@Krumple,
Quote: 3. The whole thing is made up. There was no Moses and there is no god. It is just a way to try to slip in some laws and rules for naive Jews to follow or be murdered for disobeying them. [...]
They would have had to have a small village set up at the base of this mountain for them to even have the ability to create a golden cow. Did they just have the gold on hand to spare too? It is obvious the story is contrived.
It's of course a myth, a legend, and legends are not reliable historical accounts. At best they are wild embellishments of real facts. The question therefore is: what kernel of actual historical facts is contained in Exodus, among all the sea-parting and snake-staff magic? Particularly here, in the story of the golden calf.
Another good question is: what does this story say in its own culture? Why was it retained as an important, indeed fundamental myth in Judaism? What's the lesson Judaism drew of it?
The answer to the second question is easy: monolatry (the worship of only one god, which is the original form of Judaism: no gods shall be put before Yahweh, not that no other gods exist) and monotheism (which comes later) have always been a tough sell among Hebrews. A good chunk of the chosen people didn't care much for being chosen at all, and was afraid enough of other gods' anger that they kept worshiping them in secret, as soon as their priests were out of sight... The story is about polytheist resistance to enforced monolatry/ monotheism. About the frequent pagan resurgences/ relapses among Hebrews.
And that is also where its most historical worth lies. Many archeological finds in modern Israel and around, as well as many biblical stories, attest that Hebrews and Jews after then worshiped several gods, together with Yahweh, in spite of their judges and priests.
Assuming the exodus describes a real mass emigration, emigrants are highly vulnerable and fearful people, in general, and thus prone to superstition. As people who lived all their lives in Egypt, they would have naturally worshiped Egyptian gods such as Hathor...
Hathor was worshipped in Canaan in the eleventh century BC, which at that time was ruled by Egypt, at her holy city of Hazor, or Tel Hazor which the Old Testament claims was destroyed by Joshua (Joshua 11:13, 21).
It's not inconceivable that a band of frightened refugees, with a few cattle and gold left in the middle of nowhere, would try to invoke an old and well known protective goddess, and would melt a little gold to make a small, crude idol of her.
The reaction of Moses is interesting to say the least: he kills thousands of his people among the pagan worshipers. A near genocide... Religious freedom, anyone?
