The Golden Calf. Artist: Esteban March, circa 1650
What Was the Sin of the Golden Calf?
Many scholars, traditional and academic, believe it was worship of another god, the first commandment in the Decalogue, but what Aaron actually claims about the calf points to a different collection of laws.
Published: March 14, 2017
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Last Updated: September 7, 2026
Editor’s note: for a different approach to this problem, see Deena Grant, “What Was the Golden Calf?” TheTorah.com (2013).
See, e.g., William Propp, Exodus 19–40 (Anchor Yale Bible 2A; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 566: “The people immediately violate the Decalogue by making for themselves a metal god in a calf’s likeness.”
Editor’s note: See discussion in Frederick Greenspahn, “The Golden Calves of Sinai and Northern Israel in Context,” TheTorah.com (2015).
Although it is true that the calves are presented as their own sin (see e.g., 2 Kings 17:16), it would seem that the biblical authors, having decided that the only proper worship of YHWH was that which took place in Jerusalem, polemicized against non-centralized worship by describing it as idolatrous, at least rhetorically. But that is not the same as idolatry actually being the problem.
