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A Ugaritic poem from the 14th century BCE instructs the king to sacrifice to Bull El, the high god. In 1 Kings 12, Jeroboam set up two golden calves to represent Israel’s God at Bethel, drawing on the same Canaanite bull imagery used for El.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Legend of Keret
Epic of Kirta
Ancient Near East
Ascend to the top of the lookout; Mount the city-wall's shoulder. Raise your hands toward the sky. Sacrifice to Bull El, your Father. Adore Baal with your sacrifice, Dagon's Son with your offering. Then let Kirta descend from the rooftops.
Date: 1500 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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
... Granted that the golden calves denoted Yahweh rather than some foreign deity, the question still remains whence this imagery was derived. The most likely explanation is that it was appropriated from the Canaanite god El, known as “Bull El” in the Ugaritic texts, with whom Yahweh was identified. The following points speak in favour of this. First, in Canaanite religion it is supremely the god El with whom bull symbolism is associated so far as we can tell from the Ugaritic texts. Secondly, it may be significant that one of the two sites at which the golden calves were set up was Bethel, a name that literally means “house of El.” The god of Bethel is called El-Bethel in Genesis 35:7 ... Thirdly, it may be noted that the cult at Bethel was especially associated with the patriarch Jacob, and Jacob's god is referred to as ʼabîr yaʻăqōb, “the Mighty one of Jacob” (Genesis 49:24). However, the word ʼabîr is very similar to ʼabbîr, which means “bull,” so that Jacob's god may well have been called originally “the Bull of Jacob,” which would be appropriate for the deity El. ...
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