Golden Calf

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Medieval manuscript depiction of Moses seeing the Hebrews worshipping the golden calf.



Aaron made a golden calf for the Hebrews to worship when Moses disappeared for six weeks high atop Mt. Sinai. What was he thinking?!

Aaron probably did not think of the golden calf as an “idol,” per se. Often, the image of a calf or bull was thought to be the throne of a god; the god was seated in the empty space between the horns of the animal. When God gave directions for making the ark of the covenant, he promised that his glory would dwell atop the ark, between the two cherubim at each end of the ark’s lid; this was a very similar idea to what Aaron probably thought he was doing. He was making a throne for God, whom his brother Moses had gone up the mountain to meet.

Why a calf rather than a bull? A calf—a young cow—might have reminded Aaron of Hathor, the goddess of Egypt who was a maternal figure, nurturing and sustaining the people. She fed the people, much as God fed the Hebrews with quail and manna. She helped people cross from life to death, not so unlike the Lord delivering the Hebrews through the Red Sea. (Hathor was the great Mother before Isis was.) She was also associated with the land of Canaan—exactly the place the Hebrews hoped to journey to through the wilderness. Maybe Aaron thought that Hathor’s cow horns would be an appropriate throne for the God of Israel.

This might explain what Aaron did but does it excuse what he did? Although he made the calf, he was not subjected to the consequences and punishment for worshiping the calf—he was not forced to drink the gold dust water and he was not killed by the Levites when Moses came back to the Hebrew camp. So Moses might have understood Aaron’s motivation although disagreeing with his brother’s behavior.

How do we make a golden calf for ourselves? How do our motives seem reasonable though our actions are not? How do we accidentally make idols for ourselves or others? Anytime we let something—even a good thing, such as providing for our families—become the most important thing in our lives, we have constructed an idol. We make a throne for God in our hearts but then the throne itself is mistaken for the One who is enthroned.

Read more about the golden calf here and here.

We Have Heard With Our Ears

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  • The proclamation of the Epistle on St. Luke’s day (photo by Kate Stronk)
  • St. James proclaims the decision of the apostolic council
  • Moses receives the Word to proclaim to the judges of Israel

When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. (Exodus 24:3-4)

Nowadays most Americans think their experience of God should be intellectual and cerebral. They expect to encounter God by reading or in a text. They discount the importance of their bodies when experiencing the divine. They often think that they cannot experience God except in their minds. Many are sure that what they think is more important than what they do.

Throughout the Bible, however, people do not encounter God by reading but by their hearing or with their eyes. Exodus 24 describes how the 70 leaders and judges of the Israelite clans gathered at Mt. Sinai heard Moses proclaim the covenant and commandments long before they were written down. On the foothills of Mt. Sinai, these 70 judges saw the same thing St. John saw in the Book of Revelation: the Lord enthroned in glory on a sapphire pavement brighter and more pure than the sky. They glimpsed eternity.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” He is that divine Word. It is by hearing that we encounter the Word made flesh and his words. Jesus told the apostles, “Many prophets longed to see what you see.” The apostles saw the Word made flesh. During the pandemic, we learned again about how important it is—that it is possible—to receive Holy Communion with our eyes when we cannot receive the Sacred Host in our mouths. 

We turn to God so that we can hear him. We open our eyes so that we can see him. In Psalm 40, King David says, “You have given me ears to hear you.” The epistle to the Hebrews quotes this, understanding Christ as the one whose ears hear what the Father says. The prophet Isaiah picks up on this theme as well, speaking for the Messiah: “The Lord God wakens my ear to hear as the learned” (Isaiah 50). What we hear, what we listen to you shapes and forms us in fundamental ways. Who we listen to reveals who we are and who we want to be.

The Word was meant to be heard, not read. This was due, in part, to widespread illiteracy and the difficulty of having books easily accessible. But even when more people can read and books are available, the Word is still meant to be heard. The Word is meant to be experienced viscerally, in our guts not just in our heads. Even when we pray —by ourselves in our rooms—the words of our prayer should be heard and not just recited in our heads; all the spiritual guides have always taught that we should move our lips and feel our breath forming the words of our prayer even if we cannot hear them. We pray with our whole bodies, not just our heads. Never just with our heads.

Listening to the Word of God, experiencing the divine with our ears forms us to be the Body we want to be. We want to hear the Word of God and keep it. We want to hear the Word of God and become that word ourselves. We need to practice listening on a daily basis and cut through the inner static or feedback we all have in our heads. Slowly reading a psalm every day helps us do this. Sitting quietly for a few minutes and saying the Jesus Prayer, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” (Luke 18:38) can help us do this. 

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

I am Sending my Angel

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  • Moses receiving the Law on Mt. Sinai from the Logos

See, I am sending my angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. (Exodus 23:20)

The Lord promises Moses that not just any angel but MY angel will lead the Chosen People to the Promised Land. This particular angel–named Metatron in Jewish folklore but sometimes also identified with Michael–would be the guardian angel of the people, just as each nation/language group–there were thought to be 70 or 72 such “nations”–had a guardian angel.

Christians understand this reference to MY angel, however, to be either the Holy Spirit or the Logos himself. (As Christians understand the Logos to be the divine Person speaking with Moses, it seems more consistent that the reference to “my angel” would be the Spirit rather than the Logos referring to himself in this way.) Almost all the appearances of “God” or “the Lord” in the Old Testament are understood to be the Logos, anticipating his coming among us; throughout the Gospel According to St. John, the point is made that no mortal has ever met or seen or experienced the Father–only the Son, who reveals the character of the Father by the Son’s self-revelation.

Prophets, such as Malachi, also refer to “God’s angel” in a way that Christians understand to be referring to the Logos. The angel who appeared in the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel is understood to be the Logos, the divine messenger sent to protect the three young men. As “angel” means “messenger,” it is one way that early Christians understood Christ: he is the divine messenger of the Father.

As theology became more sophisticated, Christians understood this understanding of Christ as an “angel” was inadequate. But many were reluctant to abandon theological language that had been in use since the earliest days. It was this adherence to a previous “orthodoxy” that came to be known as heresy–heresy meaning “choice” and it was a choice to reject the theological advances of the Church as she came to understand Christ more clearly.

Faithful adherence to Tradition or stubborn heretical obstinacy … a fine line divides these two attitudes. Only by faithful discernment, “listening,” can we distinguish between them as the Church adjusts her language so that the Gospel can be clearly understood in new times and places. The message must remain the same even as vocabulary changes.