 106:19, 20 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.… They changed their glory for the likeness of an ox that eateth grass (Revised Version). TheTorah.com is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.We rely on the support of readers like you. The making of the golden calf, as a violation of the Covenant Collection is, therefore, also a rejection of the entire sequence to that point: the theophany, the experience of hearing the Decalogue, the establishment of Moses as prophet, the thrice-repeated agreement to follow whatever laws Moses might transmit to them from YHWH, the law-giving proper, and the covenant ceremony. Thus, through these two sins, Benei Yisrael negated the central purposes of their redemption from Egypt. Images of bulls and calves were common in Near Eastern religions. In the light of this, I don’t feel like I have any right to condemn him either. When man assumes there is a sensory connection between God and the physical, man forfeits his purpose. When Moses arrives in the camp and sees what God saw, he is incensed. While his actions were WRONG, his heart was RIGHT, and God looks on the heart. Of course, as the leader in Moshe’s absence, he would be questioned by his brother as to how he had allowed this to happen, but Moshe doesn’t speak against Aaron after the explanation is given. Something went wrong while submitting the form. The stark contrast between what was transpiring atop Sinai, and the people’s transgression at the foot of the mountain. Regarding the sin of the golden calf, the psalmist laments, "They forgot God who saved them, who performed great deeds in Egypt" (v.21), while regarding the sin of the spies, he asserts, "They rejected the desirable land" (v.24). They got impatient. And so the people stand back while Moses approaches the mountain to receive the laws—the laws of the Covenant Code. Except that the Israelites hadn’t received this commandment. The sin of the Golden Calf divides Parashat Ki Tisa into two parts – before the sin and after it.. At first glance, the sin ruined all of God’s plans. What was the sin of the golden calf? https://www.patreon.com/GodsBeforeHimWho was the golden calf of the book of Exodus? Therefore the golden calf was a sin because it violated the commandment given in Exodus 20. Having seen Trump’s reality show, and apparently pining to worship a thing or person more material than God, these Trump worshipers have committed their own sin of the golden calf. Facebook ; Twitter ; Pinterest ; LinkedIn ; Email ; Bio; Latest Posts; Rabbi Mendel Kaplan. The story of the golden calf is a story of sin and forgiveness, of rebellion and mercy, of disobedience and reconciliation. Born in 1971 in Norfolk, Virginia, Rabbi Kaplan attended Ivy League Yeshiva Schools in New York City during his adolescence. (1) They approached Aaron with a demand to make them "a god." As for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!”. The Sin of the Golden Calf. The Sin of the Golden Calf. THE PEOPLE'S SIN. The golden calf worshippers were engaging in nonstop sexual orgies that would make even the most godless peoples and nations around them blush in horror at what they were hearing. The story of the golden calf, the greatest scandal of the wilderness period, is recalled in Deuteronomy 9:921 (Parashat Eikev), based on the fuller account in Exodus 32 (Parashat Ki Tissa). The story of the golden calf is told twice in the Torah: Exodus 32, told through the voice of the omniscient narrator, is the version that is read in synagogue in the aforementioned days; it is repeated in Deuteronomy 9—10 in the voice of Moses, who reminds the Israelites at the Plains of Moab of their earlier sin. Odd event took place after the Israelites ’ preeminent sin, although attempts are made: a thought knew... First commands the people accountable for their sin approaches the mountain takes the calf! Kaplan attended Ivy League Yeshiva Schools in New York City during his adolescence Moses ' prolonged absence demanded... Species of disgraceful revelry ( ver of Mount Sinai have, perhaps, gotten used to working with and... Famous story of the golden calf was a sin because it violated the given. 20, 2019 SiteAdmin Hebrew, Judaism, Tanach, Theology his hope in the camp sees! 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