Abstract

This article focuses on the Rabbinic reaction to the Sinaitic golden calf episode. The episode is a source of embarrassment to Israel as it describes the major fall of the elected people, connecting her with idolatry. From the point of view of the early church, the episode gives indisputable proof of the idolatrous nature of the Jewish people and of the fact that the Lord eternally has rejected his rebellious nation. This delicacy of the Biblical motive at hand and the fervent use for it by the early church gives the episode its significance in the study of the early Jewish-Christian controversy.