What Did the Golden Calf Represent?
The story of the golden calf, the greatest scandal of the wilderness period, is recalled in Deuteronomy 9:9‑21, based on the fuller account in Exodus 32. What the calf represented is debated by scholars. Images of bulls and calves were common in Near Eastern religions. In Egypt, a bull, Apis, was sacred to the god Ptah and emblematic of him. In Canaanite literature, the chief god El is sometimes called a bull, although this may be no more than an epithet signifying strength, and the storm god Baal sires an ox in one myth. A relief from Asia Minor shows two individuals worshiping at an altar before a bull. Figurines of bulls and calves have been found at several Canaanite sites. At least one was also found at an Israelite site, in the Samaria hills. In some of these, the bull or calf represents a deity–usually a storm god–directly. At other times it represents the deity’s mount, signifying the deity indirectly.
