Moses, the Golden Calf and His Death Just Short of the Promised Land | Middle East And North Africa

MOSES AND THE GOLDEN CALF

Worshipping the Golden Calf

The Israelites broke the Commandments and Moses was forced to use both persuasion and force to bring them back in line. Once God told Moses that he was ready to kill all these "stiff-necked people" (the Israelites) and "make you a great new nation" but Moses convinced God that it would be a waste of God's time and hard work.

Moses came down off Mt. Sinai and found his people worshipping a golden calf. Infuriated, he smashed the tablets with the Ten Commandments and had the calf ground into dust which he forced its worshipers to eat. In 1990, Harvard archaeologists working in the ancient city of Ashkelon unearthed a silver-plated bronze calf, a symbol of Baal, reminiscent of the huge golden calf mentioned in Exodus.

On God's order he returned to the mountain and once again the words were inscribed. He then returned to Mt. Sinai for another set of tablets with the Ten Commandments. This time God revealed himself to Moses (he showed Moses his back not his face).

Moses, a changed man after his encounter with God, descended from Mt. Sinai with a second set of Commandments. According to the Bible the Israelites "shrank from coming near him" and "the skin of his face shone ." For many centuries the Hebrew word meaning "shone" (“qaran” ) was translated as "horned" (“qeren” ), which gave rise to the Renaissance tradition of showing Moses with horns. The most famous horned statue is Michelangelo's "Moses" in Rome. The horns come from Vulgate and Aquila’s translation into Greek. A closer look at the oldest Hebrew translation indicated Moses face merely glowed from his encounter with God.

According to the BBC: “As soon as Moses has rescued Israel from Egypt and brought them to Sinai where they become God's people, things almost unravel. For while Moses is on the mountain with God receiving the law the people persuade his brother Aaron, who had clearly been left in charge, to make a golden calf to symbolize God's presence. They want to worship the calf, instead of God. Consequently the new relationship between God and Israel almost comes to an end. When Moses comes down from the mountain he symbolically smashes the stone tablets which contain the Ten Commandments, Israel's charter. Yet even so Moses does not give up on Israel, but prays for them and asks God to be merciful. He persists in this, and God responds favourably. (Exodus 33:19) [Source: BBC |::|]

“But even Moses gets caught up in a failure to heed God. The story of his failure is told in Numbers 20:2-13. The consequence is that Moses is prohibited from entering the Promised Land with Israel. So he gives a long series of addresses in the book of Deuteronomy, explaining in depth the dynamics of God's relationship with Israel. Then, he ascends Mount Nebo, east of the river Jordan, from where God gives him a panoramic vision of the whole of the Promised Land; and there he dies, as he had lived, in God's presence (Deuteronomy 34). |::|

Websites and Resources: Bible and Biblical History: Bible Gateway and the New International Version (NIV) of The Bible biblegateway.com ; King James Version of the Bible gutenberg.org/ebooks ; Bible History Online bible-history.com ; Biblical Archaeology Society biblicalarchaeology.org ; Judaism Virtual Jewish Library jewishvirtuallibrary.org/index ; Judaism101 jewfaq.org ; torah.org torah.org ; Chabad,org chabad.org/library/bible ; Internet Jewish History Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu Christianity: BBC on Christianity bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity ; Christian Classics Ethereal Library www.ccel.org ; Sacred Texts website sacred-texts.com ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Christian Origins sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Biblical Images: Bible in Pictures creationism.org/books ; Bible Blue Letter Images blueletterbible.org/images ; Biblical Images preceptaustin.org

Exodus on Moses and the Golden Calf

Exodus: 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 32:2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 32:3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. [Source: King James Version of the Bible, gutenberg.org]

Moses destroys the Golden Calf

32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 32:5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

32:7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 32:8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

God Gets Angry Over the Golden Calf

Exodus 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 32:10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. [Source: King James Version of the Bible, gutenberg.org]

32:11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 32:12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 32:14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

Moses Breaks the Ten Commandment Tablets

Moses Breaks the Ten Commandements
Exodus 32:15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 32:16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 32:17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 32:18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. [Source: King James Version of the Bible, gutenberg.org]

32:19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 32:20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. 32:21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 32:22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.

32:23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 32:24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. 32:25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) 32:26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.

Golden Calf in the Muslim Story of Moses

According to Muslim beliefs: “Moses returned to earth with a heavy heart and found that, under the guidance of al-Samiri, his followers had begin to worship the image of a calf made out of their ornaments. More in sorrow than in anger, he chided them and asked why they had broken their pledge to him. They said that al-Samiri had asked them to throw their ornaments into a fire, out of which had come an effigy of a golden calf which made a lowing sound. [Source: BBC, September 4, 2009, jews-for-allah.org |::|]

“They were misled by this and began to worship the calf, believing that it was the God of Moses. Moses asked them if they were so naive to think that the calf had life? It could neither hear nor speak, nor do any good or harm to them. Aaron had warned them of the wrong they were doing, but they had insisted that until Moses returned they would continue to worship the calf.|::|

“Moses threw down the tablets, telling his people that they were not worthy of them. He dragged Aaron by the hair and asked him why he had flouted his command and not prevented his people from being misled. Aaron replied that the people had become so rebellious that they would have killed him had he tried to restrain them. Besides, he did not want to create a division in their ranks.|::|

“Moses asked God to forgive Aaron, and then turned to al-Samiri. 'Begone,' said Moses. 'You will remain an untouchable all your life, and hell shall be your destination.' Taking the effigy of the calf in his hands, Moses consigned it to the fire, which soon reduced it to ashes. He told the Israelites that he had been chosen as the messenger; God had said to him: O Moses! I have chosen you in preference to others, and entrusted you with the mission to convey My words as contained in My revelations to all the people around, and to join the ranks of these who are grateful to Me. [7:144]|::|

L'Adoration du Veau d'or by Nicolas Poussin

Moses Commands His People to Obey God

Exodus 32:27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. 32:28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 32:29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. [Source: King James Version of the Bible, gutenberg.org]

32:30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. 32:31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32:32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

32:33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 32:34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. 32:35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

33:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: 33:2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 33:3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.

33:4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. 33:5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. 33:6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

Jews Build a Tabernacle to Honor God

20120502-moses_serpent1 blueletterbible.org.jpg Exodus 33:7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. 33:8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. [Source: King James Version of the Bible, gutenberg.org]

33:9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. 33:10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. 33:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

33:12 And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. 33:13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. 33:14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 33:15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 33:16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

33:17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 33:18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 33:21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 33:22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Moses and the Promised Land

Moses views the Promised Land

After Mt. Sinai, Moses and the Israelites settled in a place called Kadesh-barnea for 38 years. Here the Israelites tended their flocks and waited or an opportunity to enter the Promised Land. From Kadesh-barnea, the Israelites took a circuitous route to the Promised Land. On the east bank of the Jordan River the defeated the Amorites and captured the city of Heshbon, which provided them with a passage into Canaan.

Forty years after leaving Egypt the Israelites finally entered the Promised Land in Canaan under Moses' second-in-command Joshua. Canaan was described in the Bible as a "land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates."

In Deuteronomy 11:24-25 God promised Moses: “Every spot on which your foot treads shall be yours; your territory shall extend from wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River — the River Euphrates — to the Western Sea [the Mediterranean]. No man shall stand up to you; the Lord Your God will put the dread and fear of you over the whole land in which you set foot, as he promised you.”

But Moses was not was allowed to enter it, only view it from Mt. Nebo in Moab. This was because God told him to bring forth water from a rock by speaking to it. Moses instead hit the rock with his staff, which he had used before to perform many miracles. God interpreted this as a breach of faith. Today any place there is a spring emanating from a rock tradition ascribes the phenomena to Moses.☼

Archaeologists have found evidence of a number of small settlements in the hills to the east and west of Jordan River that date to 1200 to 1000 B.C.”the period after the Exodus described in the Bible’s Book of Judges — that display cultural elements consistent with the Biblical accounts of the Israelites. For example, no pig bones were found, which suggest they didn’t eat pork, which the Israelites didn’t eat.

"During classical times," Rick Gore wrote in National Geographic, "all Palestine, including the Negev desert, was relatively lush, supporting as many as three million people. From 200 B.C. to A.D. 200 the Nabataean civilization terraced the hillsides of the Negev with canals to collect and store flood runoff. They produced bountiful harvests on only three to four inches of rain a year. But as ancient technologies were destroyed, Bedouin life became the only way to survive in the Negev. By the 1800s Palestine's population had fallen to 300,000. [Source: Rick Gore, National Geographic, November 1979]

Death of Moses

After being in desert for 40 years, just as the Israelites were finally approaching the land of Canaan. After gazing upon the Land of Canaan and climbing down from Mt. Nebo, Moses died at the age of a 120. Mt. Nebo is in Jordan east of the Dead Sea. The Israelites mourned his death for 30 days before entering Canaan. He was buried near Bethpeor, but no one knows his burial place. After Moses died and Joshua became the new leader of the Israelites.

Deuteronomy 34:1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, 34:2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 34:3 And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.

34:4 And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. 34:5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 34:6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

34:7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. 34:8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. 34:9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses. 34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 34:11 In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, 34:12 And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.

Joshua 1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, 1:2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

After Moses

The 12th-century B.C. successor to Moses was Joshua, who led the Israelite tribes in their conquest of the Promised Land. As described in the Bible, he was a combination of prophet, judge, and military leader. After Joshua's death, the people were governed by judges. With the exception of Deborah, these were not judges in the technical sense, but rather inspired leaders who arose in a crisis, guided by the Spirit of God. As temporary leaders, they generally had limited influence, so the period was one of political and social instability. [Source: Paul Mendes-Flohr Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, 2000s, Encyclopedia.com]

Samuel - who lived in the 11th century BC - was the last of the judges and a prophet who led Israel during a transitional period. Faced with a growing threat from the neighboring Philistines, conflict among the tribes of Israel, and the weak and corrupt leadership of the judges, the people called on Samuel to anoint a king over them. In accordance with God's will, Samuel anointed Saul, but only after warning the people of the disadvantages of a monarchy. In fact, Samuel was deeply disappointed in the king and secretly anointed David to replace Saul. Jewish tradition places Samuel on a par with Moses.

Image Sources: Wikimedia, Commons, Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bible in Bildern, 1860

Text Sources: Internet Jewish History Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “ Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions” edited by R.C. Zaehner (Barnes & Noble Books, 1959); “Old Testament Life and Literature” by Gerald A. Larue, New International Version (NIV) of The Bible, biblegateway.com; Wikipedia, National Geographic, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Times of London, The New Yorker, Reuters, AP, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2024