Golden calf

According to the <a href="/facts/Torah/BdJr9IFo">Torah</a>, the <a href="/facts/Bible/SqkRTKCh">Bible</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Quran/39rkStko">Quran</a>, the golden calf was a <a href="/facts/Cult_image/wblFa18C">cult image</a> made by the <a href="/facts/Israelites/wohGkSzL">Israelites</a> when <a href="/facts/Moses/D0pp5HMQ">Moses</a> went up to <a href="/facts/Mount_Sinai_(bible)/GrIE078u">Mount Sinai</a>. In Hebrew, the incident is known as "the sin of the calf" (<a href="/facts/Hebrew_language/hqKCSy9d">Hebrew</a>: חֵטְא הָעֵגֶל, <a href="/facts/Romanization_of_Hebrew/lqWNLwgA">romanized</a>: ḥēṭəʾ hāʿēḡel). It is first mentioned in the <a href="/facts/Book_of_Exodus/7Mse01aP">Book of Exodus</a>.
<a href="/facts/Sacred_bull/42w7So6Y">Bull worship</a> was common in many cultures. In <a href="/facts/Ancient_Egypt/BDsEGK4g">Egypt</a>, whence according to <a href="/facts/The_Exodus/EYpE0I3K">the Exodus</a> narrative, the Israelites had recently come, the bull-god <a href="/facts/Apis_(deity)/D2SWeV5l">Apis</a> was a comparable object of worship, which some believe the Hebrews were reviving in the wilderness. Alternatively, some believe <a href="/facts/Yahweh/kIUcSQFb">Yahweh</a>, the <a href="/facts/National_god/EU8Ywapd">national god</a> of the Israelites, was associated with or pictured as a <a href="/facts/Sacred_bull/42w7So6Y">sacred bull</a> through the process of <a href="/facts/Religious_assimilation/j5jB1qSa">religious assimilation</a> and <a href="/facts/Syncretism/q4IMH40F">syncretism</a>. Among the <a href="/facts/Canaan/PyX3f92e">Canaanites</a>, some of whom would become the <a href="/facts/Israelites/wohGkSzL">Israelites</a>, the bull was widely worshipped as the <a href="/facts/Sacred_bull/42w7So6Y">sacred bull</a> and the creature of <a href="/facts/El_(deity)/p0yIVEhU">El</a>.

Golden calf open-in-new

Golden calf