Here’s a question Dex gave an answer to me quite some time ago, but I’d like to hear from other people as well. So when the Israelites escaped from Pharoah in Egypt, they were led by Moses and saw all the wonderful miracles God performed through Moses. Yet at some point in the desert, Moses ascends the mountain for forty days to spend time with God. Okay, what exactly were Moses and God talking about, other than the Ten Commandments? Which leads me to my main question: WHY in the world, after seeing all the miracles that God performed which led to their escape from slavery, did the ancient Israelites BUILD A GOLDEN CALF TO WORSHIP!?
That sounds like it would be the ultimate blasphemy. FYI—this post is NOT meant to be anti-semitic! In fact, one of my friends who happens to be Jewish brought it up to me quite some time ago. So have any rabbis ever addressed this? What are the thoughts of everybody here on the straight dope message board?
Moved to Great Debates from Cafe Society.
God and Moses were engaged in “ultimate pilpul.”
“You Shall Not Kill.”
“Okay, how do we sacrifice the animals you asked for.”
“You Shall Not Kill man.”
“Woman’s okay, then?”
“Work with me, Moses. You shall not kill people.”
“Self defense?”
“Okay, no murder.”
“Warfare?”
“No unjustified murder.”
“Looks good. I’m with ya. Now, about weaving with two fabrics…”
Forty days? You kidding? They’d be at it still!
OP, since when does having a question about biblical mythology require a pre-emptive “I’m not anti-semetic!” statement?
To the OP: Are you asking for an interpretation of the Bible or an explanation of what really happened?
Because an interpretation of this ancient religious text requires a Torah scholar, and we have several on the board, who I’m sure will be along shortly.
If you are asking what really happened, most likely nothing like the story, which is a fairy tale, a fantasy, a myth, not supported by history, archaeology, or any other good evidence. The Israelites weren’t captive in Egypt, didn’t escape the Pharoh, and didn’t wander in the desert for 40 years.
The Israelites were afraid that Moses wasn’t coming back, so they badgered Aaron until he agreed to make idols so that they might worship as they were used to. The calf may have been used (jumping out of the story) because bulls were associated with the Canaanite god El (who might be the forerunner to the Israelite deity), with worship in other cultures in the region, and with the cult of Apis in Egypt.
You have to understand that in those days miracles were a dime a dozen and the Israelites were just being pragmatic. It’s not like there was only one god back then; there were lots of them. Moses had abandoned them, so why not do some worshiping of one of the old gods, for insurance?
What they didn’t know was Yahweh was the jealous type. He was all like,“Don’t you know you’re the chosen people? If I can’t have you, NO ONE CAN!”
To a certain extent the reason for that story was to help the priests keep the people from worshiping the idols of their ancestors (and neighbors) and worship only as controlled from Jerusalem.
Heh. Someone finally manages not to post this sort of question on the Sabbath… and posts it on Rosh Hashanah instead.
First of all, let’s keep in mind that there is no archeological evidence that the Exodus ever took place. So, what we have here is a story told to people for a purpose, and that purpose can be served without the story being logically consistent. The story tells them that, no mater what, don’t go back to the old ways. You have only one God, and you need to have faith in Him.
just one rabbi’s ideas:
or, if you prefer–it was mob psychology. Haven’t you seen Monty Python’s Life of Brian. ? 
A huge mass of people who were hungry, unsure of their future, and simply scared— got all stressed out. Somebody in the crowd said “let’s do something–how 'bout build an idol like the ones we’re used to seeing in Egypt”, and everybody else just sorta joined in.
Why do I have to qualify my question? Because sadly in my experiences of life if I question people’s background, religion, nationality, racial stereotypes, etc. I too often have been the victim of the political correctness police badgering me and questioning my motivations, when all I wanted to do was ask a question, however simple or complex. Sorry to say, that is just the times we live in. One final thought on this: let’s please keep this the final thought on that subject. I don’t care to debate political correctness, and least not in this particular forum. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a separate forum for such debates.
Have a great day.
I would welcome the input of any Torah scholars here on the board. I would like to hear what they have to say on the subject.
Throughout the Bible, there is an implication that even seeing miracles isn’t enough to convince some people of the existence of God. Jesus later uses this to explain why he doesn’t perform miracles in Jerusalem, referencing these implications in the Hebrew Scriptures.
There’s also the fact that God hadn’t yet made it clear that he was the only God, just that he was superior. So they might not have even thought it was that big a deal. One god had deserted them (as they thought Moses was dead, he was gone so long), so they made another.
OP should clarify whether he’s asking
- Why would a myth maker add those details into a fictional myth?, or
- What was the historic basis for those details, assuming the myth was based on fact?
I think some otherwise inexplicable details in myths may arise because they really happened! I suspect that some of the Exodus story is based on fact, though the story is so extremely distorted that discerning the “real story” may be extremely difficult. In any event, the Hebrews’ clinging to gods other than Yahweh is “well documented,” and continued for many centuries after Moses.