Golden calf God of Israel was associated with or pictured as a calf/bull deity through the process of religious assimilation and syncretism. Among the Egyptians' and Hebrews' neighbors in the ancient Near East and in the Aegean, the aurochs, the wild bull, was widely worshipped, often as the Lunar Bull and as the creature of El. When Moses went up into Biblical Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (), he left the Israelites for forty days and forty nights. The Israelites feared that he would not return and demanded that Aaron make them "gods" to go before them (). Aaron gathered
Legends of the Jews Rewarded - The Time is at Hand - The Gentiles Refuse the Torah - The Contest of the Mountains - The Torah Offered to Israel - Israel Prepares for the Revelation - The Revelation on Mount Sinai - The First Commandment - The Other Commandments Revealed on Sinai - The Unity of the Ten Commandments - Moses Chosen as Intermediator - Moses and the Angels Strive for the Torah - Moses Receives the Torah - The Golden Calf - Moses Blamed for Israel's Sin - The Punishment of the Sinners - Moses Intercedes for the People - The Inscrutable Ways