What significance
would have attached to these calves? It is generally held that the calf (bull)
was intended as a throne or pedestal for the invisible deity above it. This
would provide an exact parallel to the ark (cf. Jer. 3:16f.) and correspond
with numerous iconographic conceptions of the deity. As Noth puts it,
As the ancient
Near East (in contrast to Egypt) knows no theriomorphic deities but only the
association of beasts with deities pictured in human form whose companions and
bearers they are, the “golden calves” of the royal sanctuaries of Jeroboam are
also surely meant merely as pedestals for the God who is imagined to be
standing invisibly upon them.
The situation is not,
however, so clear-cut. First, it is not the case that the ancient Near East knew no
theriomorphic deities or, at least, deities that could be theriomorphically
conceived. Animals were seen to embody a deity’s attributes such as strength,
speed or fertility, and an animal image could be the object of worship.
Secondly, the texts of Ex. 32, 1 Kg. 12 (and also the bull references in Hosea)
give no hint that the calves were conceived of as pedestals. Of course silence
does not exclude the possibility, and the portrayal of the calf as identified
with the deity may simply represent the Tendenz of the writer. Nonetheless the absence of
specific evidence should not be forgotten.
(R. W. L. Moberly, At the
Mountain of God: Story and Theology in Exodus 32–34 [Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 22;
Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1983], 165)