Texts in Conversation
In Exodus 20, God introduces himself to Israel as the one who brought them out of Egypt. Jeroboam says almost the same words over the two golden calves in 1 Kings 12, changing God to gods, so the calves take the credit for the rescue.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 20:2
Hebrew Bible
1 God spoke all these words: 2 “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.
1 Kings 12:28
Hebrew Bible
27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, their loyalty could shift to their former master, King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.” 28 After the king had consulted with his advisers, he made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 29 He put one in Bethel and the other in Dan.
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Notes and References
"... the presentation formula in 1 Kings 12:28bα can be explained without any difficulty as a purposeful allusion to the preamble of the Decalogue in Exodus 20:2 and Deuteronomy 5:6, in which Yhwh introduces himself to Israel as “your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” The author, it should be assumed, had Jeroboam cite this text during the presentation of the two calves as a deliberate allusion to the Decalogue, the central commandments of which he was so glaringly violating. By using this literary means, he put into the king’s mouth words of open revolt against the divine commandment. One might object that 1 Kings 12:28bβγ deviates from the widespread form of the exodus-formula as found in Exodus 20:2 and Deuteronomy 5:6, as it does not speak of “bringing out” but instead of “bringing up.” Yet, this deviation only apparently contradicts the thesis of this paper and, when examined more closely, seems to support it. ..."
Berner, Christoph
""I am Yhwh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 20:2)" in van Oorschot, Jürgen and Markus Witte (eds.) The Origins of Yahwism
(p. 188) De Gruyter, 2017
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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