He made two golden calves. The iconography of the ancient Near East
has clarified the position of these much-maligned cult objects. A variety of
animals is attested as serving as stands and pedestals for the gods, who appear
in human form astride the backs of their brutish servants; cf. ANEP 470–74,
486, 500–501, 522, 531, 534, 537. In Canaanite mythology, the bull is
associated with the chief deities, El and Baal, and bull figurines have been
recovered in cultic contexts (A. Mazar 1982; note should be taken of the
difficulty in distinguishing between bull and calf figurines and in specifying
the deity represented; Fleming [1999] has explored the issue of the association
of the head of the pantheon with the adult bull and the second-generation deity
with the calf). Yet Jeroboam’s choice of a calf (n.b.: it has become
fashionable in some circles to translate “young bull” on the basis [?] of Ps
106:19) is likely linked to Israelite tradition and the calf built by Aaron
(related in Exod 32), both in its form and function. In the desert tale, the
calf was meant to attract YHWH to a new resting place within the camp, luring
the deity back after the long absence of Moses, which broke off the
communication between YHWH and Israel. This tradition, though denigrated in the
present Pentateuchal rendition, may well have been known in Northern Israelite
circles in a positive form and thus have served Jeroboam in promoting a cult
independent of the Jerusalem Temple and its cherub figures. In 2 Kgs 17:16, the
calves are described as “molten images,” as is the calf in Exod 32:4, 8; cf.
also 1 Kgs 14:9. (Mordechai Cogan, I Kings: A New Translation
with Introduction and Commentary [AYB 10; New Haven: Yale University Press,
2008], 358)
Calf or bull images are frequently associated with Baal in Canaanite
religion as a means to depict strength, virility, or fertility. Similar images
are attributed to YHWH, who is described as ʾābîr
yaʿăqōb, “the mighty one/bull of Jacob,” in Gen 49:24; Isa 49:26; 60:16; Ps
132:2, 5, or ʾābîr yiśrāʾēl, “the
mighty one/bull of Israel,” in Isa 1:24. The charge of Jeroboam’s apostasy
serves Judean polemical interests. His use of the golden calves did not depict
YHWH or any other god per se, but the mount on which YHWH rides. In similar
fashion, the ark in the Jerusalem temple symbolized YHWH’s throne or footstool
on which YHWH was seated (1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; Isa 66:1; see Jones 258). The
sites of Beth El and Dan are both well known. Beth El, identified with the
modern village of Beitin, approximately 10.5 miles north of Jerusalem to the
northeast of Ramallah, saw continuous occupation at the beginning of the Middle
Bronze Age (ca. 1800 b.c.e.). Much of the early remains were discovered at a
Middle Bronze I sanctuary on the site, although the site of the Israelite
sanctuary has not yet been located. Originally known as Luz (Judg 1:22–25),
Beth El has a sordid reputation in the Hebrew Bible associated with deception
and remorse. The Israelites take Ai (Beth El?) only after splitting their
forces to deceive Ai’s inhabitants into coming out into the open (Josh 8). A
similar act of deception ensures the conquest of Beth El in Judg 1:22–25.
Judges 2:1–5 refers to Beth El as a site of Israel’s weeping (Hebrew, Bochim),
and Judg 20:18 identifies it as the site where Israel decides to wage war
against Benjamin. Second Kings 17:28 identifies Beth El as the site of worship
for gentiles brought to the northern kingdom by the Assyrians, and 2 Kgs
23:15–20 relates Josiah’s destruction of the Beth El altar as part of his reforms.
(Marvin A. Sweeney, I &
II Kings: A Commentary [The Old Testament Library; Louisville, Ky.:
Westminster John Knox Press, 2013], 177)