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A LITERARY STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF
THE
GOLDEN-CALF EPISODE IN EXODUS
32:1-33:6
RALPH
E. HENDRIX
The following is a literary structural
analysis of the Golden-
Calf episode
as found in the MT of Exod 32:1-33:6. This analysis
does not
purport to deal exhaustively with the manifold exegetical,
homiletical, textual, and theological issues
encountered therein.
Rather, its
goal is to reveal the structural framework of the passage
within
which these issues arise.
1. Contemporary Views of
Exodus 32:1-33:6
There is quite a variety of
source-critical views on the Golden-
Calf
episode, with no scholarly consensus in sight.1 Brevard Childs,
on the
other hand, warns against focusing too closely on such
topical
"polarities"--a procedure which has "often led literary cri-
tics to
fragment this chapter into multiple layers and sources which
lack all
cohesion."2
OT scholars recognize the multiplicity of
themes within the
episode. The central theme has been identified
variously as dis-
obedience,
rebellion and atonement, or as the overarching theme of
the danger
of the departure of YHWH's presence from among his
1Brevard S. Childs, The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological
Commentary.
Old
Testament Library (
with 2
expansions, one of which is deuteronomic. John I. Durham, Exodus, Word
Biblical
Commentary, vol. 3 (Waco, TX, 1987), pp. 417, 427-428, 435, presents a
spectrum of
scholarly views. Richard Elliott
Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible? (New
of the
Golden Calf Reanalysed," VT 9 (1959):
318, sees a Yahwist narrative ground-
work and
four editors, a Yahwist, a northern prophetic Elohist, a southern priestly
Elohist, and a Deuteronomist.
2Childs, p. 563. For a refreshing combination of genre and
structure analysis of
32:30-35 and
32:25-29, see G. Herbert Livingston, The Pentateuch in Its
Cultural
Environment
(Grand Rapids, MI, 1974), pp. 250, 256.
211
212 RALPH E. HENDRIX:
TABLE I
LITERARY STRUCTURE OF EXODUS 32:1-33:6
___________________________________________________
A. 32:1-6
People act, and Aaron (YHWH's
High Priest) reacts.
B. 32:7-10 YHWH's
two utterances: wayedabber, wayyomer
C.
32:11-14 Moses intercedes
D. 32:15-20 Moses goes down the
mountain
E. 32:21-25 Judgment: investigative
phase
F. 32:26a
E'.
32:26b-29 Judgment: executive phase
D'. 32:30
Moses goes up the mountain
C'. 32:31-32
Moses intercedes
B'. 32:33-33:3 YHWH's two utterances: wayyomer,
wayedabber
A'. 33:4-6
YHWH acts, and People react.
____________________________________________________
THE GOLDEN-CALF EPISODE
213
people.3 These various identifications, however, do not
take into
account the
literary structure of the passage, a structure which
reveals a
different central theme. The following
discussion will
attempt to
remedy the situation.
2. Literary Structural Analysis of
Exodus 32:1-33:6
The central theme of Exod
32:1-33:6 is a two-phased judgment
of the
people (investigative and executive), divided by an oppor-
tunity for repentance. Source-critical division leaves the
"original"
pericope asymmetrical and splintered.4 By contrast, the canonical
form of
the episode is balanced and coherent, pointing directly to
the
central theme of the passage, preceded and followed by sections
that
serve as counterparts in a chiastic pattern with the A-B-A' form.
Table 1 sets
forth this pattern in outline form, and the following
paragraphs
provide brief elucidation of the general content, con-
cepts, and relationships involved.
A / / A'--Exodus
32:1-6/ / Exodus 33:4-6
In the first section of the pericope, Exod 32:1-6, the people
desire cult
modalities (v. 1). They lose patience
with Moses, and by
extension also
with YHWH, so they ask Aaron to provide for their
desires
without YHWH's guidance. This Aaron does in the form of
the
infamous golden calf (vv. 2-4). The
people act; and Aaron, as
YHWH's representative, reacts. In the parallel section at the end
of
the pericope, 33:4-6, YHWH warns Moses and orders the removal
of
ornaments (v.
5). The Sons of Israel take off their
ornaments (v. 6).
Here YHWH acts, and the people react.
The action/reaction is thus
inverted in
these paralleling sections.
Moreover, the activity involved in each
section is similar: the
disposition of
jewelry. In the initial episode, the men
provide (at
Aaron's
request) gold earrings belonging to their wives and daugh-
ters and sons for the purpose of making the
image (32:2-3). In the
closing
episode, the Sons of Israel remove (at YHWH's
request) their
own
ornaments (33:5-6).
3Childs, p. 558; R. Alan Cole, Exodus:
An Introduction and Commentary,
Tyndale Old
Testament Commentaries, vol. 2 (Downer's Grove, IL, 1979), p. 212;
4E.g.,
Childs, p. 559, whose interpretation would leave the "original" pericope
with a
partial investigative phase, lacking a levitical
executive phase, and having no
opportunity for
repentance (32:26).
214 RALPH E. HENDRIX:
Hence, sections A and A' both concern the
question of following
YHWH, an
activity that is related closely with the issue of self-
adornment. Both sections have actors and reactors, but
they are
inverted as
to sequence. As indicated above, in the
first section the
people act
by disregarding YHWH's leadership, with Aaron, as
YHWH's representative,
reacting. In the
corresponding section it is
YHWH who
acts, and it is the people who react, doing so by
showing
their submission to YHWH's leadership.
B / / B'--Exodus
32:7-10/ / Exodus 32:33-33:3
In Exod 32:7
-10, two words come from YHWH. In v. 7,
YHWH
"spoke," wayedabber;
and in v. 9, YHWH "said," wayyomer. This
phraseology is
paralleled, but inverted in Exod 32:33-33:3. Here
YHWH again
utters two words, and the text makes use of the same
form of
the same roots: first wayyomer (32:33) and then wayedabber
(33:1).
Additional evidence for the parallelism
between these passages
lies in
the subject matter of YHWH's utterances in the two
instances.
YHWH's wayedabber statements both refer to the
people "whom
you
brought from the
are used
in the MT). Both of the wayyomer statements concern the
destruction/punishment which YHWH will mete out upon the
people (Exod 32:10, 34). Together, the terminology and subject
matter in
the two sections provide strong guidance for understanding
the
literary structure.
C / / C'--Exodus32:11-14
/ / Exodus 32:31-32
In both Exod
32:11-14 and Exod 32:31-32 we find Moses inter-
ceding for
the people before YHWH. In the first intercession, Moses
argues for
salvation of the people of
reputation
among the nations and his covenant promises to Abra-
ham,
Isaac, and
forgiveness for
the people, without excuse for their sin, and adding
only that
he himself desires to share in their fate.
Thus these two
textual
passages are parallel on the basis of Moses' intercessory
activity.
D / / D'--Exodus
32:15-20/ / Exodus 32:30
In the next sections that are in inverse
position--Exod 32:15-20
and
32:30--we find a contrast revealed through the particular direc-
THE GOLDEN-CALF EPISODE 215
tion of movements and actions. Moses' movement in going down
the
mountain in v. 15 is balanced by his going up the mountain in
v. 30. His activity of breaking the tablets in v. 19
is balanced by his
desire for
restoring the people in v. 30. Still
further, Moses' forcing
the
Israelites to drink the dust-laden water in v. 20 parallels his
declaring
their guilt in v. 30.
E / / E'--Exodus
32:21-25 / / Exodus 32:26b-29
Exod 33:21-25 and 32:26b-29 record two successive phases of
Moses' judgment process. In the first phase, Moses
questioned Aaron
(v. 21) and
he observed the camp (v. 25) in order to assess the sin of
the
people. That is to say, he investigated
the condition of the
people
before deciding their fate. In the
second phase, Moses related
the will
of YHWH and commissioned its enforcement.
Childs com-
ments:
"The word is of judgment directed to the Levites as its agent
who
immediately proceeded to execute the awesome punishment."5
Thus Moses'
judgment of the people was comprised of an investiga-
tive phase and a successive executive phase.
F--Exodus
32:26a
The structurally central verse of the
Golden-Calf episode is
Exod
32:26a, which sets forth the question, "Who is for YHWH?"6
Implicit in
the very raising of this question is the concept that there
is
opportunity for repentance. Thus, the
question has enormous
theological
significance. This is especially so,
inasmuch as it occurs
between the
reporting of the investigative and executive phases of
judgment.
Although investigation of the full
theological implications of
this
phenomenon extends beyond the scope of this brief essay, it is
pertinent to
this study to notice and appreciate the placement of
Moses' plea
in this fashion within the literary structure of the
pericope.
In short, because section F is the central structural feature
of the
Golden-Calf episode, it directs attention to the central concern
of that
episode. Moses' plea in Exod 32:26a presents the ultimate
question, the
apex toward which all the emphases within Exod
32:1-25 are
directed and from which all the tensions in Exod
32:26b-
33:6 move
toward resolution and abatement.
5Childs, p. 571; cf. Cole, p. 212.
6Cole, p. 219.
216 RALPH E. HENDRIX:
3.
Summary and Implications of the Literary Structure
The Golden-Calf episode in Exod 32:1-33:6 displays an inverted
parallelism or
chiastic structure that utilize several specific features: in-
version of
actions (A / / A'), inversion of terminology (B / / B/), paral-
lelism (C / / C/), contrasts of movements and of
actions (D / / D/),
and
succession of events (E / / E/). The
only structural element that
remains
without parallel is Moses' offer of repentance to his people
(F), this
being so because that element is the centerpiece for the
chiasm. In this capacity it serves, as well, as the
central element for
the
judgment process that is depicted.
The foregoing analysis of the literary
structure of the Golden-
Calf episode
exemplifies the importance of studying the text in its
canonical
form. The structure of the text reveals
the intention of the
writer,7 and
it cannot be dismissed or discounted if we are to ascertain
the
meaning of the passage. Indeed, the inverted parallel structure
gives
emphasis to a basic point in the pericope: namely,
that the
Golden-Calf
episode is one that calls forth, and provides opportunity
for,
repentance within the context of a two-phased judgment. The
two
phases of that judgment are investigative and executive in
nature.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE
I am indebted to William H. Shea for pointing out two further parallel-
isms
within the Golden-Calf passage. These
may be summarized as follows:
1. In B and B'(32:13
and 33:1):
a) "Abraham, Isaac, and c') "land . . ."
b) "to whom thou didst b') "of which I swore. . .
"
swear. . . "
c) "land" a')
"to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob"
7Elmer B. Smick,
"Architectonics, Structural Poems, and Rhetorical Devices in
the Book
of Job," in A Tribute to Gleason Archer, ed. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.,
and
Ronald F.
Youngblood (
Mountain
Goat: A Literary
Walter C.
Kaiser, Jr., and Ronald F. Youngblood (
THE GOLDEN-CALF EPISODE 217
2. In E and
E' (32:21-25 and 32:26b-29):
a) "Aaron. . . " a')
"Sons of Levi. . . "
b) his failure b') their success and loyalty
It will be noticed that in the first set
of these paralleling sections, not
only are
the sections themselves chiastic (B and B') but so also are the three
items of
phraseology (a/b/c and c'/b'/a'). In the
second set of paralleling
sections, the
expressions are not inverted but occur in straight-forward
sequence (a/b
and a'/b'), with the sections themselves, however, being
chiastic
counterparts (E and E'). This additional
material shared with me by
Shea thus
amplifies still further the validity of the chiastic structure that on
other
grounds I have elucidated in my discussion above.
This material is cited with gracious
permission from:
SDA Theological
Berrien Springs
http://www.andrews.edu/SEM/
Please report any errors to Ted
Hildebrandt at: