Whether the intention of the people is to replace Moses or Yahweh (or
both) as their leader, it is clear that the golden calf must be interpreted as
a physical representation of divine presence similar in both form and function
to those discussed in Part I, and to the ark in Numbers 10 (see below). The use
of the vanguard motif is already an indication of this, for we have seen it
used with similar cultic objects in literary descriptions of liturgical
processions. This also fits with the picture drawn by vss. 5-6, which may well describe
an ordinary religious festival rather than a wild orgy. However, as we have
seen, more tellingly evidence comes from archaeology. The credit for the
application of this evidence to Exodus 32 does primarily to Otto Eissfeldt who,
in 1940, referred to a considerable number of iconographic studies in support
of his suggestion that the golden calf was in fact a standard or emblem to a
number of figures from Mari that depict a victory procession being led by one
figure who is carrying a bull emblem mounted on a staff (hence, a standard; see
our Illustrations, Fig. 5). More recently, this evidence has been supplemented
by the discovery of bull standards at Ugaritic, and the connections with Exodus
32 have been confirmed by C. F. A. Schaeffer. In short, we may conclude that
the golden calf in Exodus 32 bears a striking resemblance to the divine
standards and emblems in the Mesopotamian texts. It was clearly intended to
serve as a physical representation—indeed, a permanent guarantee—of the
presence of the God who had appeared on Mt. Sinai, and was also to provide guidance
to the promised land. (Thomas W. Mann, Divine Presence and Guidance in
Israelite Traditions: The Typology of Exaltation [Baltimore, Md.: The John Hopkins
University Press, 1977], 155)
Here are the
images of bull standards found on ibid., 267-68:
