HEBREW WORD STUDY – DRINKING GOLD  –  YASHEQ   HAZAHAV  bhzh   qvy  Yod Shin Qof     Hei Zayin Hei Beth

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].”

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, corrode 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.  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 their 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 which means a kiss of honor and respect. The people joined themselves to their god, they kissed their god and ingested their god to receive its spirit to show their 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.  Moses went to the gate of the camp and called out “Who is on the Lord’s side.” This may have prompted the followers of Apis to kiss and ingest their god to show where their loyalty really laid.  

There are many people today in the church worshipping a golden calf.  If the call to who is on the Lord’s side is made, I wonder how many will run back for their bottle of scotch?