TRADITION VS SCHOLARSHIP
The answer
Agree. Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, made two golden calves and told the people, "Here are your gods, O Israel" (1 Kings 12:28). Exodus 32:4 has the people say nearly the same line over Aaron's one calf. The New Oxford Annotated Bible, a study Bible, calls Exodus 32 a likely jab at what Jeroboam did.
Why it’s interesting
The people say "gods" over a single calf, and Nehemiah 9:18 retells it in the singular: "This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt." The study Bible says the plural was probably shaped to fit 1 Kings 12:28. Michael Coogan, a scholar, says the plural was added later, in the southern kingdom of Judah.
Genuinely debated
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