Monday, June 9, 2025

Ignatius Study Bible vs. "Pedestal" Interpretation of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32

  

32:4 molten calf: Interpreters differ over whether this is an “idol” representing a foreign god or simply a “throne” symbolizing Yahweh’s presence among his people. Aaron’s announcement of “a fast to the LORD” in 32:5 is said to favor the latter interpretation, as is the fact that Near Eastern artwork depicts deities standing on pedestals made in the image of a lion or bull. However, other factors make it more probable that this is a brazen act of idolatry. (1) Israel is guilty, not only of forging a graven image in the likeness of a creature (in violation of 20:4), but of making “gods of gold” (32:31; in violation of 20:23). (2) The people worshiped “it” rather than the Lord on the following day (32:8). (3) Elsewhere in Scripture the participants are described as idolaters (1 Cor 10:7) who returned to the ways of Egypt (Acts 7:39-41; cf. Ezek 20:7-8). (The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, ed. Scott Hahn and Curtis J. Mitch [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2024], 164-65)

 

 

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