The Tablets of Testimony and a Reversal of Outcome in the Golden Calf Episode

By examining the Golden Calf episode (Exod 31:18-34:35) through both lexical and structural analyses, this paper argues that four of the five blocks of text mentioning the tablets are the product of a late redactional addition to the underlying story. The addition of this tablet motif recalibrates the story around a framework of the presentation, destruction, re-creation, and final acceptance of the tablets. Moreover, this tablet addition offers a hopeful ending to the story thereby reversing the damning end of the underlying story. The damning underlying story seems to be the product of Hezekian (or Josianic) propaganda to explain the Assyrian destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, while the tablet addition seems to be the product of the Exilic/ Post-Exilic priestly circle who offer a picture of hope following catastrophe (the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in about 587 B.C.E. ).