Moses in Islam grabbed hold of Aaron by his beard and admonished him for doing nothing to stop them. But when Aaron told Moses of his fruitless attempt to stop them, Moses understood his helplessness and they both prayed to God for forgiveness. Moses then questioned Samiri for creating the Golden Calf. Samiri replied that it had occurred to him and he had done so. Samiri was exiled and the Golden Calf was burned to ashes, and the ashes were thrown into the sea. The wrong-doers who had worshipped the Calf were ordered to be killed for their crime. Moses then chose seventy
Jewish commentaries on the Bible often consulted literal translation of the Bible with a few exceptions. Figurative language is usually not translated literally but is explained (e.g., Gen. 49:25; Ex. 15:3, 8, 10; 29:35). Geographical names are often replaced by those current at a later time (e.g., Gen. 10:10; Deut. 3:17). According to the Talmud, the Torah and its translation into Aramaic were given to Moses on Mount Sinai, because Egyptian slaves spoke Aramaic. After the Babylonian exile, the Targum was completely forgotten. Onkelos, a Roman convert to Judaism, was able to reconstruct the original Aramaic. Saadia Gaon disagrees and says the Aramaic of Onkelos