Description
According to the Bible, the golden calf (עֵגֶל הַזָּהָב ‘ēgel hazzāhāv ) was an idol (a cult image) made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as ḥēṭə’ hā‘ēgel (חֵטְא הָעֵגֶל) or "the sin of the calf". It is first mentioned in the Book of Exodus.
Bull worship was common in many cultures. In Egypt, whence according to the Exodus narrative the Hebrews had recently come, the Apis Bull was a comparable object of worship, which some believe the Hebrews were reviving in the wilderness; alternatively, some believe Yahweh, the national god of the Israelites, was associated with or pictured as a calf/bull deity through the process of religious assimilation and syncretism. Among the Canaanites, some of whom would become the Israelites, the bull was widely worshipped as the Lunar Bull and as the creature of El.
