Golden calf
Idol in the Bible / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
According to the Torah and the Quran, the golden calf (Hebrew: עֵגֶל הַזָּהָב, romanized: ʿēḡel hazzāhāḇ) was a cult image made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as "the sin of the calf" (Hebrew: חֵטְא הָעֵגֶל, romanized: ḥēṭəʾ hāʿēḡel). It is first mentioned in the Book of Exodus.[1]
This article uses texts from within a religion or faith system without referring to secondary sources that critically analyze them. (June 2024) |
Bull worship was common in many cultures. In Egypt, whence according to the Exodus narrative, the Israelites had recently come, the Apis was a comparable object of worship, which some believe the Hebrews were reviving in the wilderness.[2] Alternatively, some believe Yahweh, the national god of the Israelites, was associated with or pictured as a sacred bull through the process of religious assimilation and syncretism.[3] Among the Canaanites, some of whom would become the Israelites,[4] the bull was widely worshipped as the sacred bull and the creature of El.[5]