עגל. The young of the ox kind. There is frequent mention in
Scripture of calves, because they were made use of commonly in
sacrifices. The “fatted calf,” mentioned in several places, as in 1 Sam.
xxviii, 24, and Luke xv, 23, was stall fed, with special reference to a
particular festival or extraordinary sacrifice. The “calves of the
lips,” mentioned by Hosea, xiv, 2, signify the sacrifices of praise
which the captives of Babylon addressed to God, being no longer in a
condition to offer sacrifices in his temple. The Septuagint render it
the “fruit of the lips;” and their reading is followed by the Syriac,
and by the Apostle to the Hebrews, xiii, 15. The “golden calf” was an
idol set up and worshipped by the Israelites at the foot of mount Sinai
in their passage through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. Having
been conducted through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud and fire,
which preceded them in their marches, while Moses was receiving the
divine commands that cloud covered the mountain, and they probably
imagined that it would no longer be their guide; and, therefore, applied
to Aaron to make for them a sacred sign or symbol, as other nations had,
which might visibly represent God. With this request, preferred
tumultuously, and in a menacing manner, Aaron in a moment of weakness
complied. The image thus formed is supposed to have been like the
Egyptian deity, Apis, which was an ox, an animal used in agriculture,
and so a symbol of the god who presided over their fields, or of the
productive power of the Deity. The means by which Moses reduced the
golden calf to powder, so that when mixed with water he made the people
drink it, in contempt, has puzzled commentators. Some understand that he
did this by a chymical process, then well known, but now a secret;
others, that he beat it into gold leaf, and then separated this into
parts so fine, as to be easily potable; others, that he reduced it by
filing. The account says, that he took the calf, burned it to powder,
and mixed the powder with water; from which it is probable, as several
Jewish writers have thought, that the calf was not wholly made of gold,
but of wood, covered with a profusion of gold ornaments cast and
fashioned for the occasion. For this reason it obtained the epithet
golden, as afterward some ornaments of the temple were called, which we
know were only overlaid with gold. It would in that case be enough to
reduce the wood to powder in the fire, which would also blacken and
deface the golden ornaments; but there is no need to suppose they were
also reduced to powder. It is plain from Aaron’s proclaiming a fast to
Yahweh, Exod. xxxii, 4, and from the worship of Jeroboam’s calves being
so expressly distinguished from that of Baal, 2 Kings x, 28–31, that
both Aaron and Jeroboam meant the calves they formed and set up for
worship to be emblems of Yahweh. Nevertheless, the inspired Psalmist
speaks of Aaron’s calf with the utmost abhorrence, and declares that, by
worshipping it, they forgat God their Saviour, (see 1 Cor. x, 9,) who
had wrought so many miracles for them, and that for this crime God
threatened to destroy them, Psalm cvi, 19–24; Exod. xxxii, 10; and St.
Stephen calls it plainly εἴδωλον, _an idol_, Acts vii, 41. As for
Jeroboam, after he had, for political reasons, 1 Kings xii, 27, &c, made
a schism in the Jewish church, and set up two calves in Dan and Bethel,
as objects of worship, he is scarcely ever mentioned in Scripture but
with a particular stigma set upon him: “Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin.”
Scripture of calves, because they were made use of commonly in
sacrifices. The “fatted calf,” mentioned in several places, as in 1 Sam.
xxviii, 24, and Luke xv, 23, was stall fed, with special reference to a
particular festival or extraordinary sacrifice. The “calves of the
lips,” mentioned by Hosea, xiv, 2, signify the sacrifices of praise
which the captives of Babylon addressed to God, being no longer in a
condition to offer sacrifices in his temple. The Septuagint render it
the “fruit of the lips;” and their reading is followed by the Syriac,
and by the Apostle to the Hebrews, xiii, 15. The “golden calf” was an
idol set up and worshipped by the Israelites at the foot of mount Sinai
in their passage through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. Having
been conducted through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud and fire,
which preceded them in their marches, while Moses was receiving the
divine commands that cloud covered the mountain, and they probably
imagined that it would no longer be their guide; and, therefore, applied
to Aaron to make for them a sacred sign or symbol, as other nations had,
which might visibly represent God. With this request, preferred
tumultuously, and in a menacing manner, Aaron in a moment of weakness
complied. The image thus formed is supposed to have been like the
Egyptian deity, Apis, which was an ox, an animal used in agriculture,
and so a symbol of the god who presided over their fields, or of the
productive power of the Deity. The means by which Moses reduced the
golden calf to powder, so that when mixed with water he made the people
drink it, in contempt, has puzzled commentators. Some understand that he
did this by a chymical process, then well known, but now a secret;
others, that he beat it into gold leaf, and then separated this into
parts so fine, as to be easily potable; others, that he reduced it by
filing. The account says, that he took the calf, burned it to powder,
and mixed the powder with water; from which it is probable, as several
Jewish writers have thought, that the calf was not wholly made of gold,
but of wood, covered with a profusion of gold ornaments cast and
fashioned for the occasion. For this reason it obtained the epithet
golden, as afterward some ornaments of the temple were called, which we
know were only overlaid with gold. It would in that case be enough to
reduce the wood to powder in the fire, which would also blacken and
deface the golden ornaments; but there is no need to suppose they were
also reduced to powder. It is plain from Aaron’s proclaiming a fast to
Yahweh, Exod. xxxii, 4, and from the worship of Jeroboam’s calves being
so expressly distinguished from that of Baal, 2 Kings x, 28–31, that
both Aaron and Jeroboam meant the calves they formed and set up for
worship to be emblems of Yahweh. Nevertheless, the inspired Psalmist
speaks of Aaron’s calf with the utmost abhorrence, and declares that, by
worshipping it, they forgat God their Saviour, (see 1 Cor. x, 9,) who
had wrought so many miracles for them, and that for this crime God
threatened to destroy them, Psalm cvi, 19–24; Exod. xxxii, 10; and St.
Stephen calls it plainly εἴδωλον, _an idol_, Acts vii, 41. As for
Jeroboam, after he had, for political reasons, 1 Kings xii, 27, &c, made
a schism in the Jewish church, and set up two calves in Dan and Bethel,
as objects of worship, he is scarcely ever mentioned in Scripture but
with a particular stigma set upon him: “Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin.”