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
Prayer in the Hebrew Bible as to protect them from what he still feels is an immanent attack. The Torah, however, when taken literally, describes a joyful meeting, with Esau disregarding formalities so as to embrace his brother, although interpreters suggest Esau actually attacked his younger brother. Moses, the most recurring character in the Torah, prays comparatively little in a truly spontaneous petitioning or thanking form. The one occasion that is most definitely prayer takes place when, in the Book of Exodus, following the making of the Golden Calf, he prays for God to be merciful with his people. The literal reading of the text