Exodus 32: A Golden Misunderstanding

The sin of the golden calf requires more than a short blog post to discuss. The dynamic between Moshe, Aaron and the people is one aspect that is integral to understanding the story. This dynamic is best compared to Plato’s Cave. In this allegory, there are people trapped in a cave who only see a shadow play on the wall. Their entire reality is based on this “show.” One day, a man escapes and sees the real world. He comes back to the cave and tries to tell people about the “real world.” Because the people lived exclusively in the cave, they could only comprehend things in reference to the shadows.The Israelites are the people in the cave. They just spent generations enslaved in Egypt. They were immersed in the culture and would have had a deep understanding of Egyptian mythology. Moshe is the person who left. He has a full outlook on life outside Egypt. Aaron is in between. He was not as free as Moshe, but he was also not fully in the cave like the people. So when the people approach Aaron in a panic, Aaron tries to talk to them in a language they would understand without realizing the consequences.The people are concerned that without Moshe they are lost. Aaron tries to answer their concern:“This he... cast in a mold, and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” (Exodus 32:4)וַיְקַח מִיָּדָם וַיָּצַר אֹתוֹ בַּחֶרֶט וַיַּעֲשֵׂהוּ עֵגֶל מַסֵּכָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלוּךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם׃In Egyptian mythology, the calf is the animal form of the goddess Nut. In the Book of the Heavenly Cow, which appears on the walls of the tombs of Seti, Rameses I, II, and III and King Tut, Nut as a cow carries Ra the sun god to the sky. Aaron may have been trying to show the people a calf without a rider to explain that God does not require Moshe. But the people do not understand. They think Aaron has made a god they recognize. Aaron in turn does not understand:“When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron announced: ‘Tomorrow shall be a festival of YHVH!’” (Exodus 32:5)וַיַּרְא אַהֲרֹן וַיִּבֶן מִזְבֵּחַ לְפָנָיו וַיִּקְרָא אַהֲרֹן וַיֹּאמֶר חַג לַה׳ מָחָר׃Notice how Aaron uses the Tetragrammaton but the people use the generic elohim. Aaron also delays the party until the next day when Moshe is meant to return thinking everything is fine. But when Moshe descends and it is clear that the people have misunderstood his message, Aaron has to explain himself:“So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off!’ They gave it to me and I hurled it into the fire and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:24)וָאֹמַר לָהֶם מִי־זָהָב הִתְפָּרָקוּ וַיִּתְּנוּ לִי וָאַשְׁלִכֵהוּ בָּאֵשׁ וַיֵּצֵא הָעֵגֶל הַזֶּה׃Aaron explains to Moshe that the people misunderstood his message. In the end, God agrees. At the end of the chapter the people are punished:“Then the LORD sent a plague upon the people, for what they did with the calf that Aaron made.” (Exodus 32:35)וַיִּגֹּף ה׳ אֶת־הָעָם עַל אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ אֶת־הָעֵגֶל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אַהֲרֹן׃