WORD STUDY – DRINKING GOLD
Exodus 32:20: “And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt [it] in the fire, and ground [it] to powder, and strawed [it] upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink [of it].”
Exodus 32:26: “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who [is] on the LORD’S side? [let him come] unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.”
I did this study a couple years ago and have returned to it as there are some additional thoguhts I wanted to add. My initial question was: “Why did Moses make the people drink of the water that was sprinkled with the gold from the golden calf?”
Let’s first look at this calf. The word in Hebrew for the calf is ‘egel which is really a young bull of about one year old. This would fit the description of the Egyptian god Apis. So the people were turning back to the religion that they knew. The god Apis was the god of strength and fertility. Apis was linked to the pharaoh and the symbol of pharaoh embodying the qualities of kingship. The spirit of Apis was said to be present in the body of a real bull that was kept and raised by pharaoh’s priest. When the bull reached the age of one year it was sacrificed and the flesh was eaten by the pharaoh taking on the spirit of Apis.
Basically in ancient times there were four key metals, gold, silver, iron and copper or bronze. Ancient science found it hard to distinguish between the various metals. Few other metals exist naturally in nature other than gold, silver and copper. So why did gold stand out above the other metals? To be sure it is rare. Silver is more common in nature than gold and copper but that is not the only reason gold was valued. All the other metals are silvery colored except copper or bronze. In ancient times copper and bronze were considered the same metal. Copper and bronze, however, corrodes and turns green when exposed to moist air. Silver will tarnish to dull colors. Gold does not. Gold remains shiny, highly reflective, it will never corrode nor tarnish. All the other metals will respond to your touch and turn warm, but gold will not. Gold will remain cool to your touch, aloof like the gods. In fact the ancient Egyptians believed that gold was the skin of the gods. There is no word in the ancient Egyptian language for silver it is known only as white metal. In fact during the time of the Exodus, silver or the white metal was considered more valuable than gold because it was rarer. But gold remained the choice of kings and gods because of its ability to shine and not tarnish or corrode.
The golden calf was really made of wood and covered with a golden wrap like skin. For gold was the skin of the gods and when Moses forced the people to drink the water laced with the gold he was really forcing them to eat the skin of the god Apis.
I had a guy on my disability bus the other day who told me of an alcoholic beverage that had gold flakes in it. I never thought about it but people actually ingested gold. In fact the ingesting of gold originates with the ancient Egyptians who believed that ingesting gold would bring about mental, body and spiritual purification and the strength of the gods. Gold is non-toxic. I was always told in Sunday School that Moses forced the people to ingest the gold as punishment. However, based upon ancient Egyptian culture it would seem people would not consider this to be a punishment but a good thing.
Actually, when you read the text in the Hebrew, the syntax would suggest that Moses did not force the children of Israel to drink the water laced with gold. The word used in Hebrew for drinking is yasheqe which is in a Hiphal or causative form. Something or someone caused them to drink the water. I mean what was so horrible about drinking water laced with gold? According to the culture the people probably would fight over who gets to drink it.
There are two possible roots to yasheqe to drink. One is shaqah which means to drink but the root word could also be nashaq. This is the Hebrew version of the Aramaic word in my study from yesterday. It would means a kiss of honor and respect. In light of what Archeology has discovered about this god Apis, I would be inclined to say both root words apply here. The people joined themselves to their god, they kissed their god and ingested their god to receive its spirit to show the god Apis respect and honor in defiance of Moses. Moses didn’t exactly scare the pants off everyone. There were still those who were defiant and probably embraced their god Apis.
We know there were many who were not Hebrews that joined in the Exodus. These were most likely the Hyksos who had previously ruled Egyptian until the Egyptians over threw them. Many Hyksos escaped to other lands but there were a number who stayed and were enslaved like the Hebrews. The god Apis was worshipped by the Hyksos.
After Moses consulted with Aaron he went to the gate of the camp and called out “Who is on the Lord’s side.” This may have prompted the Hyksos to kiss and ingest their god to show where their loyalty really laid.
I tend to think that Moses deliberately laced the water with the gold to test the people to determine who the true followers of Apis were. By drinking the water they showed where their hearts really laid. Those who did drink the water may have thought that Apis would empower them to overthrow Moses. In reality they just fell into Moses’s trap. By drinking the water with the gold powder, they declared where their allegiance was and it was not with God Jehovah but with Pharaoh and his gods.
I think there is a real lesson in this. It is popular to be a good Christian in this country. I know you have the hard left, as they are called, who mock evangelicals, but most politicians know it is a real plus to declare oneself a born again Christian. Even in our churches there are people who are really ingesting the gold and when they get the chance they may just encourage the believers to follow their god of fame, fortune, or whatever good thing the world has to offer and they may be so persuasive the elect will follow them until the moment comes when they must either declare they are following Jesus or drink the gold. Jesus said it best, “No man can serve two masters.” (Matthew 6:24).
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