The Bible Book

85

See also: The Ten Commandments 78–83 ■ Balaam’s Donkey 89 ■

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal 125

EXODUS TO DEUTERONOMY

for the Israelites’ actions are offered

in the works of medieval Jewish

commentators Rashi, Nahmanides,

and Abraham Ibn Ezra. Rashi

argues that the golden calf was

intended as an alternative god.

Without Moses, the Israelites had

lost their link with God and wanted

a physical deity to worship.

Nahmanides, however, suggests

the calf was supposed to replace

Moses as the Israelites’ conduit to

God, whereas Ibn Ezra contends

that the golden calf acted as

nothing more than a pedestal, on

which God was invisibly present.

Whatever the reasoning behind

Aaron orders the people to

melt down gold earrings

to make the calf.

The metal is not

mentioned—instead,

the idol is a “molten” calf.

The sons of Levi rally when

Moses calls them. They kill

3,000 people in the camp

and are appointed for sacred

duty due to their zeal.

Deuteronomy 10:8–9

notes only that the sons

of Levi are appointed

as God’s priests

“at that time.”

According to Exodus, the

Israelites create idols in

their panic because Moses

is so long returning from

the mountain.

Exodus places blame on

Aaron for building the

golden calf and letting the

people run amok. His

pardoning is not explained.

Deuteronomy says that

Moses intervenes for

Aaron with God, but not

what Aaron has done to

require this intervention.

Deuteronomy makes no

mention of Moses’s

delay in returning

from Mount Sinai.

Exodus Deuteronomy

them, the Israelites’ idolatrous

actions anger Moses. He persuades

God not to punish them as severely

as He had first intended, and

climbs down Mount Sinai to

confront them. To illustrate the

betrayal their actions have

constituted, Moses smashes the

tablets bearing the commandments,

then destroys the golden calf.

The prophet returns

Moses is determined to punish

the Israelites himself for their

transgression. The tribe of the

Levites responds to his rallying call

for those faithful to the Lord, and he

The role of the Levites

Descended from Levi, the

son of Jacob and Leah,

the Levites include Moses,

Aaron, and their sister Miriam.

Following the incident with

the golden calf, the entire

tribe is set apart by God

because their actions showed

their loyalty to the Covenant.

The Levites’ special role is

confirmed in Numbers 1, when

God tells Moses not to number

them among the other tribes.

All of the priests in the Old

Testament are descendants of

Aaron, and are sometimes

called the Aaronide priests.

Some of the most important

include Ezra, Eli, and

Zechariah, the father of John

the Baptist. Those Levites

who are not priests are

assigned specific duties

to do with the Tabernacle.

They also interpret the law.

orders them to “go back and forth

through the camp,” slaughtering

the idolaters. Some 3,000 perish

at their hands. This, however, is

not their only punishment: God

also strikes them with a plague

“because of what they did with

the calf Aaron had made” (Exodus

32:35). In a recurring theme in

the Old Testament, disobedience

brings disaster for the Israelites.

It might be thought that the

Israelites would learn from their

mistake, but this is not the case.

Baal, Ashtoreth, and Molech are

among three of the false gods they

later choose to worship. ■

Deuteronomy 9–10 also records the

golden calf story. However, many of the

details of Exodus 32–34 are absent and

the account does not dwell on the role

of Aaron.

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