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From
Eliyahu
A love relationship requires something more than love alone. It also requires trust. The marriage covenant normally assumes the love of the parties for each other. The marriage covenant is really more about trust, assuring each marriage partner of the full commitment of the other to the core requirements of the marriage. Once the two enter into the marriage covenant together, good intentions on the part of both parties are usually assumed, which facilitates the healthy and enjoyable relationship that makes for a happy and productive life together.
But what happens in the case of infidelity to the marriage covenant on the part of one of the parties? In that case trust is broken, and harmony quickly gives way to emotional devastation, anger, bitterness, and a crisis that throws the future of the entire relationship into doubt. This is a terrible experience in any marriage, but when this scenario occurred in the marriage between YHWH and Israel at Sinai, before the honeymoon was even over, it brought with it a flash point of repercussions so serious the entire nation could have been lost. This is the story of the Golden Calf Affair, found in Exodus 32. Don't miss it - it's the subject of our latest Midrash.
Blessings and Shalom!
Eliyahu ben David
www.tsiyon.org
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Apis the Bull
Apis in the Louvre Museum
Did Israel sacrifice their children to this idol?
This painting depicts a small bronze statue which was a votive offering and was an expression of devotion from the worshipper who was hoping for a blessing. The sun disk between the horns represent divinity. The ancient Egyptians believed that Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis was a manifestation of Ptah upon the earth.
Was Apis the Golden Calf of the Exodus?
Whenever an Apis bull died in Memphis it was embalmed and mummified. Each bull had its own huge sarcophagus and its birth and death were recorded, carved onto the walls.
After the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, Moses came down from the mountain and found Aaron had set up a golden calf or young bull, that the people might worship God in this form. When the northern kingdom of Israel divided from their brothers in the south, Jeroboam introduced bull worship and set up two idols, one at Bethel and the other at Dan.
"And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." - Exodus 32:3,4
The Apis Bull god discovery is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology. It confirms that bull/calf worship was prevalent in the ancient Near East and these little statues were the idols used in ancient Israel.
"Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan." - 1 Kings 12:28-29
Bronze figure of Apis, the sacred bull.
Bronze figure of Apis, the sacred
bull
From Lower Egypt
Late Period, about 600 BC
Length: 16 cm
Width: 6.13 cm
Height: 20.5 cm
Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan (study collection)
Item: EA 37448
Location: British Museum, London
British Museum Excerpt
An offering to Ptah
"Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto
them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel,
which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel,
and the other put he in Dan." - 1 Kings 12:28-29
Many animals play a part in the religious life of ancient Egypt. The sacred bull
of Apis is one of the best known. The Apis bull had a cult centre at Memphis and
was seen by the Egyptians as one of the manifestations on earth of the god Ptah
and Osiris.
When an Apis bull died, it was embalmed. The large tables used for embalming the
bulls have survived near the modern centre of Memphis. The mummified bull was
buried at Saqqara. From the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC) onwards, burials took
place at the Serapeum, a maze of large underground caverns in the desert. Each
bull had its own huge sarcophagus, which was placed in one of these underground
chambers. The dates of each bull's birth and death were recorded, and the
information has often survived, carved on stone stelae set into the walls of the
burial place.
A prospective new Apis bull was required to have a white crescent on one side of
its body or a white triangle on its forehead, signifying its unique character
and its acceptance by the gods. Once the Apis bull was chosen, its mother was
also honoured, and buried in catacombs at Saqqara set aside for the purpose.
This bronze statuette is a votive offering, presented to the god as an
expression of devotion, with the hope that the god would look kindly on the
donor. The statuette might have been deposited in the Serapeum and the sun disc
and uraeus on the bull's head show the divinity of the animal.
Ye shall make you no
idols
nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up
[any] image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I [am] the LORD your
God.
Leviticus 26:1
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served
their idols which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons
and their daughters unto devils. And shed innocent blood, even the blood of
their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of
Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
Psalms 106:35-38
Egyptian King Kneeling Before the Apis
Bull
Apis in Egyptian mythology
"In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis (alternatively spelt Hapi-ankh), was a
bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region.
According to Manetho, his worship was instituted by Kaiechos of the Second
Dynasty. Hape (Apis) is named on very early monuments, but little is known of
the divine animal before the New Kingdom. Ceremonial burials of bulls indicate
that ritual sacrifice was part of the worship of the early cow deities and a
bull might represent a king who became a deity after death. He was entitled "the
renewal of the life" of the Memphite god Ptah: but after death he became
Osorapis, i.e. the Osiris Apis, just as dead humans were assimilated to Osiris,
the king of the underworld. This Osorapis was identified with the Hellenistic
Serapis, and may well be identical with him. Greek writers make the Apis an
incarnation of Osiris, ignoring the connection with Ptah.
Apis was the most important of all the sacred animals in Egypt, and, as with the
others, its importance increased as time went on. Greek and Roman authors have
much to say about Apis, the marks by which the black bull-calf was recognized,
the manner of his conception by a ray from heaven, his house at Memphis with
court for disporting himself, the mode of prognostication from his actions, the
mourning at his death, his costly burial, and the rejoicings throughout the
country when a new Apis was found. Mariette's excavation of the Serapeum at
Memphis revealed the tombs of over sixty animals, ranging from the time of
Amenophis III to that of Ptolemy Alexander. At first each animal was buried in a
separate tomb with a chapel built above it. Khamuis, the priestly son of
Ramesses II (c. 1300 B.C.), excavated a great gallery to be lined with the tomb
chambers; another similar gallery was added by Psammetichus I. The careful
statement of the ages of the animals in the later instances, with the regnal
dates for their birth, enthronization, and death have thrown much light on the
chronology from the Twenty-second dynasty onwards. The name of the mother-cow
and the place of birth often are recorded. The sarcophagi are of immense size,
and the burial must have entailed enormous expense. It is therefore remarkable
that the priests contrived to bury one of the animals in the fourth year of
Cambyses." (Wikipedia - Apis (Egyptian mythology)
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