Golden calf the words that were traditionally ascribed to Jeroboam and placed them in the mouths of the people." Friedman believes that the story was turned into a polemic, exaggerating the throne platform decoration into idolatry, by a family of priests sidelined by Jeroboam. The declarations of Aaron and Jeroboam are almost identical: After making the golden calf or golden calves both Aaron and Jeroboam celebrate festivals. Aaron builds an altar and Jeroboam ascends an altar (Exod 32:5–6; 1 Kings 12:32–33). In "Legends of the Jews", the Conservative rabbi and scholar Louis Ginzberg wrote that the worship of the golden calf was
Moses (Skoryk) people, which he conceived as having a great potential but weakened by political division. The poem, based on the Moses of the Bible, sees Moses, after forty years leading the Children of Israel in the desert, under attack from a revolt by Dathan and Abiram . Moses leaves the camp to meditate; in his absence the Israelites worship the Golden Calf. In the desert Moses is tempted by an evil spirit, Azazel, and also by the ghost of his mother Jochebed, who seek to get him to renounce God (Jehovah). Jehovah creates a storm in which Moses is swept away.