The Bible In Paintings, #40: THE GOLDEN CALF, Part 2

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.”

19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”

22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘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.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

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by DAMIEN HIRST
“The Golden Calf” – golden, indeed: fetched $17 million at Sotheby’s 9/16/08

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Wall Street Bull, New York, New York

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MOSES, PARTY POOPER

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25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

27 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”

30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”

33 The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

35 And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

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by MARC CHAGALL
“Moses Shows the Elders the Tablets of the Law”

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by LEON SITARCHUK
Study for "Moses and the Golden Calf"

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by WILLIAM BLAKE
“Moses Indignant at the Golden Calf”

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by JAMES TISSOT
“Moses Destroys the Tables of the Ten Commandments”

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by GUSTAVE DORÉ
“Moses Smashing the Tables of the Law”

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by DOMENICO DI PACE BECCAFUMI
“Moses and the Golden Calf”

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by REMBRANDT VAN RIJN
“Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law”

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by WILLIAM DE BRAILES
“The Israelites Worship the Golden Calf and Moses Breaks the Tablets” c.1250

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by HARTMANN SCHEDEL
Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493

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“Moses, the Decalogue and the Golden Calf”

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by MARC CHAGALL
"Moses with the Tables of the Law and the Golden Calf"

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by AUGUSTIN TSCHINKEL
“Adoration of the Golden Calf”

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by ANDREA CELESTI
“Destruction of the Golden Calf”

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“The Burning of the Golden Calf by Moses”

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“So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses.
And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.”

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Again, here is the Bing page "MOSES BREAKING TABLETS”,
showing various painters' and sculptors’ conceptions.
Several shown here 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 39 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,

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

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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]

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"THE BIBLE IN PAINTINGS"

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[LastDayz]

From time to time, I have pondered what happened to the pieces of the original commandments that Moses broke.

[fhayek]

What a coincidence. I wonder what happened to the pieces of the calf...

[Hebrews 11:6]

"20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it."

You can use your imagination for its ultimate destination.

[Deaf Smith]

"...what happened to the pieces of the calf..."

They crapped it out all over the desert.

[Hebrews 11:6]

A very fitting result.

[Hebrews 11:6]

With all the “relics” claimed medievally, seems like some churches must have shrines containing the alleged remnants, as though maybe Aaron or Joshua preserved them.

[moovova]

[Deaf Smith]

Once had a dog that grap a sheet of aluminium foil off the grill after I had removed the meat, and ate it.

The noise that dog made for the next two days when expelling the foil may be that the Israelites made when expelling the golden calf.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Bark-B-Q

[LastDayz]

Makes sense as they were the only two of the original group to set foot in the promised land.

Be awesome to see the remnants as well as the second pair.

Probably in the Ark of the Covenant.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Actually, only Joshua; Aaron's death is recorded in Numbers 20:

"23 At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah."

[Hebrews 11:6]

It was Caleb and Joshua who were the only two. Your memory played a funny on you.

[Texas_Guy]

Yes we do have relics because we built our altars on holy ground with holy, precious relics in them.

Maybe you need to learn about relics before making fun of them.

[Hebrews 11:6]

learn about relics before making fun of them

I'm not disparaging or "making fun of" the idea that many of those relics are perfectly genuine. I am saying that it is ridiculous to claim that all of them are, when so many obviously are not, as ought to be plain to everyone, even their most ardent supporters.

With such a rich trade in bogus memorabilia, my point was that it would not be surprising to discover alleged Decalogue fragments among them. If you have a master inventory of relics, perhaps you could check it for us.