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Show Of the Molten C a~f. -LI B. 1 V • of the names by which this Idol was depoted. SomefYultit. r fadtl times it was called Apis, from the I-Iebrew word \f) 'l~ Ap,fignify ing a {tue:fometirnes Ser ttpi s quaji shor-apir, which is nothtng dfe but Bovi1 caput, an Ox-head; gb a,pria?.dt the very name ufed by the (g ) F atherJ, to expr<;fs this OttO p~tt Unl, ~· • • 3 ,s. vii, eti••m IdolttlrJ. It HJ commonly known that thls Idolatr; \yas fi.ug~fl- P· 73· denved to I{raet from the Egyptians ; but whence lt.1ertul- adv,. h . fi fl.l d · .c. h h Th J;(d,.c~tp, 1• t ,e Egypttans ru earne tt 1ew ave taug r. ey do not conjeCture amifs, who interpret the firft Infiitution hereof to have been iu the memory of Jo· feph, who by his providence relieved both Egypt, and other Neighbour Countries, in the feven years of h SHidasin famine. Eefides the teftimony of nq flight (h) Au~ Zrl&-"''1~~ thors, there are (hong inducements to perf wade it. RuffiniU tw,'l• ll b h h f J 'd c . f hift. tccle[.cap. Firrr-, ot t e years o p enty a·n tam tne were or<e• 23. ~ier. Hie· fignified by the apparition of Oxen. Secondly, what rog.ltb,3·1'· 25• fitter Emblem, (if it had not afterward proved an Idol) to continue the remembrance of a Jofeph, (by whofe alone care and indufhy, corn an~ vi6tual was provided in an ext ream famine) than an Ox, the true and lively Hieroglyphick of an induftrioos Husbandman? Thirdly, in this Suiat!IS .agreeth with others,that this Ox was pourtrayed with a bufhel on hi1 head, though others do more clearly exprefs the reafon of this portraiture ., namely, becaufe of the great quantity of Corn meafured . out by ]ofeph in that extream dearth. Concerning the fin of the Ifraelites in making this Calf or Ox, the modern Jews do transfer the fault upon certain Profylite Egyptians who came forth ·with them: and they fay , that when .Aaron cail: their Jewels into the fire'· thtfe ·Egyptia1u, contrary to his expe~tation, by thetr Art Magic4.produceth ~Calf, to whtch purpofe they urge Aarons own words, Exod.31. 34· 1 did ca(t the Gold into LIB, IV. of the Alolten Calf. into the fire, and thereof came thh Calf; as if his art or wi1l went not wah the mt~king thereof, but of it felf it m.;de it felf. But this anfwer of his fheweth rather, how vain the wit of m:tn is in the excufe of fin; and as his ingraving inil:rument writes down Aarrnt's fin~; fo the confeffion of others, more inge- i nuous Jews proclatm'i the Ijraelites, faying, that (i) ~1 j )~ No pumfhment befaUeth thee Jfrael, in which there is n~~w~ 0 not an ounce of thi1 Calf. I conclode this with the ana· MJ .1?~~ logy between the Egyptia·n Api1, and the molten C a if:) 'WID N'r;J.lN and this conGfteth in three things. Fitji, _As there '-7l))M were fomt fpecial mark.J in the Rgyp·tianJ O>e; fo is it M_gfe, Gerund, probable that Aaron with his ingraving Tool made ~~J~;4~" the like. Secondly, As the EgJptra~s in honor of their . . Ox ( k) celeprated a foramn Fe aft, with much flnging=i"rd. tn'llOCt and m1rth. So the Ifraelites proclaimed a feafi in ho. 11'li'H. nor uf their Calf: The people fate down to eat a11d drinl{., and r'ofe up to play. Thirdly~ As the Egyptians Ox was at lal1 drowned in the River, fo Mofes burnt the molten Calf and beat it to powder, and call it upon the fate of the water, Exod.3 2.1 o. Deut.9.2 I. Jer/Jbo· anJ afterward, though upon or her inducements, com .. mitted 1 he fame fin; he thought in his heart, tbat if the peop]e go up to ]trujalem, and do f.1crifice in the houfe of the Lord: they W(Juld revoi t from h1m:l andre-turn to the K1t1g of Jndah: whertupon he fLt up two Calves of gold, the one in Bethel, the other in Dan; faying unto the people, It is too n1uch for you to go np, to Jerufalem, I Kiffg, 12..28. Cll A P. I |
