The Calves of YHWH Pt. 2
Table of Contents
More Evidence for the Trinity
In a previous article, I showed how the fashioning of the golden calves points to the Triune Nature of God: The Calves of the Trinity: The Calves of the Trinity.
I like to expound on this a bit more.
When the Davidic kingdom became divided during the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, his rival Jeroboam made two calves, similarly to what his ancestors had done during the Exodus, and set them up at certain locations in order to have the nine and half tribes to go there to worship YHWH. One of these locations was Bethel, a very significant area:
“Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.’ So the king took counsel, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods (eloheka), O Israel, that brought you up (asher he‘eluka) from the land of Egypt.’ And he set one in Bethel, and one he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves which he had made. And he had the priests of the high places, which he had made, stand in Bethel. Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he made a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.” 1 Kings 12:25-33
The words highlighted in Hebrew are plural, and literally read, “your gods, they who brought you up…”
As I indicated in the previous article, the calves were meant to stand in place of the Godhead that came down to deliver Israel from their Egyptian bondage. That Godhead is identified as YHWH, the Angel of YHWH and the Holy Spirit of YHWH. This explains why plurals are used, as opposed to singulars.
Further corroboration comes from one of the places where Jeroboam set up one of the calves, namely, Bethel. According to Genesis, Bethel is the place where Jacob saw YHWH in a dream:
“Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place. Then he had a dream, and behold, a ladder stood on the earth with its top touching heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, Yahweh stood above it and said, ‘I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your seed. And your seed will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. And I will bring you back to this land; for I will not forsake you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How fearsome is this place! This is none other than the house of God (beth elohim), and this is the gate of heaven.’
“So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. And he called the name of that place Bethel (“house of God”); however, previously the name of the city had been Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey on which I am going, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in peace, then Yahweh will be my God. Now this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” Genesis 28:10-22
Elsewhere in Genesis, we are told that the God of Bethel, the God who appeared to Jacob and to whom he had vowed a tenth, was actually the Angel of God:
“Now it happened at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel ("house of God"), where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your kin.’” Genesis 31:10-13
It is the Angel who is the God of Bethel and who swore to Jacob that he would not abandon him, but be with him until he fulfilled all of his promises.
Later in Genesis Jacob is told by Elohim to revisit Bethel and build an altar to the El who had appeared to him:
“Then God (elohim) said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel (“house of God”) and live there, and make an altar there to God (el), who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.’… And he built an altar there and called the place El-bethel (“God of the house of God”), because there God (ha elohim) revealed themselves (nig’lu) to him when he fled from his brother.” Genesis 35:1, 7
What makes this passage so remarkable is that the verb which the narrator used to refer to the Elohim that appeared to Jacob, namely, nig’lu, is a plural participle, and literally means “they appeared/revealed themselves”!
This explains why the text has Elohim speak of the El that revealed himself to Jacob at Bethel in the third person, since it is evident that it is the Angel of God who is being referred to as that very God (El) whom Jacob saw. This further explains the use of the plural participle nig’lu (“they revealed themselves”) since the God that Jacob encountered was YHWH and his Angel.
The Greek version makes this point abundantly clear:
“And the angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob; and I said, What is it? 12 And he said, Look up with thine eyes, and behold the he-goats and the rams leaping on the sheep and the she-goats, speckled and variegated and spotted with ash-coloured spots; for I have seen all things that Laban does to thee. I am the God (ego eimi ho theos) that appeared to thee in the place of God (en topo theou) where thou anointedst a pillar to me, and vowedst to me there a vow; now then arise and depart out of this land, depart into the land of thy nativity, and I will be with thee.” Genesis 31:11-13
The Angel is God who represents another that is also God.
This may be one of the reasons two calves were made, since Jeroboam would have known that the God who came down to save Israel isn’t a singular divine Person. Rather, YHWH is actually multi-personal since the Ones that saved Israel was both YHWH God and his divine Angel (along with the Holy Spirit).
In other words, YHWH, the Angel and the Spirit were the “Gods” that came down from heaven and they were the Ones that brought them up out of Egypt.
Hence, the use of the plurals wasn’t for the purpose of affirming several different and distinct Gods. The plurals were employed to show that Israel’s one true God is actually an uncreated, infinite multi-personal Being.
Further Reading
The Gods of Israel have come down to save!
Answering Islam – Sam Shamoun Theology Newsletter
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