The Sin of the Calf: The Rise of the Bible's Negative Attitude Toward the Golden Calf

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The relationship of the biblical tradition to golden calf worship seems to be entirely negative. In the Torah and the Book of Kings, harsh criticism is wielded against the golden calf the Israelites made in the wilderness (Exod 32; Deut 9:7-10:11) and the calves erected by Jeroboam ben Nebat (1 Kgs 12:26-33) at Dan and Bethel during his reign over the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Hence, the question arises as to whether Jeroboam in truth set up the golden calves in order to buck the postulates of the Israelite religion of his time; that is, was Jeroboam's golden calf really meant to lure Israel into worship of other gods or idolatry The research into the background and factors which motivated negative attitudes towards the Golden Calf will provide an insight as to when prohibition of images in the Israelite religion became crystallized and how it was indispensable in proclamation of the monotheism of YHWH.

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The Sin of the Calf is a comprehensive study of one of the most important topics in the history of Israel's religion: the cult of the Calf that was practiced in the northern Kingdom for several centuries during pre-exilic times. Dr. Chung has considered this topic from every angle, examining the archeological evidence, the question of origins and influences, the religious phenomenology and the implications for the history of monotheism, monolatry and aniconism in Israel. Skillfully combining source-critical and tradition-critical study, he has arrived at a new and persuasive historical reconstruction of the circumstances leading to the rise of the Calf worship, its initial legitimacy, its erosion in the eyes of some of its practitioners, its subsequent condemnation in the prophetic-Elohistic tradition, its distortion in the eyes of the Deuteronomistic historian, and its echoes in later texts. --Baruch J. Schwartz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Author Bio

Youn Ho Chung, Ph. D. Hebrew University, Jerusalem,is Professor of Old Testament and Jewish studies at University of the Holy Land, Jerusalem as an adjunct professor since 2005.