GOLDEN CALF. - A religious symbol which, at the request of the Israelites, Aaron (v.) had made near Sinai (Ex. 31:14) during the 40 days in which Moses remained on the summit (ibid. 24:18) in communication with God. Around it the people began a cult of a naturistic-orgiastic character (songs, dances), which was practiced by many ancient Eastern peoples, in particular the Canaanites.
Moses, having come down from the mountain and ascertained what was happening, in reaction dashed to the ground the tablets of the Law, which broke, then "he took the calf...", burned it, ground it, until it was reduced to powder, which he scattered on the water and gave the children of Israel to drink (ibid. 32, 20). This indicates that the qualifier "of gold" is to be understood in the sense that the expression has in other cases: of wood with metal plating (Is. 40, 19, 20; 44, 10-17; cf. Dan. 2, 33; 14, 6).
This calf was a symbol of Yahweh and the worship paid to it was intended as directed to Yahweh (cf. Ex. 32, 4, 5); likewise also later in the time of Jeroboam I (I Kings 12, 20 ff.) and generally in the "sanctuaries" of Bethel, Gilgal, Dan, Beer-sheba. It appears therefore that this is a symbology of pagan tendency, rather than idolatry: but the impurity of the idea in itself and the religious-moral deviations to which it immediately gave occasion in worship justify Moses' reaction against the calf and later the prophets' attacks against the resurgence of the symbol and the related cultic practices (Am. 8, 14; Hos. 8, 4-6; 10, 5-8; 12, 15-13, 4; etc.). The bull among many Orientals was taken as a symbol of the divinity by reason of its strength; this is the true sense of the choice of the image, which the memory of the Egyptian Apis (v.) is not likely to have influenced.