Which year was Jesus born in?

The Bible does not provide the exact day or even the exact year in which Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But a close examination of the chronological details of history narrows the possibilities to a reasonable window of time.

The biblical details of Jesus’ birth are found in the Gospels. Matthew 2:1 states that Jesus was born during the days of Herod the king. Since Herod died in 4 BC, we have a parameter to work with. Further, after Joseph and Mary fled Bethlehem with Jesus, Herod ordered all the boys 2 years old and younger in that vicinity killed. This indicates that Jesus could have been as old as 2 before Herod’s death. This places the date of His birth between 6 and 4 BC

Luke 2:1-2 notes several other facts to ponder: “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.” We know that Caesar Augustus reigned from 27 BC to AD 14.

Quirinius governed Syria during this same time period, with records of a census that included Judea in approximately 6 BC Some scholars debate whether this is the census mentioned by Luke, but it does appear to be the same event. Based on these historical details, the most likely time of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem is 6-5 BC.

Luke mentions another detail concerning our timeline: “Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23). Jesus began His ministry during the time John the Baptist ministered in the wilderness, and John’s ministry started “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas” (Luke 3:1-2).

The only time period that fits all of these facts is AD 27-29. If Jesus was “about thirty years of age” by AD 27, a birth sometime between 6 and 4 BC would fit the chronology. More specifically, Jesus would have been approximately 32 years old at the time He began His ministry (still “about thirty years of age”). - Article by GotQuestions.org

So why does the date of Christ's birth not fall exactly on the 0 BC/AD date?

The Anno Domini dating system we use today which marks "the year dot" was devised by Dionysius the Humble (c. 470 – 544 AD) an Eastern Roman monk based in Tomis (in present-day Romania). How he arrived at that number is unknown, but it is believed it may have been based on the text of the Septuagint and the myth that Jesus was born 5500 years after the world was created, tying his dates in with other known historical events. This system became dominant in western Europe only after it was used by the Venerable Bede (an English monk c. 673 – 735 AD) to date his famous historical treaties. Despite its minor inaccuracy, the dating of Jesus' birth by Dionysius is still pretty close considering the remoteness of 500+ years and being a continent away.

This article is an extract from our new Christmas nativity graphic novel. Find it in our online store : https://www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com/buy

Why does Jesus' Genealogy in Luke differ from Matthew?

The gospel writers of Luke and Matthew give us a genealogy for Jesus, but they are different. (Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38). For example, Matthew gives Joseph’s father as Jacob, while Luke records Joseph’s father as Heli. We explore how both can be true?

Matthew presents the genealogy from Abraham going forward to Jesus, while Luke traces the genealogy from Jesus all the way back to Adam and Eve. The recorded family trees diverge with King David's sons, Matthew tracing the royal line through Solomon, and Luke tracing the line through David’s other son, Nathan. The entire list from this point until Joseph consists of different people. But this doesn't solve why Joseph 'seems' to have two fathers, as no one has two biological fathers. However, one person does have zero biological fathers—Jesus.

It makes sense then that Luke, the doctor, would trace Jesus' bloodline through his only blood relative, his mother Mary (who we have established is also one of his primary sources). So the two lines are from Joseph (in Matthew) and Mary (in Luke).

Now, these two different genealogies are critical in another way, which concerns "The Blood Curse of King Jehoiachin". 600 years before the birth of Christ, God pronounced a curse on the last king of Judah, saying, “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah” (Jeremiah 22:30).

In this curse, God bars any blood descendants of Jehoiachin from taking the throne. But who except a royal descendant could legitimately claim the throne? The problem is that the curse 'seems' to invalidate Jesus’ claim to be Messiah, as the Davidic Covenant promised that the Messiah, the “Son of David,” would reign forever on Jerusalem’s throne (1 Chronicles 17:11-14). It seemed God's promises were in a deadlock with God's own curse. An impossible situation.

However, in Jesus, this impossible contradiction was unlocked. Through Jesus' virgin birth, he possessed a direct, uncursed bloodline through Mary. She was of the clan of Judah and a direct descendant of King David through Nathan. So, Jesus possessed the biological heritage to claim the throne of David. But this alone does not bestow the legal right through Mary's blood, as she was not from the line of the last king.

However, in Joseph, Jesus gains the legal right to take the throne. Joseph is a direct descendant of Jehoiachin, but as Jesus is not his biological son, he does not carry the curse. The final piece to the puzzle then comes with an exception in the Torah that was made for the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27: 1-11).

Zelophehad had no sons who could to inherit, so a provision was made for him. If his daughters married within their own tribe, their husband would become the legal heir of the estate and be legally the “son” of the father-of-the-bride. This law was then continued thereafter.

In Luke 3:23, the Koine Greek word used is the proper usage of the verb ἐνομίζω, which means “as reckoned by law.” So, from this term, we learn that Mary had no brothers and Joseph became "the son of Heli (the father of Mary) as reckoned by law" when they married, rendering Jesus the rightful heir to Joseph's inheritance.

This article is an extract from our new Christmas nativity graphic novel. Find it in our online store : https://www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com/buy

What prophecies did Jesus' birth fulfil?

Jesus fulfilled several prophecies when he was born. There are many Old Testament prophecies about Jesus Christ. Some scholars estimate the number of Messianic prophecies is in the hundreds. Several of these foretell Jesus’ birth and the circumstances of his early life. They are particularly fascinating, as no amount of effort from a false Messiah could engineer the fulfillment of these signs, which were already in writing hundreds of years earlier.

LOCATION: In Micah 5:2, the location of Jesus' birth is foretold. It was so well known before the event that when King Herod inquired of the chief priests and teachers of the law where the Messiah was to be born (Matt 2:4-6), they told him, “This is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’"

The fact that Jesus lived in Egypt for a time in his infancy was foreseen by Hosea, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1b), as the Gospel writer points out in Matthew 2:14-15.

Matthew also tells us that Jesus fulfilled "what was spoken by the prophets, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene’” (Matthew 2:23). This is because the town's name, Nazareth, comes from the root word netzer, which means branch, and multiple prophets spoke of the Messiah as the “Branch” (Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15; Zechariah 3:8, 6:12).

BLOODLINE: The expectation of the Messiah in the Scriptures also dictated that Jesus must be from the line of Adam (Genesis 3:14-15), Abraham (Genesis 12:3), Isaac (Genesis 26:4), Jacob (Genesis 28:14; Numbers 24:17), Judah (Genesis 49:8–12), Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), and David (2 Samuel 7:12-13; Isaiah 9:7, 40:3; Zechariah 12:10).

The fact that his mother would be a virgin was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14a: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son..."

In that same verse, Isaiah reveals that this virgin's son will not only be a ruler but the incarnation of God: "...and will call him Immanuel.” Immanuel means "God with us". In Isaiah 9:6, the prophet states even more clearly: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” This is confirmed by Zechariah, who says: “'Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the LORD” (Zechariah 2:10).

As we saw in the previous article, the Messiah had to also have both a legal and blood claim to the throne of David, restricting the number of people who could fulfill these bloodline conditions to just one candidate.

TIME PERIOD: Around AD 6–7, Emperor Tiberius removed Herod Archelaus from his throne and instigated direct rule of Rome through a prefect in Israel. As a result, the ius gladii (right of the sword), which gave legal authority to execute someone for a capital offense, was taken away from the Jewish Sanhedrin (Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin, folio 24), a circumstance that caused the rabbis and elders of the day to cover their heads with ashes and their bodies with sackcloth in mourning, believing that the Torah, the word of God, had failed!

This was because in Genesis 49:10, Jacob blesses his sons and prophesies, "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come, and the obedience of the nations shall be his." The scepter and ruler's staff are idioms for Judah's right to apply and enforce Mosaic law, including capital punishment. This was a right that was not even lost during the whole Babylonian captivity and which was promised to be retained until the Messiah, "he to whom it belongs,” should come.

While the scepter had indeed been removed from Judah, unbeknownst to the people of the Sanhedrin, their Messiah had come about ten years earlier in the little town of Bethlehem!

This prophesy from the time of the patriarchs gives a limiting time factor: The loss of the “Scepter” would happen before the Messiah came. There are other Old Testament verses which predict that the Messiah will be consumed with zeal for the Lord's House (Psalm 69:7–12). So the temple had to be standing for this to be fulfilled. In AD 70, the Jewish Temple was destroyed and it has not been restored since (yet). So a candidate to be the Messiah had to have lived in time between AD 6 and AD 70.

CONCLUSION: From the Old Testament prophets who look forward to the coming of the Messiah, we can see that a candidate must be born in Bethlehem, live in Egypt, be called a Nazarene, be born to a virgin, be descended from Abraham and David and take up his station between AD 6 and AD 70. These are extremely specific criteria for a Messiah, but not only does Jesus fulfil all of these prophecies with his birth, he indeed grows up to take on the mantle and show himself to be "God with us" and "living among us.".

*This article is an extract from our new Christmas nativity graphic novel. Find it in our online store : https://www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com/buy*

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

News about how to preorder your Christmas books, a Kickstarter update and more this month.

Frankfurt Bookfair 2023

While I won’t be there myself, our agents will be in Frankfurt licencing the rights to produce our comic in other languages to foreign publishers. I’ve sent over samplers and leaflets and bought an ad in the show preview, so I’m really hoping we’ll get some new publishers on board to recreate the Bible comic in their languages! Frankfurter Buchmesse Oct 18th-22nd.

Preorder Christmas Books

In November our new Christmas Nativity Books are out on general release. They will make brilliant Christmas gifts and giveaways in churches. On our UK online shop, I’ve set them up so that if you want to buy bundles of these books. The price goes like this:

Single copy: £8.99
5 copies: £29.99 (£6 each)
10 copies: £44.99 (£4.49 each) by using discount code FIFTYQUIDPLUS

(We can’t do bundle deals in the US/Canada store as it’s through our distributor, so if you’d like a big bundle please check out via the UK store and we’ll get them to you).

Go to Shop

Kickstarter Update

All the Kickstarter bundles* went into the post last Monday, so most of you should have received yours by now (unless you are very far away or have slow mail).

Please can I encourage all of you to post about it on your social media feed, photos of your parcels or your thoughts about the book, and be sure to tag @wordforwordbiblecomic

If you are waiting for a T-shirt, all the UK ones are printed but the printer mistakenly sent them to me instead of directly to you, so they will be with you shortly.

(* All except anyone who did not fill in their Backkit survey with their address and shipping payment.)

Please could you add a review?

Book reviews on sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble and ChristianBooks really help convince people to buy a copy. They also increase the book’s ranking in searches so it is doubly helpful. If you like the books and you’ve got a few minutes to add a quick recommendation or even just hit 5 stars, it would be a massive blessing!

(You’re unable to review the Christmas Nativity on Amazon yet, but I’d love everyone to add a review to it when it’s released. I’ll include it in the email on November 7th).

Using this blog you can easily link to all my titles on various platforms. https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/reviews-really-help

Prayer

Books on Amazon: The Book of Judges still has an issue with the ISBN on Amazon, although the Christmas one seems to be fixed. Please pray the Amazon team sort this out.

Spanish editions: The Lord has opened a door in the Spanish books world but nothing is settled yet. Please pray we can get the Spanish books into expert hands that will get them out to a wide Spanish audience.

Progress: Please pray I can continue to make good progress on the Book of Acts. Summer was a bit disrupted with one thing and another and now it’s time to get lots of pages finished.

If you’d like to support the project on a regular basis from just $1 a month. Head to www.patreon.com/WordforWordBibleComic

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September Newsletter

We’ve got a sale on the Book of Joshua, news on our Summer events, Kickstarter updates and more this month.

Sale: The Book of Joshua W.E.B.

We’d previously sold out of the original Joshua books that had the World English translation inside, but the other day I discovered a couple of boxes while we were doing a full inventory check. I’ve added them for sale on the website and 20 copies have already sold! If you preferred the W.E.B. translation don’t miss this chance to get one of the last copies.

Go to Shop

New Book of Judges

The new version of The Book of Judges is out now! This new edition features the NIV translation but also even more pages, going from 128pp to 176pp, with the panels made bigger and brighter! You can buy it now.

Go to Shop

Events

We had a great time at the Commission Festival with our family of churches. Welcome to those who have joined the mailing list there.

I also just got back from Christian Resources Together. Where I had a surprise bookstall! I’ve had a table at CRT in previous years but didn’t reserve one this time, however, when I got here I DID have a table waiting for me. Surprise! Luckily I had a sample copy of 6 books, two boxes of others and a bunch of leaflets so it seems God wanted me to have a stall after all. Above is the image of the impromptu stand with a scrounged tablecloth and order forms.

I also met Lou Fellingham. We had a great chat and she's now got a couple of comics for herself and her kids. It was great to have her and Nathan lead worship there.

Kickstarter Update

All the books and extras are here. We are just waiting for the last dozen or so people to complete their survey, the packaging material to arrive and for the weather to cool down and we will get these out to you in the post. Those in the UK might even get them before the end of this month, God willing.

NOTE: Some of you got notifications from BackerKit and asked if they were legit. Yes, Backerkit is who we are using to collect your addresses and take payment for the shipping costs this year.

Can we reach 100 patrons?

We recently had a few more patrons and now it's getting very close to 100. It would be so great to get there.

You can support it from just £1 a month, receiving exclusive access to pages before they are published and at higher tiers, you can get videos about the research and history drawn into every page. Even £1 a month would be amazing as it really adds up and every new patron increases our ranking on the searches which really helps.

Below are some examples, and here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/WordforWordBibleComic

Prayer

Books on Amazon: On Amazon Judges and the Christmas Book have an issue with the ISBN. We’ve been trying to fix it for months and it’s still a problem. Please pray the Amazon team sort this out.

Spanish editions: Please continue to pray for a door to open for a distributor for our Spanish editions.

Opportunities: After CRT I have a lot of great opportunities and new potential partnerships and/or people to work with. Please pray God has his hand on this and makes the right things happen.

Ps: Thank you for praying for the printing to be without error, it all went smoothly this time.

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AUGUST NEWSLETTER

We’ve got news on the new edition of Judges, events, Kickstarter updates and more this month.

New Book of Judges

In September, we will be officially releasing the new version of The Book of Judges. This new edition features the NIV translation but also even more pages, going from 128pp to 176pp, with the panels made bigger and brighter! You can preorder it now.

Learn more

Events

Youthscape Satellites: I've recently returned for 5 days at a Youth event for 5,000 young people. As it was a long event I even set up a workstation at the stand so that I could keep drawing at quieter times and as people were browsing. Plus I got this photo with kids TV presenter Gemma Hunt. I'm hoping some of these connections with youth leaders in the UK will help get these comics more and more into the hands of young people.

Commission Festival: At the end of this month I’ll have a stand at this event for 4 days. I hope I’ll see many of you there! We’ve got a number of new books since the last one in 2019!

Kickstarter Update

The digital version of this book has recently been sent out to all Kickstarter Backers! Check your KS update for the link :)

We have also just sent out the first backer surveys via BackerKit, if you haven’t got it today you’ll receive it in the next couple of days. You’ll need to add your address and settle your shipping costs if you are due to receive physical rewards. This includes the opportunity to add on further upgrades too.

Prayer

Books in libraries: Please pray we can find a way to get the books into libraries across the world and especially USA and the UK.

Spanish editions: One of our options for Spanish distribution is off the table, but now we will move to another really promising opportunity. Please pray we can establish this partnership to get the Spanish books out into the world.

Printing: We are currently printing the Song of Songs and more Nativity books, it’s always a nerve-racking time as we think about errors, misprints or books getting damaged. Please pray all goes smoothly.

If you’d like to support the project on a regular basis from just $1 a month. Head to www.patreon.com/WordforWordBibleComic

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July Newsletter: Discounts, new Book of Judges and more

We’ve got news on the new edition of Judges, discounts, blogs and more this month

New Judges with more pages!

In September, we will be officially releasing the new version of The Book of Judges. This new edition features the NIV translation but also even more pages! Now, I know what you’re thinking but we didn’t add anything to the biblical text, we spread the existing panels over more pages making it so the pages are not so cramped and the illustrations are larger, we also lightened up the images as our first edition was very dark.

In this example below, the top left page is the original page, which becomes three pages in the new edition including two new panels and verse reference numbers in the corners.

If you can’t wait until September you can preorder it via the UK online shop and pay postage to your location and you’ll receive it before the official release. (Note: Kickstarter Backers of Song of Songs who added Judges will get this new version)

Go to Shop

The new Judges graphic novel was showcased at the American Library Association Convention of over 10,000 librarians last month and this month will be at the Christian Product Expo in Kentucky.

Discount!

If you are ordering books direct from us (via the UK online shop), you can now get a discount when you spend £50+ you’ll get 25% off! Just enter the discount code FIFTYQUIDPLUS at checkout. Includes books, t-shirts and digital items!

(T&Cs: Offer works on direct purchases from the UK, not available on US and Canada domestic delivery which is handled by our distributors).

Patreon Hangout

On Saturday 15th July, we’ll have one of our Patreon Hangouts, a Zoom call between myself, some of the team and our patrons will be there to chat, answer questions and connect. The talk will likely be around the new title The Book of Acts which has started production but won’t be Kickstarted until next year. To get the inside scoop, see pages before anyone else and join us at the hangout, become a patron today:

Go to Patreon Page

The Gathering

We had a great time at the Gathering in June despite nearly melting in the sun. I did some sword training and we saw dozens of men make a first-time commitment or recommitment to Christ on the weekend. Welcome those that joined the newsletter at the event.

Blogs

I wrote a couple of blogs on the research I’ve been doing recently, I showed the top one to Dr. Mark Woolmer (our history consultant and history lecturer) and he said he’d have given me a First for the essay if it had been submitted in his class which made me happy

In this blog, I explore the question of whether the Golden Calf of Exodus was likely a statue of an Apis Bull?

https://www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com/blog/was-the-golden-calf-an-apis-bull

In this blog, I ask if Moses was tall.

https://www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com/blog/wasmosestall

Kickstarter Update

The creation of the Song of Songs is complete and the digital copies will be sent out to you very soon. They've had their first round of proofreading and corrections are being added. Once the second round of proofreading is complete will be sending it out, before the end of this month.

They'll also be heading to the printers in the next month or so in good time for delivery to backers by the end of November (or before). They will be released in shops in March 2024.

Prayer

Books in libraries: As you saw above our book was featured at the ALA con. Please pray with us that libraries really discover the benefits of the Word for Word Bible Comic and decide to stock them all across the USA.

Spanish editions: We have some potential leads to getting distribution of our Spanish editions in Latin America and Europe. Please pray we can get these books into the hands of Spanish speakers very soon!

Technical issue: We have had some trouble with the ISBN registration on Amazon and other places for the new books. Some progress has been made since last time but please pray this is miraculously sorted out very soon so it does not hamper sales.

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Was the Golden Calf an Apis Bull?

In the Bible comic, I now need to draw the Golden Calf of Exodus 32. I’ve thought for a long time that this would be an Apis Bull so I did some research into whether this is actually likely…

What is an Apis Bull

*Coffin painting of and Apis Bull. c. 11th century B.C. Public Domain.*

The Apis was a live bull that was considered to be a sort of physical incarnation of the god Ptah; the "soul of Ptah" or "herald of Ptah, kept in the temple of Ptah, in Memphis. The bull was, therefore, a kind of servant or intermediary, who was itself divine. It was revealed to the populace in a procession and its movements were interpreted as oracles and were thought to reflect the responses of Ptah. It was fed the best foods, slept on luxurious bedding, given hot baths, massaged, and perfumed and upon its death, the body was embalmed, and then solemnly interred in the temple of Serapis at Memphis.

The Apis is usually depicted as a black bull a sun disk between his horns and an uraeus snake emerging before the disk.

The Apis is described by the Greek researcher Herodotus:

The Apis is the calf of a cow which is never afterwards able to have another. The Egyptian belief is that a flash of light descends upon the cow from heaven, and this causes her to conceive Apis. The Apis-calf has distinctive marks: it is black, with a white square [or triangle] on its forehead, the image of an eagle on its back, the hair on its tail double, and a scarab under its tongue.

(More info on Apis : https://www.virtual-egyptian-museum.org/Collection/FullVisit/Collection.FullVisit-JFR.html?../Content/MET.LL.00887.html&0 )

*Bronze figure of the Apis bull: with inlaid silver eyes (c. 400 -300 BC) (Click through to website)*

Was the Golden Calf an Apis?

I think the key thing to remember is that the Israelites had lived in Egypt for generations, the people Moses lead might have been genetically Hebrew, but they were also Egyptian nationals through and through. Some of the multitudes that left of the Exodus were even non-Jewish (Exodus 12:38).

When the people thought they’d lost Moses, they turned back to their old ways. I do not believe they plucked the idea of a bull out of thin air or as a lottery, it was something they already knew.

On this website “Why a Golden Calf and not any other symbol?” Jonathan Frankel writes:

There were other Egyptian and Canaanite bull cults, e.g. Buchis, Mnevis, El, which could have been the inspiration for the Golden Calf, however, the specific chronicity, procedures and celebrations of the Apis Calf are highly suggestive that it was the motivation behind the Golden Calf. Moshe [Moses] had been on Har Sinai for 40 days and presumed dead and the Golden Calf arrived on the 40th day, just as an Apis Calf is prepared and revealed after 40 days following the death of its predecessor. The calf was made of gold, just as the Apis Calf arrived at the temple in a golden cabin. The people wanted an intermediate to serve between them and god, so Aharon created for them the religious entity they were familiar with in Egypt that served as an intermediate between them and god. And just as the Egyptians would celebrate the arrival of a new Apis Calf, so too the Israelites celebrated the arrival of their new intermediary.

Next is the statement which is the source of the above statements:

“Since the Apis Bull was a living creature, it would eventually die, prompting… the search for a new Apis bull…. This new Apis would be a calf…. they took it to Nilopolis for 40 days of feeding after which time it was transferred via a boat inside a gold cabin to the temple of Ptah where it was greeted by the people who came to view their reincarnated god and hoped to have their questions answered.” (A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians: Volume 1: John Gardner Wilkinson)

As these elements pertain to a living bull, if the Golden calf was a statue (see below) it would not have been able to move, but this may have been the symbolic significance.

If they viewed the Golden Calf as a sort of reincarnation of Moses (whom they presumed dead) and a divine entity then it makes a little more sense of the statement said about the Golden Calf “Then they said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’” (Exodus 32:4b)

Examples of Apis Bull statues are evident in this era (the example below is from within approx 50 years of the Exodus).

*Bronze statuette of Apis (c. 1400 BC)* *(click through to website)*

Looking at many commentaries and Archaeological study bibles most seem to land on the opinion that the Golden calf was “most likely” an Apis Bull.

I made my own mind up when I read a different website which struggled with the language used regarding Aarons's creation of the bull. Exodus 32:4 is rendered in the NIV “He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool.”

How exactly did Aaron form this calf? The only other use of the word cheret suggests that it means a stylus:
ישעיה ח:א וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָה אֵלַי קַח לְךָ גִּלָּיוֹן גָּדוֹל וּכְתֹב עָלָיו בְּחֶרֶט אֱנוֹשׁ. : Isa 8:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Get yourself a large sheet and write on it with a human stylus” (my translation).
Some translations rendered it in Exodus according to this meaning:
- LXX: “formed them with a graving tool” (ἔπλασεν αὐτὰ ἐν τῇ γραφίδι);
- Onkelos: וְצָר יָתֵיהּ בְּזִיפָא, “and he formed it with a chisel,”
- Martin Luther’s 1545 translation: “designed it with a stylus” (entwarf's mit einem Griffel),
- King James (KJV): “fashioned it with a graving tool.”

I think this detail of this engraving tool/stylus in the language which translators struggle to conceive of as useful in moulding a golden sculpture is actually a big conformation of the gold calf being an Apis, to my mind.

Look closely at the idol and the engraved patterns around the neck, the eagle over the shoulders and flanks, the blanket and other lines. (Also on the idol from c. 1400 BC above)

*Ivory Apis Bull Statuette (664–343 BC) (Click through to website)*

*Apis Bull Figure: (525–332 BC) (Public Domain image)*

*Apis Bull with Sun Disk (5th-4th century BC) (Click through to website)*

Who is Ptah

The fact that the Apis is connected to Ptah is an additional reason why the connection makes sense. As I mentioned above, the Israelite people were Egyptian nationals born and bred, and their understanding of YHWH was likely coloured by the national religion of the Egyptian pantheon, or at the very least they might think about which of the pantheon of gods would most equate to YHWH. So who was Ptah?

Wikipedia states it succinctly:

Ptah is an Egyptian creator god who conceived the world and brought it into being through the creative power of speech. A hymn to Ptah dating to the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt says Ptah "crafted the world in the design of his heart," and the Shabaka Stone, from the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, says Ptah "gave life to all the gods and their kas [souls] as well, through this heart and this tongue." […]
Epiphets: Ptah the begetter of the first beginning, Ptah lord of truth, Ptah lord of eternity, Ptah who listens to prayers, Ptah master of ceremonies, Ptah master of justice.

As the pre-existent creator god and lord of truth and justice, you can imagine how the Israelites would equate him with YHWH. If they did and sort a new intermediary between them and God then following the pattern for Ptah is somewhat understandable.

What if the Golden Calf was alive?

I also wondered if it is possible that the Golden Calf could have been a living Apis bull. I.e. a living calf dressed up in golden finery or a golden covering perhaps. Looking at the verses it all seems very possible except for Exodus 32:4 which says it is moulded and 32:24 where Aaron says (stupidly) he put the gold in the fire and the calf came out. So it doesn’t seem that the text can support a living Apis Bull in gold.

Other Ideas

Invisible God: Some scholars suggest the calf was merely a pedestal or mount, as other idols are depicted atop a bull. The idea was that the golden calf was a pedestal for an invisible God. This however doesn’t seem consistent with the language used about the idol and the reaction of Moses and God to its creation. If the Golden Bull was supposed be a divine intermediary replacing Moses and telling them the will of YHWH, then the reaction does fit well.

Head of the 'cow goddess' Hathor, 1417-1379 BCE. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). (Click through to website)

Hathor: Another option was that the idol was dedicated to Hathor. Hathor is another deity of Egypt that was popular at the time, who was portrayed at times as a woman with a cow’s head, or cow-like features (horns, cow ears), and sometimes as a cow. However her candidacy seems less likely as the golden idol is named a “calf” (עֵגֶל) or the masculine noun 'egel', denoting a young male calf and not the female cow which symbolises her.
Hathor was believed to be a goddess of beauty, sensuality, music, dancing, and maternity and mother to Horus and Ra, which is not as close a fit to YHWH as Ptah, and therefore a less likely crossover.
Additionally, one thing that would favour the Apis over Hathor is the geographical centre of their cults. The centre of worship for the Apis was Memphis in the north (where the Israelites were in Goshen), whereas Hathor worship had its centre around Dendera in the far south of Egypt.

*Hathor Dendera Temple (Public Domain Image)*

Conclusion

For the reasons stated of the connection to Ptah, the people’s desire for a new intermediary, the engraving work on the statue and the cultural connections I think it is very likely that what they created was an idol statue of an Apis Bull.

Here is an early drawing I created for Acts 7: 40-41

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