Acts 7:41

41 That's when they made an idol in the shape of a calf, offered a sacrifice to it, and began to celebrate what they had made with their own hands.

Acts 7:41 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 7:41

And they made a calf in those days
Whilst Moses was in the mount; this was done in imitation of the Egyptian idol Apis or Serapis, which was an ox or a bullock; and it was made of the golden earnings of the people, which were melted down, and cast into the form of a calf, and graved by Aaron with a graving tool, ( Exodus 32:2-4 ) And so the Syriac version here reads in the singular number, "and he made them a calf"; this was a most shameful and scandalous piece of idolatry. The Jews themselves are so sensible of the horribleness of it, and of the guilt of it, and of the reproach that lies on them for it, that it is common for them to say ^F3,

``there is not a generation, or an age, in which there is not an ounce of the sin of the calf.''

Or, as elsewhere ^F4 expressed,

``no punishment befalls thee, O Israel, in "which there is not an ounce of the sin of the calf".''

And offered sacrifice unto the idol;
an altar was built, and proclamation made, that the next day would be the feast of the Lord; and accordingly early in the morning the people rose, and offered both burnt offerings and peace offerings, ( Exodus 32:5 Exodus 32:6 ) and rejoiceth in the works of their own hands; for so the calf was; and which rejoicing they showed by eating, and drinking, and singing, and dancing.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 T. Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 68. 3.
F4 Vid. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 102. 1.

Acts 7:41 In-Context

39 He's also the one whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead, they pushed him aside and, in their thoughts and desires, returned to Egypt.

40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will lead us. As for this Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him!'

41 That's when they made an idol in the shape of a calf, offered a sacrifice to it, and began to celebrate what they had made with their own hands.

42 So God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the stars in the sky, just as it is written in the scroll of the Prophets: Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to me for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?

43 No! Instead, you took the tent of Moloch with you, and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made in order to worship them. Therefore, I will send you far away, farther than Babylon.