The Similarities and Differences between the Biblical Interpretations of Tannaitic and Amoraic Judaism and Contemporary Syrian Christianity: The Case of the Golden Calf Story

In this presentation, I will analyze the interpretations of sin in the Golden Calf story (Exodus chapter 32) in Jewish and Syriac Christian literature until about the fifth century C.E., which corresponds to the Tannaitic and Amoraic period. Although this episode has been considered to be a narrative account of the sin committed by Aaron and some of the Israelites by most Jewish and Christian interpreters of the Bible, there are various interpretations about what kind of sin it is.

Jewish interpretations preserved in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Babylonian Talmud tend to emphasize the gravity and the results of the episode, and thus understand the sin as “Avodah Zarah” and adultness. The interpretations by Syriac church fathers until the fifth century C.E., namely Aphrahat and Ephrem, pointed to the connection between the golden calf and Egypt, deemed the worship of the golden calf to be “idolatry,” and found the adultness in the story. While their interpretations have a similarity with those of the contemporary Western (Greek-Latin) church fathers, their choice of words and concepts are sometimes identical to Jewish interpretations.

Although I cannot examine in detail each of their interpretations in this presentation, I would like to argue for the possibility of using Syriac Christian interpretations to deepen understanding of contemporary Jewish interpretations as well as their social and cultural background by demonstrating their similarities and differences.