Ancient religions certainly had fertility of the soil and animal life as one of their main interests – naturally enough. There were priestesses who served the forces of Nature – the power of river and rain water, abundance of crops and animals, etc.
Miriam is not mentioned in the episode of the Golden Calf, so it seems she sided with Moses, not with her other brother Aaron who led this revolt.
But the story tells us about what these nomadic herders believed.
Tents of nomadic herders; women spun the wool, wove the fabric, and sewed the strips together to make the tents they lived in; they also put up and took down the tents whenever the tribe moved from one place to another. A woman’s work is never done…
Escaping from Egypt – where to?
The Hebrew tribes were escapees from Egypt, wandering with their herds in search of good pastures. They hoped to find a new land to live in.
It was at this time the Hebrews began to see themselves as separate from the kingdoms that surrounded them.
This map shows a possible route taken by the Hebrew tribes in their search for a new homeland
The Golden Calf
When Moses failed to come down from the mountain, the people urged Aaron to assume leadership and make them gods to worship. Under pressure, Aaron agreed. He had the men
collect their womenfolk’s gold jewellery
melt it down
make an image of a calf, which was of course a common fertility symbol at that time.
Phoenician image of a calf, originally covered with gold leaf
The story of the Golden Calf is no longer in its original simple form. But Aaron did proclaim a ‘festival to the Lord’ to be held in front of the Golden Calf.
This seems to have some connection with the story in 1 Kings 12:26-30 about Jeroboam making the Golden Calves, for he used exactly the same phrase that is given to Aaron in Exodus: ‘Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’
What does this story tell us?
That Moses (and possibly Miriam) promoted worship of Yahweh, but a large element among the Hebrews clung to their ancient devotion to the fertility gods.
For more information on the lives of women in the Bible, see the links to
The little basket floated for a while then lodged in the shallows of the river. Miriam was following, and saw it was not far from a bathing party. Pharaoh’s daughter was there with her retinue. The royal women saw the basket and investigated: it was a live baby, crying with hunger…