The Disturbing Origins of Jeroboam's Golden Calves (AKA The Most Interesting Malbim Ever)
This week’s parsha, Ki Tisa, contains one of the most troubling episodes in Tanakh. The Children of Israel are about to receive the Torah, the Luchot [Tablets] are God’s ketubah [marriage contract] with them. But instead, they create and worship a golden calf. They say something specific about this calf. See Exodus 32:4.
וַיִּקַּ֣ח מִיָּדָ֗ם וַיָּ֤צַר אֹתוֹ֙ בַּחֶ֔רֶט וַֽיַּעֲשֵׂ֖הוּ עֵ֣גֶל מַסֵּכָ֑ה וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ אֵ֤לֶּה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶעֱל֖וּךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃ This he took from them and cast in a mold,*cast in a mold Cf. Zech. 11.13 (beth hayyoṣer, “foundry”); others “fashioned it with a graving tool.” and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god,*This is your god Others “These are your gods.” O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
Now, obviously the Israelites were aware that this golden calf, which until recently had been the gold in their earrings, did not literally bring them up out of Egypt. What then did they mean? There are a variety of interpretations but the simplest seems to be Sforno’s understanding.
אלה אלהיך ישראל אלה יהיו אצלך אלהים, שתתפלל. אליהם בכל צרכך, ואותם תעבוד להשיג חפצך:
אלה אלוהיך ישראל, these will serve henceforth as your elohim, for you to address in your prayers for all your needs; you will serve them in order to obtain your needs.
However, there are other fascinating interpretations, including Rav Amnon Bazak’s idea that the goal had been to create a calf based on the Maaseh HaMerkava to symbolize God’s throne/ chariot, but eventually the people went astray and started to worship it for its own sake.
Let’s fast forward to Sefer Melakhim, the Book of Kings. The kingdom has split. Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim now holds power. And he becomes concerned about the loss of that power.
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יָרׇבְעָ֖ם בְּלִבּ֑וֹ עַתָּ֛ה תָּשׁ֥וּב הַמַּמְלָכָ֖ה לְבֵ֥ית דָּוִֽד׃ Jeroboam said to himself, “Now the kingdom may well return to the House of David.
אִֽם־יַעֲלֶ֣ה ׀ הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֗ה לַעֲשׂ֨וֹת זְבָחִ֤ים בְּבֵית־יְהֹוָה֙ בִּיר֣וּשָׁלַ֔͏ִם וְ֠שָׁ֠ב לֵ֣ב הָעָ֤ם הַזֶּה֙ אֶל־אֲדֹ֣נֵיהֶ֔ם אֶל־רְחַבְעָ֖ם מֶ֣לֶךְ יְהוּדָ֑ה וַהֲרָגֻ֕נִי וְשָׁ֖בוּ אֶל־רְחַבְעָ֥ם מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָֽה׃ If these people still go up to offer sacrifices at the House of the LORD in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will turn back to their master, King Rehoboam of Judah; they will kill me and go back to King Rehoboam of Judah.”
Rashi elaborates on this threat to the throne, which he sees as wholly legitimate.
אִם יַעֲלֶה הָעָם הַזֶּה וְגוֹ'. אֵין יְשִׁיבָה בָּעֲזָרָה אֶלָּא לְמַלְכֵי בֵּית דָּוִד בִּלְבַד, וְיִהְיֶה הוּא יוֹשֵׁב וַאֲנִי עוֹמֵד, וּבְמוֹצָאֵי שְׁבִיעִית בִּזְמַן הַקְהֵל, יִקְרָא אֶת פָּרָשַׁת הַמֶּלֶךְ, שֶׁהוּא רֹאשׁ בִּמְדִינָתוֹ, וַאֲנִי כִּשְׁאָר הָעָם, נִמְצֵאתִי בָּזוּי.
If this people will go up, etc. Sitting in the Temple court is not permitted- it is only permitted for kings of the house of David, therefore, he [Rechavam] will be sitting and I [Jeroboam] will be standing. Moreover, [during Succos] following the Sabbatical Year, at the time of the Assembly, he [is the one who] will read the section [in Devarim] relating to the king,4See Mishnayos Sotah 7:8. for he is the king of his province, whereas I will be [standing] like the rest of the people, and I will, therefore, be degraded.
Jeroboam therefore determines that he must keep the people from traveling to Jerusalem for the Shalosh Regalim [three festivals- Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot] at all costs.
How does he do it? This is how.
וַיִּוָּעַ֣ץ הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ וַיַּ֕עַשׂ שְׁנֵ֖י עֶגְלֵ֣י זָהָ֑ב וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֗ם רַב־לָכֶם֙ מֵעֲל֣וֹת יְרוּשָׁלַ֔͏ִם הִנֵּ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶעֱל֖וּךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃ So the king took counsel and made two golden calves. He said to Heb. “them.”the people, “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
וַיָּ֥שֶׂם אֶת־הָאֶחָ֖ד בְּבֵֽית־אֵ֑ל וְאֶת־הָאֶחָ֖ד נָתַ֥ן בְּדָֽן׃ He set up one in Bethel and placed the other in Dan.
Do you notice the quote? Jeroboam uses the exact same expression that is used in this week’s parsha when discussing the sin of the golden calf.
If you’re like my students, you are taken aback by this. How could this be? Why would the people have ever gone along with it? Don’t they remember the fallout from the sin of the golden calf? To understand this better, we learned the commentaries of Radak and Malbim. They are both interesting, but Malbim’s interpretation is especially fascinating. (Thanks, Yair, for learning it with me! If I translate any of it incorrectly, that’s my error, not his.)
Let’s begin with Radak.
ויועץ המלך. שאל עצה היאך יעשה והסכימה עצתו עם היועצים אותו שיעשה שני עגלים ולמה עגלים פתה אותם בדברים אמר להם הלא ידעתם כי המלכות נחלקה ברצון האל כמו שאמר לי אחיה השלוני הנביא אם כן האל לא רצה במלכות בית דוד ולא רצה ג"כ בירושלם שהוא מלכות בית דוד אם כן נעשה מקום אחר שתבואו ותזבחו שם ולמה עגל אמר להם הלא אהרן עשה לישראל עגל להשרות השכינה בו במקום משה שלא היה להם גם אתם עתה שאין לכם מקום השכינה שהוא ירושלם נעשה עגל במקומו להשרות שכינה בו לפיכך אמר אלה אלהיך ישראל אשר העלוך מארץ מצרים כמו שאמר בעגל המדבר כי לא היתה כוונתו לעבודת גילולים ולמה עשה שנים כדי שלא להטריח ישראל שיבאו כלם למקום אחד:
And the king took advice. He asked advice regarding how he should act and his advice accorded with the ideas of his advisors. The idea was that he should make two golden calves. And why calves? Because he, Jeroboam, seduced them with his words. He said to them, “Don’t you know that the kingdom has been divided by the will of God just like Achiyah HaShiloni the prophet declared? If so, God does not desire the kingship of the house of David, and similarly He does not desire Jerusalem as the capital city and the hallmark of the kingship of the house of David. Therefore, we must create an alternative worship site where the people can bring offerings.
And why did he suggest a calf? He said to them, “Didn’t Aharon make Bnei Yisrael a calf to cause the Shechina [the feminine aspect of God’s Divine presence] to rest upon it in place of Moshe when he was not there? Similarly, you now lack a place where the Shechina rests, Jerusalem. So let us make a calf in its place in order to have a place where the Shechina can dwell.” This is why Jeroboam declared, “These are your gods, O Israel, that took you out of Egypt” just as was said by the calf in the story of the wilderness- because his intention was not to worship idols [but rather to create a location where God’s spirit could dwell/ rest]. And why did he make two of them? So as not to burden the Israelites to all have to go to only one location.
Radak’s interpretation accords with those who perceived the golden calf in the episode in Exodus to be a place where God was meant to dwell (and not an idol in and of itself). The obvious question on the Radak is: but clearly things went south in the episode in the Midbar [wilderness!] In class, we came up with some possible answers- one is that in this situation, God had declared he desired the split of the kingdoms (so the alternative worship site seemed plausible) while in the episode in Shemot [Exodus] He had not declared that He wanted them to create any tangible worship site. [This assumes you are reading the Mishkan [Tabernacle] as a response to the sin of the golden calf, and not predating it.] An alternative idea is that Jeroboam might have captured the imaginations of the people by suggesting to them that they now had a powerful opportunity to perform a tikkun [rectification] of the episode of the golden calf. What had once been flawed could now be ideal!
Since we were left with questions, we turned to Malbim. Malbim is fascinating.
ויועץ המלך הנה להסיר את העם מלכת ירושלים היה יכול לבנות מקדש בבית אל כתבנית המקדש אשר בירושלים ולהעמיד שם העבודה כמו במקדש ה' בירושלים, אבל זה היה קשה בעיניו, אם מצד הבנין עצמו שבנין שלמה נבנה בעושר מופלג מאד, ולא היה יכול לבנות בית כמוהו, ואם יבנהו בלא הדר וכבוד יתמידו העם ללכת אל הבית הגדול, ואם ממה שהמקדש אשר בירושלים נתפרסם כי שם ה' שכן מהאש מהשמים שהיה מתמיד שם, וארון העדות וכלי משה, וכבר ראו כל העם כי מלא כבוד ה' את בית ה' בעת בנינו, וכל הנביאים הגדילו מעלתו, שכל זה יחסר בבית אשר יבנה ולא יתקבל בעיני העם, ולכן היתה עצתו לעשות שני עגלי זהב, ובאמת הרי"א לא אבה לקבל דעת המפרשים שהיו העגלים לשם עבודה, שא"א שיהיו ישראל מסכימים לזה, וכי לא ידעו את מעשה העגל שבמדבר איך התאנף ה' בם ותפרץ בם מגפה, ולדעתו עשאם לזכר מלכותו שהיה משבט יוסף שסימנו שור בכור שורו הדר לו, והיו שנים נגד מנשה ואפרים, אולם הכתוב אומר לזבח לעגלים אשר עשה, ואמר (דב"ה י"ג ח') ועמכם עגלי זהב אשר עשה לכם ירבעם לאלהים, ובאמת ממה שעשה שני עגלים, וממה שעשה החג בחדש השמיני, מבואר נגלה שבהיותו במצרים ראה כן את המצרים עושים שהיו להם שני שורים אשר עבדו אותם האחד בעיר המלוכה מעמפיס (מוף) והשני בעיר העליפאליס (בית שמש), ובחדש השמיני היה חג להעם אל העגל, כי האיש שאליו נעשה העגל (סראפיס או אזירס) שהוא ואשתו למדו דעת מלאכת עבודת האדמה, נהרג בחדש ההוא, יען שאת השור האחד בעיר מוף כבדו מאד ופזרו עליו הון רב, לכן עשה עקר מהעגל בבית אל, ובכ"ז אחר אשר עקר מגמתו היה להניא את העם מעבודת המקדש אין ספק שהראה במעשה זה פנים לכל צד, אל יראי ה' אמר שעשאם לשם האל שכמו שישכון במקדש על שני הכרובים הלקוחים מהמרכבה שהיא צורה אנושית מורה על החכמה, השיא אותם שישכון בבית אל ובדן אל פני שור שבמרכבה שמורה על ריבוי התבואות וכח שור, אולם המבואר בכתוב שתחלה לא עשה כהני במות רק אח"כ, ונראה שחשב שכמו שהעם הסכימו לפרק מעליהם כובד משא מלך ושרים שבשביל זה מרדו בשלמה, ובחרו בו שהוא יקל מעליהם עול מלכות, כן ירצו לפרק מעליהם עול עבודת בית ה' שהיה ג"כ למעמסה עליהם, אם ההליכה לרגל ג' פעמים בשנה למקום רחוק, ואם רוב הקרבנות על כל חטא ואשם ונדבות ותרומות ומעשרות וכדומה, וע"כ עשה להם תבנית העגל שציור העגל מורה החפשיית להגיד להם שהם חפשים מכל עבודה, (ובזה יפטרם בין מעבודת המקדש בין מעול המצות בכלל), ובתחלה לא בנה בית במות כלל וחשב כי ישמחו העם אם יהיו פטורים מהבאת קרבנות וזבחים, ויאמר אליהם רב לכם מעלות ירושלים ר"ל טורח רב יש לכם בעליה זאת, אם מרחק הדרך ואם העלאת המעשרות והקרבנות, הנה אלהיך ישראל אשר העלוך מארץ מצרים, ר"ל האלהים הלא העלה אתכם מבית עבדים, ואתם חפשים מכל עבודה בין לאלהים בין לאנשים, ולהמעיט טורח הדרך:
This is my translation/ paraphrase below.
And the king took advice. If he wanted to remove the Israelites from the kingship in Jerusalem, it would have made more sense for him to build a Temple akin to the one in Jerusalem in his own territory. There, he could have set up a service similar to that of the Temple in Jerusalem. However, this was difficult in his eyes. Why?
The actual construction would have been difficult. Solomon built his Temple with fantastical wealth, and Jeroboam would not have had the means to construct a Temple like his. And if Jeroboam were to construct a Temple that was not as wondrous, beautiful and fancy as Solomon’s, the nation would continue to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Temple in Jerusalem was famous. It was the place where God dwelled, and fire from Heaven was consistently there, and the Ark of Testimony and the vessels from the time of Moses were there, and the whole nation had witnessed the glory of God filling the Temple at the time that it was built and inaugurated, and all the prophets praised it. All of this would be lacking in any Temple Jeroboam managed to construct, and the nation would not accept it.
Therefore, Jeroboam decided to build two golden calves instead.
R’ Yitzchak Abarbanel does not agree with the other commentators that these calves were for worship purposes. He says it is impossible that Bnei Yisrael [the Children of Israel] would agree to this, since didn’t they know about the episode with the Egel [golden calf] in the Midbar? Didn’t they know how God got angry with them and spread a plague among them? According to him, Jeroboam created these calves because he was from the tribe of Joseph. The symbol of the tribe of Joseph is the shor [bull]. You see this in Deuteronomy when Moses is giving out blessings. (See Deuteronomy 33:17).
בְּכ֨וֹר שׁוֹר֜וֹ הָדָ֣ר ל֗וֹ
Like a firstling bull in his majesty
So why then did Jeroboam make two calves? To symbolize the two tribes that stem from Joseph- Menashe and Ephraim.
However, Malbim is not convinced by Abarbanel’s interpretation. He offers challenges to Abarbanel’s logic. First, he notes that later on in this very perek [chapter] it states לְזַבֵּ֖חַ לָעֲגָלִ֣ים אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֑ה/ to sacrifice to the calves that he had made (I Kings 12:32). Moreover, in II Chronicles 13:8 Aviyah says וְעִמָּכֶם֙ עֶגְלֵ֣י זָהָ֔ב אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֥ה לָכֶ֛ם יָרׇבְעָ֖ם לֵאלֹהִֽים/ and possess the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods. So it seems pretty clear that Jeroboam did make these calves for the purpose of worship, and specifically, idol worship.
Malbim continues by offering his own interpretation as to what really happened. He explains that the reason that Jeroboam made two calves and made a new festival in the eighth month was because he was influenced by what he witnessed in Egypt when he lived there as a refugee (recall that the fled after rebelling against King Solomon because Solomon wanted to kill him.) In Egypt, Jeroboam saw that the Egyptians had two bulls that they revered - one was in the capital city of Memphis (also known as Moph) and the other was in the city Heliopolis (the house of the sun). And in the eighth month the Egyptian people celebrated a festival because the being in whose honor they served the bull (who was Seraphis or Osiris), where he and his wife taught the people of Egypt the ways of the land/ agriculture, had been killed in that month. So they would fete and worship at the bull in the city of Moph.
(Ancient Near Eastern scholars would probably know exactly what Malbim is referencing here. I don’t, but a quick Google search shows that there were many bull cults in ancient Egypt, so this interpretation makes sense.)
It was due to this, and inspired by this, that Jeroboam decided to establish his bull (calf) in Beit El. But recall that he had to sell this to the nation, who would probably not be very eager to adopt pagan practices if he shared the true origins of his new worship sites. The Malbim explains that Jeroboam was very clever and he came up with a way to explain his new worship sites to the God-fearing.
Jeroboam explained that he was making these new sites based on the Maasei HaMerkavah [God’s chariot]. We know from Ezekiel that there were four cherubim depicted on the Merkavah- human, lion, ox and eagle (see Ezekiel 1:10). Jeroboam told the Jews that in the Beit HaMikdash [Temple] God rested between the two cherubim (who had humanoid forms) on the Ark. Similarly, Jeroboam was crafting a place for God to rest in two locations- Beit El and Dan- by using the ox imagery from the Merkavah (also a form of cherubim) and paying homage to its strength and power.
(When Yair was teaching this to me, he noted that bull imagery is also all over King Solomon’s temple- for example, the laver/ copper kiyor was held up by multiple bulls- so this would be a compelling argument.)
Malbim then adds that if you read the pesukim carefully you will notice that Jeroboam did not build altars or appoint priests at his worship sites initially. Why not? Well, this was purposeful. He thought that the same way that the nation wanted to throw off the yoke and burden of paying taxes to the king and his officers (which was their initial grievance against Solomon/ Rechavam) so too they would want to throw off the burden of serving God. After all, travel expenses (having to travel three times a year to a far away place) add up. So do the costs of so many sacrifices- sin offerings, guilt offerings, free-will offerings, gifts and tithes. Therefore, Jeroboam created the framework of the calf worship sites to hint to them that they were free. Free from worship, free from the service at the Temple, and free of all the mitzvot if they so chose.
Thus, when Jeroboam used the iconic phrase, “These are your gods o’ Israel who took you out of Egypt,” what he intended by it was, the same way God (or the gods) freed you from the house of slaves that was Egypt, so too you are now free from having to do any service, or perform any religious obligations at all.
Malbim’s conception of Jeroboam is very different from peshat [the straightforward reading/ analysis of the text]. In peshat, Jeroboam is a man who is slowly overcome and corrupted by his desire to maintain power. Even according to Radak, he originally creates his golden calves as means to connect with God- not idols- but simply wants them to be in his territory so the nation will not defect back to Rechavam. Over time, this worship becomes further corrupted and Jeroboam starts to appoint priests who are not from the tribe of Levi and invents a new holiday- but it didn’t start there. We can have sympathy for this Jeroboam.
But the Malbim’s Jeroboam is a criminal mastermind. Devious, cold and clever, he thinks about everything through the prism of the platform he campaigned on. He is a politician- and that’s not a compliment. The Israelites are loyal to him because of what he can give them- which is lighter taxes. So to maintain power, he is willing to do whatever it takes- and that means acting faithlessly with God, and creating a situation in which the Israelites have their financial situation solved- by not having to do anything for God anymore! More than that, Jeroboam barefacedly steals from an Egyptian cult while lying and claiming he is adapting everything from the holiest aspect of God worship.
About this Jeroboam, the one the Malbim imagines, it makes sense that the Gemara says in Sanhedrin 101b
ומנא לן דלא אתי לעלמא דאתי דכתיב (מלכים א יג, לד) ויהי בדבר הזה לחטאת בית ירבעם ולהכחיד ולהשמיד מעל פני אדמה להכחיד בעולם הזה ולהשמיד לעולם הבא
The Gemara resumes its discussion of Jeroboam. And from where do we derive that Jeroboam does not enter into the World-to-Come? It is derived from a verse, as it is written: “And by this matter there was a sin to the house of Jeroboam, and to eradicate it and to destroy it from off the face of the earth” (I Kings 13:34). It can be interpreted to mean: To eradicate it in this world, and to destroy it for the World-to-Come.
But worse than this, Jeroboam has an opportunity to repent and his arrogance stood in his way (I remember this Gemara from my Bais Yaakov high school so thank you to my Navi teacher, Mrs. Irons.) This is Sanhedrin 102a.
(מלכים א יג, לג) אחר הדבר הזה לא שב ירבעם מדרכו הרעה מאי אחר אמר ר' אבא אחר שתפשו הקב"ה לירבעם בבגדו ואמר לו חזור בך ואני ואתה ובן ישי נטייל בגן עדן אמר לו מי בראש בן ישי בראש אי הכי לא בעינא
The verse states: “And after this matter, Jeroboam returned not from his evil way” (I Kings 13:33). To what event is the verse alluding, when it states: “After this matter”? Rabbi Abba says: It is after the Holy One, Blessed be He, grabbed Jeroboam by his garment, i.e., he sent prophets and implored him, and said to him: Repent, and you and I and the son of Yishai will stroll together in the Garden of Eden. Jeroboam said to Him: Who will walk in the lead? God said to Jeroboam: The son of Yishai will walk in the lead. Jeroboam said: If so, I do not wish to repent.
The kind of man who ruthlessly plans to have everyone in Israel sin just to maintain his power- the one described by Malbim- is also the kind of man who will not repent if he doesn’t get to walk in the lead. It’s a sad end to someone who began with so much promise.
Hope you found this rendering of Jeroboam’s golden calves- and how he twists their purpose- as fascinating as I did.