Christian Churches of God
No. 222
The Golden Calf
(Edition 4.0 19970916-20001212-20080705)
Most people know of the symbol of the golden calf made by Aaron for Israel when Moses
was up on the mountain. Most, however, do not understand what the calf stood for or what
association it had then with Israel and what significance the calf had for the religious
structure in the Middle East. The calf was not a simple idol of a calf. It was a symbol of a
system of worship that was to penetrate Israel and destroy the religious system of Judah.
Christian Churches of God
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AUSTRALIA
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(Copyright  1997, 1998, 2000, 2008 Wade Cox)
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The Golden Calf
The Golden Calf
When Moses was up on the mountain waiting
to receive the Law from Messiah, as the
presence of God, an activity took place in the
camp of Israel that had profound significance
for the religious structure of Israel.
The story of Moses and the Law is found in the
Book of Exodus. The calf sequence
commences in chapter 32.
Exodus 32:1-6 When the people saw that Moses
delayed to come down from the mountain, the
people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and
said to him, "Up, make us gods, who shall go before
us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up
out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has
2
become of him." And Aaron said to them, "Take
off the rings of gold which are in the ears of your
wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring
3
them to me." So all the people took off the rings of
gold which were in their ears, and brought them to
4
Aaron. And he received the gold at their hand, and
fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten
calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel,
5
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and
Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow
6
shall be a feast to the LORD." And they rose up
early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings
and brought peace offerings; and the people sat
down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Here there are a number of propositions. The
first is that, in the absence of Moses, the
people grew restless. Without their leader they
were left to their own devices and did not
really comprehend that their relationship was
direct to the Laws of God and with God. This
is the type of Christ being away on the
Mountain of God. The High Priest acted at the
behest of the people, who went back to a
system of worship that they understood or that
had penetrated their society from earlier days.
The making of the molten calf was from the
symbols of the earrings that they wore in their
ears. These were referred to as gods. They
were the gods that brought them up out of
Egypt. This text is rendered in the singular by
the scribes in Nehemiah (viz. This is your
god), as it refers to a single calf (cf. Neh.
9:16f.). However, it was in the plural as the
gods were represented in the earrings and also
in the calf.
Why did they make a calf? Why not a lion or
bear or an antelope? Why was it a calf and not
a bull or a cow? The answers are to be found
in the religious symbolism of the deities
worshipped. We are dealing with the
symbolism of the moon god that was
symbolised by the upturned horns of the calf.
These upturned horns of the calf are not found,
as a rule, in the well-bred mature animals
because they are culled. They are found in the
calf and represented the crescent moon on the
horizon, as it appears some period after the
true phasis of the conjunction. This crescent
was also carried in the ears as was the full
round circle, which represented both the sun
and moon and the Morning Star in their
splendour, as part of the triune system
worshipped in Egypt and in the northern
Mesopotamian (or what was later understood
as the Babylonian) system. They rose up early
to greet the rising sun and offered sacrifice
also.
They sat down to eat and drink and rose up to
play. The words denote the cultic feasts of the
pagan systems. Moses had stayed up on the
mountain for forty days and forty nights. This
was to symbolise the forty Jubilees that Christ
was to be away from the first to the second
Advent. This long period is symbolised in this
figure. Messiah also prefigured his departure
along these lines (cf. 1Kgs. 19:8; Mat. 4:2).
The terminology was that ‘these gods shall go
before us’. This concept was as a visible
symbol of the divine presence, as in all pagan
idolatry. Thus we see the difference between
the worship of the One True God who is
invisible and whom no man has ever seen or
ever can see (Jn. 1:18; 1Tim. 6:16) and no man
has heard His voice either (Jn. 5:37),
symbolised by the conjunction at the new
moon and the visible presence of the moon god
observed as the crescent on the horizon. This
concept and the star of the god Remphan or
Rephan (Acts 7:43) has been the most
persistent factor in Israelite idolatry over the
centuries and especially since the Babylonian
The Golden Calf
captivity, up until and after the formation of
the New Testament Church. Aaron said:
“Tomorrow shall be a feast to God”. He tried
to use pagan practices to worship God.
Acts quotes Amos 5:25-27 to show that Israel,
and now Judah, had always been idolaters.
Amos 5:25-27 "Did you bring to me sacrifices and
offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house
26
of Israel? You shall take up Sakkuth your king,
and Kaiwan your star-god, your images, which you
27
made for yourselves; therefore I will take you into
exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose
name is the God of hosts. (RSV)
The terms Sakkuth and Kaiwan are rendered in
the RSV and held to designate known Assyrian
deities. While in the wilderness, Israel had a
pure direct relationship with God that did not
require sacrifice (Jer. 2:2-3; Hos. 2:14-20;
9:10). The MT is held by Green (Interlinear
Bible) to read the booths of your king (SHD
5522 and 4428) and Kiyyun (SHD 3594), your
images (SHD 6754) the star (SHD 3556) of
your gods (elohim). The term kiyyun is
actually derived from SHD 3559 kuwn
(pronounced koon) to stand erect, hence as a
statue and thus an idol or phallus.
To this day, the star of the god Remphan or
Kaiwan or Chiun stands on the Israeli flag as
the star of David, which it is not. It and the
crescent moon stand on the flag of Islam also,
symbolising the Morning Star of the planet,
which is the god of this world (2Cor. 4:4). It is
of note that the terms Kaiwan/Kiyyun and
Remphan are understood to be interchangeable
from New Testament and Old Testament. The
Septuagint (LXX) renders the text the
tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god
Raephan (’Raiphan) (cf. Brenton’s translation
of the LXX).
The Peshitta has the term Malcom and Chiun
in Amos 5:26.
But you carried the tabernacle of Malcom and
Chiun your idol, the star which you made a god to
yourselves.
Moloch and Malcom are the same deity. Thus
the tabernacle or Sukkoth was understood to
be that of Moloch and the star was of Raiphan
Page 3
as at the translation of the LXX, or Malcom
and Chiun from the Aramaic (cf. Lamsa’s
translation of the Peshitta). We are dealing
with the fertility rites of Moloch and the
Raiphan system. This fertility system has
underpinned Israelite idolatry from the
Exodus, through the kings, and at the time of
Amos, and right after the captivity to the time
of the Apostles.
The Soncino commentary sides with the
identification of the deities as the Assyrian
Siccuth and Kaiwan, the latter being Saturn.
The booth (Succoth) of the deity associated
with Moloch (LXX) can only be the concept of
the moon god, as the booth is the symbol for
the concealment of the New Moon when the
moon enters its booth and is concealed. The
observation is done to note when the deity
emerges and that is evidenced by the crescent
as the upturned horns of the calf. For this
reason, and for the dictates of the traditions,
the observation of the crescent was introduced
to the calendar. We now know for certain that
the knowledge of the ancients regarding the
phases of the moon was outstanding, and it is
beyond question that they had the ability to
measure such sequences with absolute
accuracy. The introduced inaccuracy was
deliberate and idolatrous.
The same symbols and the same idolatry were
woven into the tapestry of Judaic religious life.
The observation of the crescent is merely
another representation of the Moon god Sin
and the fertility system that underpinned it in
the various names and forms we find from
place to place. Sin was also Enzu and Nannaru.
The name Naram-Sin was taken by one of
Sargon’s (Sharru-kin) successors (c. 26372582 BCE), the son of Manishtusu, who
reigned from 2557-2520 BCE. He attributed
his victories to Ea, god of the abyss and lord of
wisdom, even though he bore the name of the
Moon god Sin. He was not the source of the
deification of the god Sin. The dynasties at Ur
all deified themselves under the name of Sin
(i.e. Bur-Sin, Amal-Sin, Gimil-Sin, Shu-Sin,
Ibi-Sin. The defeat of Ur by the Elamites saw
the dynasty of Isin established there by Ishbiirra (2186-2154 BCE). The Moon god Sin was
symbolised by the bull. He was Chemosh of
Page 4
the Moabites and Milcom of the Ammonites.
He was widely worshipped by all tribes.
The Canaanites were under Assyro-Babylonian
dominance from 2200 (allegedly 3000, see
ERE) to 1700 BCE. Even by circa 1400 BCE,
their influence was still so great that all
correspondence with Egypt and the Pharaoh
was conducted in Babylonian, and the name of
the Moon god Sin formed the basis for the
Canaanite names Sinai and the Wilderness of
Sin (ERE, Vol. 3, p. 183). The hand of Sin was
seen in the cause of Catatonia or madness in
children – hence, lunacy is associated with this
deity (ibid., p. 527). Sin, Moon god of Harran,
was also worshipped at Sam’al at the foot of
Mount Amanus (ibid., Vol. 2, p. 295). Sin was
the Baal of Harran mentioned in the
correspondence at the time of Sennacharib,
Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal. Sargon (722706 BCE) confirmed the exemption Harran
enjoyed from taxes as the city of Sin (ibid.).
Nabonidas, last king of Babylon (555-539
BCE), rebuilt the temple of Sin at Harran. Sin
became identified with Be’el-shamin the
owner of the sky from the Syrian dominance at
Harran combining the Syrian god with the
ancient Moon god. This deity was identified
with Zeus by the Greeks from Phoenicia and
Palmyra and elsewhere enjoying their
patronage, and spread from Mesopotamia into
Armenia. Ultimately, he became identified
with Anu, Lord of Heaven of Babylon (ibid.,
Vol. 2, p. 295).
From the earliest times (ca. 4000 BCE), there
were triads formed of Enlil, Anu and Enki. The
second triad was formed from Ur, Moon god
of Ur, Utu, Sun god of Sippar, and Nana,
goddess of Erech (ibid., p. 296). The Moon
god of Ur can be identified with Sin. The
Semitic term Bel derived from Baal was used
among the Babylonian Semites in the same
sense as it was used by the other Semites, and
in addition, used it as master or lord (ibid.).
The cults of Shamash and Sin there deal with
the worship of the sun and the moon (ibid., p.
310). The second triad referred to above
became known as Sin, Shamash and Ishtar (or
also Sin, Shamash and Adad) (ibid., pp. 310311). So that even by the middle of the second
The Golden Calf
millennium BCE, Sin was a primary deity in
both Ur and at Harran. Sin is the god of
oracles (the word or divine utterance
associated with Messiah and found among the
early Sumerians and Babylonians), but
Shamash his son carries this aspect also (ibid.
and also cf. Vol. 12, pp. 749-752). Shamash is
regarded as the brother of Ishtar. Shamash
becomes supreme divine judge. Thus, the
concept here in the Babylonian system strikes
at the concepts vested in the biblical Messiah.
Ishtar is the most prominent of female deities
in the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon, absorbing
the place of all others. Her place as queen of
heaven goes back to remote antiquity. She is
Venus and appears as Ashtarte (or Easter in the
Anglo-Saxon), Nana and Anunitu (ibid.). She
is goddess of fertility and worshipped
everywhere. She is daughter of Sin and also of
Anu. She is also associated with Sirius. She is
goddess of sex and appropriates the attributes
of Ninlil and Damkina and as daughter of Sin,
and from her descent to Hades she is
represented by temple prostitution. The lion,
normally the symbol of Shamash, is associated
with her, as is the dove (cf. ibid.). In this
sequence, she then becomes associated with
Tammuz or Dumuzi, as the bringer of new life
in the spring cults.
This name Sin came into the Old English as a
concept of transgression against the Laws of
God. It was rendered from the original sunjo as
sende in the old-Frisian, and became sonde in
the middle-Dutch (cf. The Oxford Universal
Dictionary, p 1897). It was associated with the
foreign nations as an enclave in transgression
against God’s Laws. The Arabs transferred the
word to the empire of China as Sin and it
seems that Sinim was understood as a far
eastern land in the Hebrew/Aramaic (ciyniym
SHD 5515 from 5512; cf. Isa. 49:12). This
probably came from the concept of the moon
and the rising sun with the morning star of
Ishtar, rather than from Chinese mythology.
Tien was the Chinese supreme heavenly deity.
Ishtar, as goddess of Venus as the evening star
was goddess of sexual love. As goddess of
Venus as the morning star she was goddess of
war. Whilst there was a great diversity of cultic
names in the Babylonian system, there was
The Golden Calf
actually a central similarity of cultic function
and this is not readily understood. They had a
double triad, which we see here. The concept
of seven from earliest Sumerian times was imin as five (i) and two (min). This idea
permeates the religious symbolism of the Bible
and the compounds of five and two and then
five again build the biblical system, which is
determined to replace its Sumerian-Babylonian
predecessor. Secular scholarship sees this as a
cultural development. The Bible sees it as a
spiritual question of the pre-eminence of the
God of the Bible over the fallen Host, which
are represented by the Babylonian system.
The symbolism surrounding this calf system at
Sinai, from Sin as progenitor, ties into the
earliest and most primitive sacrificial system
employing also temple and cult prostitution on
a widespread level. This is the reason the
revelry was associated with the golden calf. By
the invocation, Sin as Moon god represented
by the calf, the three-fold or triune aspects of
he and his offspring were invoked.
The terms relating to the horns of the calf are
used by Kabbalistic Judaism even today, viz
the upturned horns of the crescent moon on the
horizon at the phasis. This terminology is of
itself a lie, as the phasis is another aspect,
namely the New Moon in its full dark capacity.
Hence the term phases of the moon, being four
from New Moon conjunction, to First Quarter,
Full Moon, Last Quarter and back to the phasis
or conjunction. These phases also govern the
Spring and Neap tides. The symbolism of the
chodesh as a concealed moon represents the
God whom man has never seen nor can ever
see. This concept of chodesh used in SHD
2320 is derived from chadar (SHD 2314), to
enclose as in a room, to beset, or to enter a
privy chamber (Strong). The New BrownDriver-Briggs-Gesenius Lexicon has the term
meaning to surround, enclose, conceal, curtain
concealing a person, chamber, house or tent
as concealing someone. It can mean
surrounding someone (cf. Ezek. 21:19). This
implies the temple or sepulchral chamber.
The addenda to page 293b of the Lexicon (as a
footnote in the 1979 edition) dealing with SHD
2314, chadar, clearly shows the concept of
Page 5
being a sepulchral chamber and is held to be
best explained from the Syriac to go about,
surround, around. It is held that it is uncertain
whether the chamber is derived from the
concept of surrounding or from II. conceal
behind a curtain, conceal or confine, IV.
conceal oneself abide or stay or remain
behind. The Ethiopic is abide or dwell.
The Hebrew usage and the other references,
show that the concept is to conceal as behind a
curtain and that is the prime root and basis of
the New Moon. This aspect was used in the
Temple so that God was concealed behind the
veil within the Holy of Holies – until He was
revealed by Christ.
The months were numbered from Esther. The
Babylonian names for the months were
themselves derived from older concepts. It is
important to note that the concepts of the New
Moon were perverted to the worship of the god
Moloch among the entire Punic-speaking
Thalassocracy or Sea Lords, and even from as
early as the days of the Minoans. The Minotaur
is the same being worshipped in the same way
as the god Moloch or Malcom. It is the bull
cult transferred to the crescent moon and
involved human sacrifice (cf. Frazer The
Golden Bough, Macmillan Press, 1976 print,
iv, pp. 70-75).
The system was regulated on an eight-year
cycle determined from the moon cycles. The
Olympiad was the smallest unit of the moon
system. Kings could reign for only eight years.
On the New Moon of the eighth year in the
dark of the moon, the sky was searched for
signs as to whether the reign should be
continued. This occurred among the Greeks
and particularly the Spartans (Frazer, ibid., pp.
58-59). These limitations were known
anciently and limited the Dorian kingship
among others (cf. ibid.). The lunar system was
correctly known anciently. The eight-year
limitation on kingship was an ancient
institution (cf. the current USA system). This
system of star and kingship is ancient, being
among even the Aborigines of Australia. The
Mara tribe even relates the falling stars to two
hostile spirits, father and son, who live in the
sky and occasionally come down to do harm to
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men. In this tribe, the position of medicine
man is strictly hereditary in the line of the men
of the falling star totem (Frazer, ibid., p. 61).
The calf was also a symbol of fertility in the
nature religions of the ancient Near East.
These symbols were incorporated into the
feasts of Israel by Jeroboam as two calves (cf.
1Kgs. 12:28; Hos. 8:5; fn. to Oxford Annotated
Bible RSV, p. 109).
The worship at the tabernacle of Moloch or
Chemosh was prevalent at the time of the
Exodus, as we see from the advice of Balaam
to the Moabites to cast a stumbling-block to
the children of Israel.
The calf-headed Moloch or Malcom and the
Minotaur both involved human sacrifice. The
similarity of the worship of the Minotaur of the
Cretans to that of the Carthaginian practice:
… suggests that the worship associated with the
names of Minos and the Minotaur may have been
powerfully influenced by that of a Semitic Baal
(Frazer, ibid., p. 75).
The system was set up while Moses was away
with God. In the same way, the system is
perverted in the absence of Messiah.
Exodus 32:7-10 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go
down; for your people, whom you brought up out of
8
the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; they
have turned aside quickly out of the way which I
commanded them; they have made for themselves a
molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to
it, and said, `These are your gods, O Israel, who
9
brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" And the
LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and
10
behold, it is a stiff-necked people; now therefore
let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against
them and I may consume them; but of you I will
make a great nation." (RSV)
Israel was a stiff-necked people who would not
leave this substructure of idolatry. They wove
the fertility system and moon worship into the
very fabric of their religious symbolism to the
point that they are ensnared by it, even today,
as we will see.
Moses was also tested here by God to see if he
was worthy. He was worthy and he was not
self-righteous.
The Golden Calf
Exodus 32:11-14 But Moses besought the LORD
his God, and said, "O LORD, why does thy wrath
burn hot against thy people, whom thou hast
brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great
12
power and with a mighty hand? Why should the
Egyptians say, `With evil intent did he bring them
forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume
them from the face of the earth'? Turn from thy
fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy
13
people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thine own
self, and didst say to them, `I will multiply your
descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land
that I have promised I will give to your descendants,
14
and they shall inherit it for ever.'" And the LORD
repented of the evil which he thought to do to his
people. (RSV)
Moses passed his test. God, through Messiah,
did not “repent” of the evil. He altered His
position in dealing with them through the
circumstances now dictated by their idolatry,
as He would do many times over in the
ensuing centuries. Their changes in behaviour
do not impugn God’s omniscience.
Exodus 32:15-16 And Moses turned, and went
down from the mountain with the two tables of the
testimony in his hands, tables that were written on
both sides; on the one side and on the other were
16
they written.
And the tables were the work of
God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven
upon the tables. (RSV)
Note here that Moses came down with two
tablets written on both sides, carried in each
hand. This aspect of the Law was to symbolise
its all-encompassing nature. The duality of the
texts and their covenant relationship was also
emphasised. We see two aspects of the
covenant, two aspects of the nation and two
aspects of the Law and the Plan of Salvation.
More importantly, we see two Messiahs, who
were one person over two advents – the
Messiah of Aaron and the Messiah of Israel.
This first time Moses came down it was to
sanctify the priesthood, who actually sanctified
themselves by their actions as we will see.
Exodus 32:17-19 When Joshua heard the noise of
the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There
18
is a noise of war in the camp." But he said, "It is
not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound
of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I
19
hear." And as soon as he came near the camp and
saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned
The Golden Calf
hot, and he threw the tables out of his hands and
broke them at the foot of the mountain. (RSV)
Here Moses threw the tablets down because
the covenant had been broken and, thus, the
symbolism was established in power.
The word for noise of war is milchamah (SHD
4421). This is related to the root for Milkown
or Malkam (SHD 4445) of the Ammonites.
The word for sing and cry or shout is the same
form (SHD 6030 and 6031), being the positive
and negative forms ’Anath, to witness etc. The
tumult of Malkam was the witness against
Israel.
Exodus 32:20 And he took the calf which they had
made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to
powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made
the people of Israel drink it. (RSV)
This process was as a test. The after-effects
were according to the complicity and
culpability in the minds of the people.
Exodus 32:21 And Moses said to Aaron, "What did
this people do to you that you have brought a great
sin upon them?" (RSV)
Moses posed a direct question of the High
Priest who led the people astray in their
wickedness. It is written: thou shall not follow
a multitude to do evil (Ex. 23:2). Here, Aaron
has immediately done exactly that. Note
Aaron’s response.
Exodus 32:22-24 And Aaron said, "Let not the
anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people,
23
that they are set on evil.
For they said to me,
`Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this
Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land
of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'
24
And I said to them, `Let any who have gold take it
off'; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the
fire, and there came out this calf." (RSV)
Aaron said it was not really his fault; he was
only doing what they asked of him. He just put
the gold in the fire and out came this calf! It
must have been truly miraculous. The
priesthood have had the same excuse for
centuries. The nation has paid the penalty time
and again but still they do not learn. The entire
priesthood knows that the calendar is wrong
and that it must be corrected yet they do
nothing.
Page 7
Exodus 32:25 And when Moses saw that the people
had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break
loose, to their shame among their enemies), (RSV)
From what had the people broken loose to their
shame? It was from the Laws of their God and
from right conduct.
Exodus 32:26-29 then Moses stood in the gate of
the camp, and said, "Who is on the LORD's side?
Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered
27
themselves together to him. And he said to them,
"Thus says the LORD God of Israel, `Put every man
his sword on his side, and go to and fro from gate to
gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his
brother, and every man his companion, and every
28
man his neighbor.'"
And the sons of Levi did
according to the word of Moses; and there fell of
29
the people that day about three thousand men.
And Moses said, "Today you have ordained
yourselves for the service of the LORD, each one at
the cost of his son and of his brother, that he may
bestow a blessing upon you this day." (RSV)
Moses used the loyal priesthood to kill the
disloyal priesthood.
Here is the ordination by self-selection of the
Levites. It was the fact that they stood aside
from error and stood for the Lord that was to
ordain the priesthood. They did so at the cost
of their brothers and their sons and their
families. So also will the elect be blessed in
Messiah. The concept here was also that three
thousand men had to fall in the process of the
sanctification of the priesthood. This was done
from Pentecost in the Church, where three
thousand were baptised in one day. They died
to the world and were raised to the priesthood
of Melchisedek as a nation of kings and priests
(Rev. 5:9-10).
Exodus 32:30 On the morrow Moses said to the
people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I
will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make
atonement for your sin." (RSV)
This return prefigured the ascension of the
wave-sheaf as Christ, ascending to make
atonement for sin. The sin followed the giving
of the Law at Sinai, traditionally at Pentecost,
which represented the harvest of the Church.
The sin here was SHD 2398 chata (pr. khawtaw) to miss and hence to sin and by inference
Page 8
to forfeit to lack and hence to expiate and also
to repent. SHD 2401 chata’ah (pr. khat-awaw) means an offence or sacrifice for it.
Exodus 32:31-35 So Moses returned to the LORD
and said, "Alas, this people have sinned a great sin;
32
they have made for themselves gods of gold. But
now, if thou wilt forgive their sin -- and if not, blot
me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast
33
written." But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever
has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
34
book. But now go, lead the people to the place of
which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall
go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit,
35
I will visit their sin upon them." And the LORD
sent a plague upon the people, because they made
the calf which Aaron made. (RSV)
Moses offered himself as a substitute, as did
Messiah. Moses pointed towards Messiah by
his actions here. The whole question of
remaining in the Book of Life is one of
obedience and the willing self-revelation of
God, based on obedience.
The Lord sent a plague on the people because
of the idolatry of the calf system, which they
had Aaron make for them. This process of
compulsion of the priesthood into the idolatry
of the calf-fertility system, and the structure of
the gods of the nations, is found even today. It
permeates the structure of the calendar and the
religious symbolism of Judah. Their perversion
of the Law was the reason they were destroyed
in 71 CE. After this destruction and from 358
CE they enshrined a perverted calendar based
on the calculation determined from the
Seventh month, and not the First month as God
commanded them. It was calculated so that no
New Moon was ever correctly kept. Even the
horns of the Moon god were often well past.
So too today, the system is perverted by
tradition and, in fact, more so as time goes on.
Let us look at the concepts inherent in the
Moon god and the golden calf.
The name of the Moon god in the Semitic was
Sin. The sun-moon nexus later became Shams
as female sun, and Qamar (pr. hamar) as male
moon in the Arabic. The Hebrew concept of
hamah (SHD 1993) is to make a loud noise or
commotion and hence war. This is the origin
The Golden Calf
of the English word hum. This name Qamar
and, more particularly, Shams the sun consort
is found among the nations of Hebraic and
Punic descent. The name is found among the
Scoto-Milesians as Shamus and its variants.
The name Malcom or Malcomb is also
prevalent among them.
It is no coincidence that the name James does
not appear in the Hebrew or the Greek texts of
the New Testament or the Old Testament. It
does not exist. It was introduced into the
English version of the Bible by the English
translators. It was probably done to pander to
the ego of the monarch of the time, James
Stuart of England.
In every instance in the New Testament, James
is actually ’Iakobos (SGD 2385) from ’Iakob
(SGD 2384) or simply Yacob, hence, Jacob.
The concept of ’Iama is derived from ’Iaomai,
to cure and, hence, to heal or make whole. The
same occurs in the LXX.
The names came into the Scoto-Milesians from
the Magi. The Magi or Druids were Scythian
and came into Egypt where they perfected the
mysteries and Egyptian hieroglyphs. They
went from there to Spain among the Gadelians.
They were held to have joined the ScotoMilesians in Spain from the Gadelians and
went with them into Ireland (see
MacGeoghegan and Mitchell, History of
Ireland, Sadlier and Co., New York, 1868, p.
42). The concepts seem to have come with
them. However, they seem to have altered the
calendar to a 354-day year of twelve months,
with a bimonthly period of twenty-nine and
thirty days respectively. They seem to have
begun the month on the sixth day of the moon
and had a thirty-year cycle (Pliny, xvi, 95, 250)
and counted by nights (Ceasar, vi, 18.2). A
month of thirty days was intercalated every
two and one half years. At the end of every
five years, there was complete agreement in
the solar and lunar calendars and the
quinquennial sacrifices were offered (cf.
Diodorus and Jullian; Encyc. of Religion and
Ethics (ERE), Vol. 12, p. 73). From the Saltair
na Rann, every person in ancient Ireland was
expected to know the day of the solar months,
the age of the moon, the flow of the tides, and
The Golden Calf
the day of the week (cf. ERE, ibid.). The traces
of the ancient Celtic system, which served to
convert the lunar and solar years are found
preserved in Amorican Brittany and in Wales.
The Gallic god Bellenos was assimilated to
Apollo as healer rather than as a sun-god
(ibid., p. 74). The Bel and Bellenos association
seems evident. The images of sun, moon and
star worship are not terribly common, but do
exist.
The Celtic bimonthly system of fifty-nine days
(being thirty days followed by twenty-nine
days) is in the same manner as was found
among the Jews. The Book of Enoch
recognises a year of six thirty-day months and
six twenty-nine day months (1Enoch 78:1516). Galen records the Jews had a fifty-nine
day bimonthly system prior to his observations
in the second century (cf. Schürer, The History
of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus
Christ, Vol. 1, App. 3, pp. 590-591).
Like Egypt, the astrological knowledge in the
British Isles was extensive anciently.
Stonehenge appears to have been built on the
rising of the sun at the summer solstice, but the
Hurlers in Cornwall are held prima facie to
have been built based on the helical rising of
the Pleiades on May morning 1600 BCE
approximately (ERE, ibid., p. 64). The
knowledge at the time of the Exodus was at
least as advanced as this. The Egyptians could
not only calculate the month with precision,
they could also calculate the Sothic cycle and
the helical rising of Sirius, centuries before the
Exodus.
The name Shams is found in the Arabic. Shams
is the Sun goddess and is feminine. The Moon
god Qamar is masculine. The poetry goes as
follows:
It is no disgrace for the sun to be feminine nor
anything to boast about for the moon to be
masculine.
This masculinity of the moon god is seemingly
derived from the watering freshness and,
hence, growth power of the cool desert nights
prior to the heat of the day.
Page 9
The Egyptian and Babylonian systems seem to
have applied the concept also of Healing to the
name. The name of the Egyptian priest Jambres
(SGD 2387) seems to be related to this concept
also.
The use of names based on the moon extends
into the Book of Enoch where the angel given
charge for the path of the moon is ’Seriel
(layrhv) (cf. Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of
Enoch, Vol. 2, p. 83). The term dawn of God or
moon of God (Shariel or perhaps Sahariel) is
uncertain. Sun of God (Samsiel) being the
fifteenth angel preceding Shariel as the dawn
of God or perhaps the moon of God (Knibb,
ibid., p. 74) is tied in to the concepts found in
the text in Exodus where the people rose up
early (i.e. before dawn) to sacrifice and to feast.
The use of the Greek Sarinas for the angel of
the moon system, which is as Sariel, is another
problem for the scholars dealing with the late
second-Temple texts.
Mohammed, in the Koran (at Surah 20 Ta Ha),
deals with the episode of the calf. He produces
the being As-Samiri who influences the making
of the golden calf. Here we see the etymology
for the moon/sun system as it is attributed to
this being by name. The explanation is that
Gabriel had hallowed the ground and this being
threw some of it into the casting of the calf.
The Koran holds the calf had the capacity to
make a sound as though lowing (cf. Pickthall’s
translation, pp. 231-232). This may have been
from heating. The bull systems of Moloch or
Malcom and the Minotaur were heated for
human sacrifice, which may have been within
them in some cases.
It is by no means clear who the Samiri is (cf.
Dawood’s translation, p. 230, n. 1). The name
seems to be related to the concepts of the moon
and sun associated with the calf system. It is
used in the Koran, as though it is taken for
granted that the reader will know as a matter of
course. There is no doubt that the being is
identified exclusively with the golden calf.
In the Babylonian system, the identification
with the fertility system was as Shamash the
Sun god, brother of the fertility goddess Ishtar.
Shamash was the personification of light and
Page 10
righteousness and had the power to deliver
oracles of prophecy (cf. Drury, Dictionary of
Mysticism and the Occult, p. 237). The
Babylonians worshipped Istar or Ishtar as
Venus, the morning star. The two horns of the
moon at sunset, and also sunrise on the horizon
with the morning star, symbolised the system
both in peace and war. We know that when
Esarhaddon (681-669 BCE) defeated the
Babylonian and Elamite rebellion, he placed
one of his sons Shamash-shum-ukin on the
throne of Babylon and restored the priests and
the temples there. The other son Ashurbanipal
(668-626 BCE) was made king of Assyria.
Shamash was also associated with the closing
of the Ark in the Epic of Gilgamesh behind Utna Pishtim (the far away, i.e. Noah) (see
Budge, Babylonian Life and History, 2nd ed.,
Religious Tract Society, London, 1925, p. 93).
Sin the first-born son of Enlil, was also called
Enzil and Nannar as variant forms. He marked
the length of the day, the month and the year
and, as lord of the month, his number was
thirty. His chief shrines were in Ur and Harran.
His wife was Ningal or Nikkal and she is held
to be the mother of the Sun god. Nin-Mar
(goddess of the town of Mar) was associated
with Sin and is held to have had twelve
children by him. Tamasha, the Sun god (also
called Utu and Babbar), was the son of Sin
(Budge, p. 105). Here we have the triune
system we see in the Egyptians as Isis, Osirus
and Horus. The bull symbolism is central as the
male deity. With the Babylonians, the sun is
another male as Shamash. His wife is Aia or
Shenirda (Budge, ibid., p. 106).
The god Dumuzi or Tammuz unites the
attributes of the two gods Shamash and a son
of Ea. He was in part a water god and in part a
vegetation god. His cult was already old in
Sumerian times and was honoured among the
people until a very late period (Budge, ibid., p.
106). Ishtar went down to the underworld to
bring him back to Earth. During his annual
visit to the underworld, women wept for him.
This custom is condemned by Ezekiel (Ezek.
8:14). His mother was Sirdu and his sister
Geshtin. Thus, Shamash is inherent in
Tammuz. The cult was thus continuous in
variant forms.
The Golden Calf
The original Sumerian deities, which also came
to be prominent in Babylon, were based on or
descended from Anu the father and king of the
gods. He was considered too remote to be
worshipped and, hence, he was not popular
with the Babylonians. He was held to have
married Ninzalli, and his concubine was
Ninursalla. His wife was given in later times as
Antu. Her position was usurped by Ishtar to
whom Anu gave a name corresponding to his
own. This story mirrors that of Isis who
succeeded in making Ra give her his secret
name. The goddess Nana was daughter of Anu
in practice (cf. the paper Abracadabra: The
Meaning of Names (No. 240)).
Another “father of the gods” was Enlil, Ellil or
Bel, god of the Semites. He lived on the Great
Mountain of Heaven. His principal wife was
Ninlil who had attributes of the world-mother.
The god Dagan, which was of foreign origin to
Assyria, was counterpart of Enlil. His wife also
had a foreign name which was Shalash.
Ninurta was son of Enlil and a god of war and
the chase. He represented the sun at midday.
He was represented by Saturn and the star
Sirius.
Nusku a fire-god and light-god was sometimes
identified with Sin the Moon god. He was also
identified with the Cossean god Shuqamuna.
His wife was Sadaranunna.
Marduk, also a son of Ea, had the original seat
of his cult in Eridu. Like Horus in Egypt, he
represented the sun at morning. At an early
period he was chosen as the chief god of
Babylon. As his father Ea had conquered
Mummu, so he conquered Tiammat (the world
serpent) and was made king of the gods as a
result. The serpent-gryphon was sacred to him
and the number ten was his number, and his
star was Jupiter. His chief shrine was at Eagila
in Babylon. His statue was made of pure gold
ornamented with precious stones. His wife was
Sarpanitu which the Semites made into Zerbanitu.
Ishtar (or Ninni, or Innina) among the
Babylonians was the daughter of Sin the moon
god. She usurped the position of Antu as the
The Golden Calf
wife or concubine of Anu. She was the goddess
of love, but in one of her forms her lovers
suffered pain and death (Budge, ibid., p. 107).
Also a goddess of battle, she was Anunitu and
goddess of Akkad. She was also held to be the
wife of the god Ashur, war-god of the
Assyrians (Budge, ibid., p. 109). She unites
both triads from her concubinage with Anu
(see above).
In the Arabic, Shams, the sun, becomes female.
The bull of the moon in the early systems was
male. The crescent was his symbol and the
crescent dictated the calendar in his system and
not the true conjunction, which is the symbol
of the unseen god.
The symbol of the Mesopotamian lunar god as
Sin is well known. He often took the form of a
bull (Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols, Dorset,
1991, p. 34). The Egyptian equivalent was
Osirus who was the lunar god represented by
the bull Apis (ibid., also cf. above). Thus the
symbolism used at Sinai was both Egyptian
and Mesopotamian and related to the golden
calf, which was the symbol of the lunar god.
This Moon god Sin was the cause that Israel
wandered in the wilderness of Sin for forty
years. We thus have Sin identified with the
Moon god of the bull and, thus, also Shariel.
Perhaps the word serial from series as
progression is linguistically related here. The
sun goddess Shams perhaps reflects the older
and pre-Babylonian system still extant among
the Arabs where the Moon god Qamar has
taken over from Sin.
The Vedic god Surya, on the other hand, was a
solar bull. According to the Assyrians, the bull
was born of the sun. Krappe explains this
contradiction as stemming from the way that
the lunar and solar cults succeeded one another
(cf. Cirlot, ibid.). The reason is actually more
complex stemming from the explanation of the
celestial wars. Cirlot explains this as:
The lunar bull becomes solar when the solar cult
supplants the more ancient cult of the moon. But it
may well be that the bull is first and foremost a
lunar symbol because it is equated with the moon
morphologically by virtue of the resemblance of the
horns of the crescent moon, while it must take
second place to the solar symbol of the lion.
Page 11
This is the view expressed by Eliade also (cf.
Cirlot, ibid.).
There is no doubt that the crescent moon is not
the New Moon. Cirlot explains the views of the
changing sequence of the moon where the sun
rises again out of the gloom of night and the
crescent moon grows out of the New Moon
(ibid., p. 215). This symbolism in ancient times
related specifically to the cosmic systems of
the Mysteries. The Moon god was represented
by the upturned horns of the bull calf as a
symbol of the crescent. It has nothing to do
with the precise calculation of the calendar,
which is exactly determinable to the second
each month, and can be so determined for
centuries in advance. The system of crescent
observation is insisted on within Kabbalistic
Judaism as part of the Mysteries.
‘Every month the moon completes the same
trajectory executed by the sun in a year... It
contributes in large measure to the maturation of
shrubs and the growth of animals.’ (Cicero).
[According to Cirlot:] This helps to explain the
important role of the lunar goddesses such as Ishtar,
Hathor, Anaitis, Artemis. Man from the earliest
times has been aware of the relationships between
the moon and the tides, and of the more mysterious
connexion between the lunar cycle and the
physiological cycle of the woman (Cirlot, ibid., p.
214).
There is no doubt that the relationship of the
New Moon and the tides was understood and
was perfectly predictable from early times. The
uncertainty of observation was introduced by
the Mystery elements, of what later became
Kabbalah for purposes related to the fertility
cults of the moon worshippers, aided and
abetted by the burdens of the traditions of the
Pharisees and especially within the rabbinical
system.
There were a number of ceremonies at the New
Moon, and Frazer records that the New Moon
is represented by a cow among the Minoans
and this, seemingly, represents the symbolic
marriage of sun and moon (Golden Bough, iv,
71 et seqq). It was also viewed as the husband
of the sun by ancient agricultural societies in
both the eastern and the western hemisphere.
The Japanese hold the moon as male, but as the
brother of the sun-goddess, not as consort. The
Babylonians originally held the moon took
Page 12
precedence over the sun and was reckoned its
father (Frazer, ibid., vi, 139 n.). Thus the early
morning sacrifices we find in the Bible at the
Exodus. This view is borne out in the sequence
of the levels in the ziggurat at Babylon. This is
not the tower associated with Nimrod and
Abraham. Budge observes that the levels for
the sun and Venus were gold (fourth) and
yellow (fifth) respectively. The moon was at
the highest (seventh) level. The colours were
associated with the gold-yellow and perhaps
silver (or white gold) which we also see in the
calf system. The seven levels relate back to the
Shamanic ascents to the heavens and appear
again in Kabbalistic Judaism as the ascent of
the chariot in Merkabah mysticism through the
seven halls of the Hekkalot or Hekhaloth (cf.
Kaplan, Meditation and Kabbalah, 1982, pp.
35-37; 294-295; Drury, Dictionary of
Mysticism and the Occult, 1985, pp. 104, 113,
177 et seqq).
The Finger of Ashirat
We know from the archaeological record that
the crescent moon was associated with the
Triune system, as it was termed the finger of
Ashirat and was used as a specific time
indicator not only in Palestine, but also in the
Egyptian army. The crescent was seen as the
fingernail of the beckoning goddess.
The fortified city of Taanak in Canaan lay on
the ancient Egyptian military road through
Canaan to Syria. The name is in Egyptian,
Assyrian and OT sources. It was discovered not
surprisingly at Tel Ta’anek. Ernst Sellin’s
excavation of 1901 discovered cuneiform
inscriptions, which “rarely come to light in
Palestine.” The tablets were letters to the king
of Taanak Ishtarjasher whose name is
associated with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar
or Easter in the Anglo-Saxon. One of the
letters was written by an Egyptian general. It
was an instruction for a report from
Ishtarjasher. It said:
All that thou hearest write to me from thence, that I
may understand it. If the finger of Ashirat show
itself, I would wish to take heed of it and obey. And
do thou report unto me the sign and the mater
thereof (Erich Zehren, The Crescent and the Bull, tr.
James Cleugh, Hawthorn, NY, p. 190).
The Golden Calf
Zehren identifies Ashirat as being the star
goddess of Canaan and analogous to Ishtar and
Inanna. He identifies the text as referring to the
crescent moon as the finger, which is visible in
the shape of the crescent moon towards the end
of the month (ibid.). Thus the Egyptian general
indicates a specific date. When the finger of
Ashirat, that is, the crescent moon, appears and
approaches Venus (Ashirat) he will expect a
report. This mention of the finger of the great
star goddess was used to indicate just before or
just after the New Moon (ibid., p. 191) which
was the conjunction.
The Bull
The transfer of the bull symbolism to Osirus,
who was anciently a god of corn and produce,
is held by Frazer to stem from the influence of
Mesopotamia. Frazer holds that the sacred bull
Mnevis of Heliopolis was deemed an
incarnation of the Sun god (ibid., iv, p. 72)
which was the same concept found among the
Cretans. The eight-year periods of the Cretan
cycles appear to relate more to the lunar cycles,
as a double Olympiad in an ancient form of the
nineteen-year system (see the paper God’s
Calendar (No. 156)). A title of the Pharaohs
for thousands of years was mighty bull (ibid.).
The identification of the bull or golden calf
with Moloch comes from the practice of the
Carthaginians, and probably all of the Punic
world, to sacrifice their children to Moloch or
Malcom by placing them on the arms of the
bronze statue of the beast which had a head of
a bull calf (i.e. with horns as a crescent). The
children rolled onto the fire in front and were
killed. This may be similar to the tradition of
the Minotaur on Crete (Frazer, ibid., iv, p. 75).
Thus, the tabernacle of Moloch can be
identified with the calf of Sin at Sinai.
This insidious worship of Molech or Chemosh
or the Moon god Sin as the golden calf of
Sinai, as he was variously called, involved the
sacrifice and also the eating of the children. It
was an abomination to the Lord. According to
the Abbe MacGeoghegan, the worship of the
golden calf was carried on by the Milesians in
Ireland as second divinity behind the sacred
Oak and Mistletoe, until the advent of
Christianity (MacGeoghegan-Mitchell, ibid., p.
The Golden Calf
65). This religion of the Triune god of the
Aryans was endemic among the Phoenicians,
Carthaginians, Gauls, Scythians, Greeks and
Romans. This was why the Trinity was
introduced, and so staunchly defended by
them. The consumption of the children and of
dogs, continued until the destruction of
Carthage. It was halted among the
Carthaginians in the reign of Darius I, who
considered it barbarous. The Irish Milesians
were not alone in this sacrificing and eating of
human flesh (often for magical reasons), as
Polybius records, that [H]Annibal rejected the
proposition made to him by the Gauls, of
eating human flesh. It was endemic to the Irish,
Gauls, Britons, Spaniards, Scythians and other
nations. The Scots of Britain were observed by
Jerome, when he saw them in Gaul, to be
eaters of human flesh in his time, at the end of
the fourth century (cf. MacGeoghegan ibid., p.
67). The crescent moon and the star with it,
that has penetrated even Islam, are associated
with the worship. Jones and Pennick (A
History of Pagan Europe, Routledge, London
and New York, 1995, pp. 77ff.) note that the
crescent and star motif of Islam recalls the
worship of the Moon god Sin, who had already
subsumed the worship of the three goddesses
Al’lat, Al-Uzzah and Manat. The Triune
system was endemic to the Aryans, and was
found among the Celts in the similar forms of
the Triune system, and the three goddesses, of
whom one was Brigit. They and the Triune
system were part of the same system of the
sacred groves, and the Moon god Sin who the
adherents also worshipped. The sacred groves
were scattered with human entrails, and even
the Druids would not enter them at certain
times. Sardinia was a stronghold of this pagan
system until the eleventh century, and the
magistrates were bribed to ignore it.
21
And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass
through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou
profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
The system was ancient in Ireland, and the
eating of human flesh was common both there,
and among the Scots, who originally came to
Scotland via Ireland when it was called Scotia.
The Anglo-Saxons were also not immune to it.
Recent excavations of the megaliths in County
Page 13
Sligo show the massive graves there of untold
thousands of humans, more than possibly
could have been supported by the country
around them. There are many hundreds of
these types of burial sites over Ireland, but
Sligo seems to be a major site. The
archaeologists have noted recently that the
people were cremated using their own body fat
and then (as one scholar put it on a recent radio
interview), were “seemingly disinterred for a
feast by their families, or such, at a later date”.
The obvious conclusion is being studiously
ignored, for the present (as MacGeoghegan did
when he noted the burial practice). The fact is
that humans and mostly children were roasted
in images of the god, or on fires, throughout
the Aryan and Phoenician world. RomanoCeltic and Phoenician mothers took it as a
matter of pride that they could comfort their
children without emotion while they were
being roasted alive in the name of piety, and
the screams were covered by drum and
trumpets (cf. also MacGeoghegan ibid., pp. 6573).
The customs were found in Tyre and among
the Phoenicians, and continued for a long time
there and among the Canaanites. Those who
did not have children purchased them from the
poor so that they would not be short of a
suitable sacrifice. The children who were burnt
were either cast into a furnace or placed in a
statue of Saturn, which was set on fire. The
defeat of Carthage by Agathocles was ascribed
by them to the fact that they had sacrificed
children of secondary quality, being children of
strangers and slaves, to the god in the form of
Saturn (hence the Saturnalia) instead of their
usual children of first quality. They then
offered up two hundred children of the first
quality and three hundred citizens who
voluntarily offered themselves to appease the
god of their crime of negligence.
(MacGeoghegan, pp. 67-68).
This cult of worship of the Moon god Sin as
the golden calf or Molech or the Triune God,
of which the Trinity is the modern derivation,
is the most evil form of human barbarity, and
God condemns it and its system. The system is
extant even today (cf. the papers The Origins of
Christmas and Easter (No. 235); and The
Page 14
Doctrine of Original Sin Part 1 The Garden of
Eden (No. 246)).
The bull calf is identified with the Moon god
whose horns are the crescent moon observed
from the false phasis and variable as opposed
to the true New Moon of the conjunction,
which is not variable and is measurable to the
exact second. The identification of this
idolatrous crescent is also identified with the
morning star or Venus which, biblically,
represents the god of this world until the
second advent of Messiah when he will assume
that rank (cf. Rev. 2:28; 22:16).
The morning star was in ancient times
seemingly also identified with the cult of
Adonis (Frazer, ibid., v, 258f.). Human
sacrifice was enjoined at sowing in this cult of
the morning star (Frazer, ibid., vii, 238). The
terms in Isaiah 14:12 refer to the Day Star,
Morning Star or Lucifer (Latin for Phosphorus)
meaning light bearer. It is identified with the
Babylonian system because it forms the
nucleus of the world religious system as
identified in Revelation. Ishtar, as Morning
Star, is also Lucifer as light bearer and these
The Golden Calf
functions will be taken over by Messiah and
the elect. That is why Mariolatry is the Mothergoddess system of the queen of heaven.
Thus both aspects of the bull as the crescent
and the morning star were tied absolutely to
idolatry. Both aspects involved human sacrifice
at one time. The tabernacle of Moloch and the
star of Raiphan or Chiun are thus related to the
crescent and the morning star system. Messiah
will take them over and eliminate every vestige
of their observation as it relates to the biblical
system. They are a gross perversion of the
biblical system and the calendar of God.
To continue with the Hillel calendar or any
system based on observation of the crescent,
given the known information about the
significance of the crescent moon and its place
in the worship of the calf system, is effectively
to continue in the system of worship if not the
active sacrifices of Moloch so condemned by
God.
q