In many sporting events, the referees use instant replay to determine correctly what happened on particular plays.
Using an “instant replay” approach to the initial events of the Golden Calf Incident (GCI) conclusively proves that the people did not make the calf to be a representation of YHWH.
By reading slowly and carefully through each row in this table and meditating on the comments for each row, the right interpretation of the correct identity of the golden calf in Exodus 32 is unmistakably made plain.
| Scene | Act | Scripture text | Comments |
| 1 | 1. The people saw
2. The people gathered
3. The people said |
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. |
YHWH is not in any way in view in any of the people’s actions in this scene.
Aaron’s much later statement in Act 13 about a feast to the LORD has no bearing on a right interpretation of what the people had in mind when they said what they said in Act 3 of this scene.
There is no basis to hold that the people asked Aaron to make a representation of YHWH. |
| 2 | 4. Aaron said | 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. | Aaron made no mention of YHWH in this scene.
His later statement in Act 13 about a feast to the LORD has no bearing on a right interpretation of this scene. |
| 3 | 5. The people broke off the earrings
6. The people brought the earrings |
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears,
and brought them unto Aaron. |
Yahweh is not in any way in view in any of the people’s actions.
His later statement in Act 13 about a feast to the LORD has no bearing on a right interpretation of this scene. |
| 4 | 7. Aaron received the earrings
8. Aaron made a molten calf 9. Aaron fashioned it with a graving tool
|
4 And he received them at their hand,
and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: |
Aaron made no mention of YHWH in this scene.
His later statement in Act 13 about a feast to the LORD has no bearing on a right interpretation of this scene. |
| 5 | 10. The people said | and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. | YHWH is not in any way in view in the people’s statement in this scene.
Aaron’s later statement in Act 13 about a feast to the LORD has no bearing on a right interpretation of what the people had in mind when they said what they said in Act 10. There is no basis to hold that the people said that the calf was YHWH who brought them out of Egypt. |
| 6 | 11. Aaron saw the calf
12. Aaron built an altar
13. Aaron made a proclamation and said |
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. |
Aaron made no mention of YHWH until he performed Act 13 in this scene.
Aaron’s statement in Act 13 about there being a feast to the LORD tomorrow has no relevance for a right interpretation of any of the previous Acts and statements in these scenes. |
To interpret the Golden Calf Incident correctly, it is essential to go carefully and slowly throughout the opening statements of the account and thereby come to the correct understanding that the people did not make the calf to be a representation of YHWH.
Aaron’s statement about there being a feast to the Lord on the next day (Exod. 32:5) has no bearing or relevance in rightly establishing the correct identity of the golden calf.
The people did not make the calf to be a representation of YHWH. They asked Aaron to make gods for them. The calf represented false gods and not YHWH.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
