Calf-Worship.— This appears to have originated in Egypt, where we know that brutes of nearly all sorts were lield in reverence by some one or another of the various nomes into which that country was di- vided. See Animal Worship. Of all these crea- tures, however, the calf^ or rather bullock, seems to have been most generally adored, especially a peculiar description, or rather peculiarly-colored bull, to which, under the name of Apis or Blnevis, divine honors of the most extraordinary kind were paid throughout Egypt. It is from this form of idolatry that the scrip- tural examples of calf-worship are clearly derived. Tet it is possible that the commentators are not quite collect in supposing i4f»f to be the deity whose wor- ship was imitated by the Jews, at least in the first in- stance. The Egyptians gave that name to a living boll which they worshipped at Memphis; but they also worshipped another living bull in the city of On, or Heliopolis, which they called Mne^ or, according to the Greek form, MnevU, and which they adored as the living emblem of the sun. Now the Israelites, from the circumstance of their living in the land of Goshen, in or near which Heliopolis was situated, and also from the connection of Joseph, the head of their nation, with one of the priestly families of that city, must have been well acquainted with its peculiar forms of idola- try. It is also veiy probable that many of them had joined in those rites during their sojourn. We might therefore naturaUy suppose that they would adopt them on this occasion ; and the supposition that they did so is confirmed by a very curious fact, which has not yet been noticed, as bearing upon tliis question. Champollion has observed, in his Panthkn Egyptien^ that Moevis is said by Porphyry and Plutarch to Yax% been a hlcuk bull, as Apis unques- tionably was; but he assures us that this is not tiie case with regard to the existing remains of ancient £^7>t; for, although in the Egyptian paintings Apis is either col- ored black or black and white, Mnevis, on the contrary, in the only figure of him hitherto discovered, is colored hright sfeU lowif evidently with the intention of repre- senting a ffoUen image. This fiict, though not a conclusive proof^ afibrds a strong
presumption that the golden calf was made accord- ing to the usual form and color of the images of Mne- vis. The annexed engraving represents this sym- bolical deity of Heliopolis as he is painted on the cof- fin of a mummy at Turin, the name being distlnctiy written in hieroglyphical characters, Mns, without the Greek termination. It differs in color only, and not ^ in form, from another painting on the same cofiin, which bears the name of Apis. Both have the same trappings— the sun*s disk between the horns, sur- mounted by the plume of ostrich feathers, signifying justice, and the whip, the emblem of power; and both are accompanied by the serpent, representing the spir- it of the gods. The bull Mnevis or Mne — for vis is merely a Greek termination — was sumptuously lodg^ in the city On or Heliopolis, and this is all that we find recorded of him in ancient writers. Far more an- cient than Apis, the era of his consecration is lost, and perhaps forever. The only circumstance which is of importance, save that the Israelites fell into his wor- ship, is that he appears to have represented the zodiacal sign which was depicted yellow, while, by a curious anomaly, Apis, whose attributes all coincide with those of the sun, was black. The worship paid to him, though lasting till the downfall of the Egyptian hie- rarchy, gradually diminished before the more important and popular rites of Apis, and littie is said of Mnevis. The following account is chiefly Arom Kitto and Smith. 1. The most ancient and remarkable notice in the Scriptures on this head is that of the golden calf which was cast by Aaron while the Israelites were encamped at the foot of SinaL In Exod. xxxii, 4, we are told that Aaron, constrained by the people, in the absence of Moses, made a molten calf of the golden ear-rings of the people, to represent the Elohim which brought Israel out of Egypt. He is also said to have " finished it with a graving-tool;'* but the word O'nn, cAe're^, may mean a mould (comp. 2 Rings v, 23, Auth. Vers. '*bag8;" Sept. ^uXacoif). Bochart (Hieroz, lib. ii, cap. xxxlv) expliTms it to mean, ** he placed the ear-
Anofent EsTpiian aacrad Calf Mnevia.
1. Bronze Figure of Apia. 8. The Kaxto on Us Bock.
rings in a bag," as Gideon did (Judg. viii, 24). Probably, however, it means that, after the calf had been cast, Aaron ornamented it with the sculptured wings, feathers, and other marks which were sim- ilarly represented on the statues of Apis, etc. (Wil- kinson, iv, 848). It does not seem likely that the ear-rings would have provided the enormous quan- tity of gold required for a' solid figure. More prob- ably it was a wooden figure laminated with gold, a process which is known to have existed in E^pt. **A gilded ox covered with a pall" was an emblem of Osfais (Wilkinson, iv, 886). See Gold.
To punish the apostasy, Moses burnt the calf, and then, grinding it to powder, scattered it over the water, where, according to some, it produced in the drinkers efl^cts similar to the water of jealousy (Num. v). He probably adopted this course a^ the deadliest and most irreparable blow to their superstition (Jerome, Ep. 128; Pint. Ik Is. p. S62), or as an idlegcrical act (Job xv, 16),