The Bible In Paintings, #39: THE GOLDEN CALF, Part 1

Bing Images ^ | c. 2000 BC -- c. 90 AD | Father, Son & Holy Spirit

[Hebrews 11:6]

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THE GOLDEN CALF

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E X O D U S . . 3 2
New International Version, emphases added
Abridged – the complete text is in your Bible

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1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”

18 Moses replied:

“It is not the sound of victory,
it is not the sound of defeat;
it is the sound of singing that I hear.”

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Fresco of the worship of the Golden Calf, from a synagogue in Syria, 244

“Israeli Children Dance Around the Golden Calf”

by NICOLAS POUSSIN
“Adoration of the Golden Calf”

by ANDREA DI LIONE
“Adoration of the Golden Calf”

by TINTORETTO
“The Worship of the Golden Calf”

by JAN STEEN
“Worship of Golden Calf”

by FRANS FRANCKEN II
“Worship of the Golden Calf”

by FRANCOIS PERRIER
“Adoration of the Golden Calf”

by ANDREA VACCARO
“The Adoration of the Golden Calf”

by CLAUDE LORRAIN
“Worship of the Golden Calf”

by ESTEBAN MARCH
“The Golden Calf”

by JAMES TISSOT
“The Golden Calf”

by Follower of Filippino Lippi
“The Worship of the Egyptian Bull God, Apis”

“Worshiping the Golden Calf”
illustration from a Bible card published 1901
by the Providence Lithograph Company

by RAPHAEL
“Adoring the Golden Calf”

by JACOPO ROBUSTI TINTORETTO
“Adoration of the Golden Calf”

by LUCAS VAN LEYDEN
“Worshipping of the Golden Calf”

by EVERHARD RENSIG & GERHARD REMISCH
“The Worship of the Golden Calf”
From the cloisters at the Cistercian abbey of Mariawald, Germany; c.1525

by COSIMO ROSSELLI
“The Adoration of the Golden Calf”

by SÉBASTIEN BOURDON
“The Israelites Dancing around the Golden Calf”

by MARC CHAGALL
“Aaron and the Golden Calf”

by ARTHUR BOYD
“The Golden Calf”

by DASHA DELONE
“Worshipping the Golden Calf”

by SALVADOR DALI
“Golden Calf”

by YORAM RAANAN
“The Golden Calf”

by EWAN MCDOUGALL
“Dance Around the Golden Calf”

by CECIL B. DEMILLE
“The Ten Commandments”

by ALEXANDER IVANOV
“The People of Israel Worshipping the Golden Calf”

by EMIL NOLDE
“La danza alrededor del becerro de oro”

by HENRI MEYER
“The Golden Calf”

by IRA CARTER
“The Golden Calf”

by JOHN BRADFORD
“The Golden Calf”

by VIDA KHADEM
“The Golden Calf”

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Again, here is the Bing page "GOLDEN CALF IN ART”,
showing various painters' conceptions.
Several are serious works worthy of interest,
by unknown artists except as noted.

Also, here are links to compendia of three masters
who painted Biblical scenes prolifically:

REMBRANDT van RIJN

GUSTAV DORÉ
(241 wood engravings for
La Grande Bible de Tours)

JAMES TISSOT

Finally, here are links to the
PREVIOUS 38 POSTS IN THIS SERIES

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SPECIAL THANKS
to FReeper left that other site,
who allowed God to make her His conduit
for incomparable enthusiasm, encouragement,
education, advice and technical assistance!

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SNEAK PEEK: Next time,

MOSES: PARTY-POOPER

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[Hebrews 11:6]

At the Holy Spirit's prompting, I am surveying "Bible art" to give God glory, as many of these artists have done, and for my own amusement and learning; and I thought others might enjoy it and be blessed by it, too. My plan is to proceed methodically from left-to right, Genesis to Revelation, as the Lord wills. Back soon with another.

The Bible encourages us to meditate on it (Ps. 1:1-3, 119:11-16, etc.); these artists have done so, and their works can assist us and enrich our own thoughts about biblical characters, incidents and concepts, and increase our faith in He who is behind it all. As you encounter and consider these images and the related Scriptures and the Spirit enlightens your understanding, please share it with us!

But it is not only oil-on-canvas that can so help us; I refer to the astonishing video series The Chosen, which strolls through the four Gospels at the most leisurely pace. The eight episodes of Season 1 are finished, and the second of a planned seven seasons is coming soon. I say "leisurely" because after an entire year’s viewing Jesus still has only seven of the apostles (although He's preparing to call up Thomas from the minor leagues--but Thomas is skeptical, of course). Anticipating a canvas of fifty-plus hours instead of a movie's paltry two hours, The Chosen turns the characters (especially including Jesus!) into three-dimensional humans and brings the Gospels alive--you have never seen anything even remotely like it! Here is the Official Trailer.

Here is a link for free viewing of The Chosen: “Works with your phone, tablet, and you can cast to your Roku or Chromecast.” Last fall I paid $34.98 for DVDs and ongoing internet access—best 35 bucks I’ve ever spent (I don’t recall how much our marriage license cost, but then it was 42 years ago).

[Hebrews 11:6]

Ping List for the series
"THE BIBLE IN PAINTINGS"

To receive an alert for each new posting
in this series, either reply here or FRmail me.

[left that other site]

Even Opera!

From The Opera “Faust” by Charles Gounod:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x66TYd9nAMI

(((Nice touch with the Vegas Eyeballs))))

[Hebrews 11:6]

Opera is an acquired taste which I have deliberately not acquired. But that was quite a calf’s head!

[left that other site]

I prefer opera excerpts, rather than the whole 3 hour drama. However, Faust and Carmen (both in French) have a lot of action combined with beautiful melodies. Both were considered quite scandalous in their day, especially Carmen because there was no redemption in the end. There was a big redemption scene at the end of Faust, which made it more culturally acceptable at the time.

Carmen ended with a murder and arrest...and that was that.

But you are right...it is an acquired taste. I never got into “Chamber Music” but some people really love it. Thank God there are so many different kinds of Art! :-)

[Hebrews 11:6]

Imagine the art during the Millennium, and then in New Jerusalem!

[left that other site]

Now THAT’S gonna be SOMETHING!

[Phinneous]

I’m throwing a flag on the third picture..... The High Priest and his breastplate of 12 stones wasn’t commanded yet. 15 yards....

[Hebrews 11:6]

I'd have guessed a "2 year rabbinical student (what?!?!)" would have checked first. While Moses was up the mountain, God commanded:

"15 “Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions—the work of skilled hands. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. 16 It is to be square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double. 17 Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. The first row shall be carnelian, chrysolite and beryl; 18 the second row shall be turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald; 19 the third row shall be jacinth, agate and amethyst; 20 the fourth row shall be topaz, onyx and jasper. Mount them in gold filigree settings. 21 There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes." Exodus 28

It's indeed doubtful whether Aaron could have dressed like that, as you point out. I suppose it's conceivable--Moses might have sent word down.

Glad you're paying close attention--there have been several such timing errors, and one rather astonishing translation fiasco. But unless it's doctrinally significant I'll generally post it, sometimes with a note.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Are you good on a harp? Awhile back I mentioned my college friendship with future actor Brian Kerwin. For some reason he decided to take harp lessons, and I went along once or twice. So, I'm ready! By the way, riding with him was always fun, in his '58 white Caddy convertible; it was L.A., so the top was always down.

[Phinneous]

As Moses’ ancestors are fond of saying, I’m just being a nudnik.

Which reminds me of a joke. Do you know the difference between a shlamiel, a shlamazal, and a nudnik?

In a restaurant, a shlamiel of a waiter dumps a bowl of soup on a shlamazal diner. The nudnik asks, Hey, what kind of soup is that?

Keep up the art!

[Hebrews 11:6]

Didn't the old Laverne & Shirley opening jingle include references (which were nonsensical to my Gentile ear) to both shlamiel and shlamazal?

[Hebrews 11:6]

So, from your joke's context:

shlamiel=careless klutz

shlamazal=hapless victim

nudnik=uncaring wise-ass

[jjotto]

Yes, and ‘hasenpfeffer’, which indicates the lyrics were just meant to sound funny, not mean much.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Despite their rather obscure inside jokes, that show was fabulously successful. I still recall Squiggy’s invitation to a Bosco party: “Bring a spoon, and wear something brown.”

[Phinneous]

Hebrews, OUTSTANDING translations!
Phinneous

[Hebrews 11:6]

Learn something new every day.

[left that other site]

Alas, I won’t be “good on a harp” till I get to heaven. :-)

[Hebrews 11:6]

On the principle of "Post 'em if you've got 'em," here are my favorites--just now they moved me to tears of joy once again, and that made me want to make sure you're aware of them, with your broad love of music:

* Glorious Day

* The USAF Band Holiday Flash Mob

[left that other site]

Thanks! :-)