ABSTRACT
The golden calves of the Old Testament are ambiguous creatures. It is clear that Aaron’s ‘graven image’ was a symbol of Yahweh (Metzger & Coogan 1993: 257), not the representation of an animal-god, a denial of the One God, despite Yahweh’s command to Moses that he should descend Mount Sinai and return to his people because they had corrupted themselves by worshipping ‘a molten calf’ (Exodus 32: 7). Aaron was the first of Israel’s high priests, and his choice of image is interesting, for the Israelites were sojourning in the wilderness, far away from domestic herds, and it may be that the making of the golden calf was designed to settle the unease of the travellers, to divert and comfort them and provide a symbolic focus for their feasting. The use of the people’s personal ornaments to make the image is also telling: by offering their earrings, they were engaging with the ritual, taking collective responsibility for the image’s production, contributing to the sacred act initiated by their temporary spiritual leader while Moses was communing with God.
