The Calf And The Dancing

"Moses then returned and came down from the mountain carrying in his hands the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets written on both sides, back and front.  These tablets were the work of GOD and the writing graven on the tablets was the writing of GOD.

When Joshua heard the noise of the people who were shouting he said to Moses, 'There is a sound of war in the camp.'  But Moses answered, 'It is not a victory song, nor the cry of defeat that I hear, but the sound of singing.'

When he drew near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burst forth and he threw down the tablets he was holding, shattering them at the foot of the mountain.  Then he seized the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, grinding it into a powder that he scattered over the surface of the water, and this he made the Israelites drink.

Moses said to Aaron, 'What did these people do to you that you brought such a great sin on them?'

And Aaron said, 'Don't let your anger be roused.  You know these people and how evil they are.  They said to me: 'Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.'  I then said to them that whoever had gold was to give it over to me.  I threw it in the fire and out came this calf!'

The next day Moses said to the people, 'You have committed a very grave sin, but now I am going up to YAHWEH; perhaps I will obtain pardon for your sin.'

So Moses went towards YAHWEH and said, 'Ah!  These people have committed a very great sin; they made a god out of gold.  And now please forgive their sin...  If not, blot me out of the book YOU have written.'

YAHWEH said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against ME, I will blot him out from MY book.  Go now!  Lead the people where I told you.  MY angel will walk before you and on the day of punishment I will punish them for their sin.'" - Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34 

(On going down, Moses hears the irresponsible answer of Aaron who lays the blame on the people.  Aaron has acted like an opportunist priest, anxious to please the people, but quickly forgetting the mission he has received from GOD, not from the people.  Let us recall that Aaron was the patron and model of the Jewish priests.  The priests who wrote these pages kept the teaching of Moses and claimed his authority but they were humble enough to present Aaron, their ancestor, as a common and sinful man, whose deeds did not match his high status.

The unfaithful people will not easily pay for their sin.  The different accounts mixed in this chapter do not agree regarding what actually happened.  The men of the tribe of Levi were more faithful and helped Moses to re-establish his authority: they started killing the guilty ones.

Many details in this story came from those who wrote these pages centuries later.  They were influenced by what happened in the sanctuaries of Bethel and of Dan, where king Jeroboam had yearling calves placed as images of YAHWEH [1 Kings 12:26].)

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