929/Exodus 31-35: Egel Hazahav--Object or Event

(20) I am sending a messenger before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready. (21) Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name is in him; (22) but if you obey him and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. (23) When My messenger goes before you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I annihilate them,

(9) Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascended; (10) and they saw the God of Israel—under whose feet was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity. (11) Yet [God] did not raise a hand against the leaders of the Israelites; they beheld God, and they ate and drank. (12)יקוק said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings and commandments which I have inscribed to instruct them.” (13) So Moses and his attendant Joshua arose, and Moses ascended the mountain of God. (14) To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us until we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you; let anyone who has a legal matter approach them.” (15) When Moses had ascended the mountain, the cloud covered the mountain.

(1) When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that fellow Moses—the man who brought us from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.” (2) Aaron said to them, “[You men,] take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” (3) And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. (4) This he took from them and cast in a mold, and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (5) When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron announced: “Tomorrow shall be a festival of יקוק!” (6) Early next day, the people offered up burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; they sat down to eat and drink, and then rose to dance.

(10) Each of them had a human face [at the front]; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right; each of the four had the face of an ox on the left; and each of the four had the face of an eagle [at the back].

(14) Each one had four faces: One was a cherub’s face, the second a human face, the third a lion’s face, and the fourth an eagle’s face.

The Cherubim. These are angels in the form of bulls and they are called Cherubim in reference to plowing. As the Talmud (B.Batra 12a) references the plowing season as "the days of karva" [when the ground is dry and takes longer to plow]. Similarly, Ezekiel refers to the image of the Bull in one place and Cherub in another when describing God's chariot. And, the Talmud [Sukkah 5b; Chagiga 13b], noting Ezekiel's contradiction, explains that a cherub looks like a child (i.e., a human). Moreover, Ezekiel was trying to rectify the image of God's throne by replacing the indicting image of the calf with the innocuous image of a child. However, the simple reading is that Ezekiel saw a combined image of a bull/cherub--as one and the same. Since, initially, Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden to work it and guard it. But, when he was expelled from the Garden, God put cherubs in the Garden--to work it (the cherub being a plow animal), and to guard it (hence the sword).

(14) So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for יקוק is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who jests.

(9) Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing.

(8) When some time had passed, Abimelech king of the Philistines, looking out of the window, saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.

(17) Then she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew slave whom you brought into our house came to me to dally with me;

(25) As their spirits rose, they said, “Call Samson here and let him dance for us.” Samson was fetched from the prison, and he danced for them. Then they put him between the pillars.

(22) After his hair was cut off, it began to grow back.

(20) Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard.

(11) But Moses implored his God יקוק, saying, “Let not Your anger, יקוק, blaze forth against Your people, whom You delivered from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand.

(1) While Israel was staying at Shittim, the menfolk profaned themselves by whoring with the Moabite women, (2) who invited the menfolk to the sacrifices for their god. The menfolk partook of them and worshiped that god. (3) Thus Israel attached itself to Baal-peor, and יקוק was incensed with Israel.

(18) But he answered,
“It is not the sound of the tune of triumph, Or the sound of the tune of defeat; It is the sound of song that I hear!” (19) As soon as Moses came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became enraged; and he hurled the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.

(18) But he [Moshe] said, “It is not the sound of strength [song of victory] [the mighty who are victorious in war], nor is it the sound of weakness [song of defeat] [the weak who are broken]. It is a sound of song [the rejoicers] that I hear.”

(6) They arose early the next morning, and offered burnt-offerings and brought peace-offerings. The people then sat down [reclined] to eat and drink, and got up to amuse themselves.

(22) Aaron said, “Let not my lord be enraged. You know that this people is bent on evil.

(25) Moses saw that the people were out of control—since Aaron had let them get out of control—so that they were a menace to any who might oppose them.