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Bull God: The Father of Israel

Written by Diesel the Magus

An evidence article on the bull imagery of Israel’s father-god, from El at Ugarit to the calves of Bethel and Dan.

The claim

Israel’s oldest father-god was a bull god. At Ugarit, El is the Bull and the father of the gods and of humankind. In Israel, the same bull and father language attaches to the god of Jacob, calves were set up in his name at Bethel and Dan, and the Bible calls Israel his son. The texts below lay it out in four steps.

1. The Bull Father at Ugarit

  • The Bull. El is called Bull El (tr il) throughout the Ugaritic texts.
  • The Father. He is called Father of Years (ab shnm) and Father of Man (ab adm), and he is the father of the gods.
  • The family. His consort Athirat (Asherah) bears him seventy sons, who make up the divine council.

2. The Bull in the Hebrew Bible

  • The epithet. Abir Ya‘aqob, the Mighty One of Jacob (Genesis 49:24; Isaiah 49:26; 60:16; Psalm 132:2, 5), has the same consonants as abbir, bull.
  • The horns. Numbers 23:22 and 24:8 say God brought Israel out of Egypt with horns like a wild ox.
  • The calves. Jeroboam set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan and said, “Here are your gods who brought you up out of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28-33). Aaron says the same line over the calf at Sinai and then proclaims a feast to YHWH (Exodus 32:4-5).
  • The prophet. Hosea attacks the calf of Samaria, the calf of Beth-aven (Bethel), and those who kiss calves (8:5-6; 10:5; 13:2).
  • The figurine. A bronze bull from a hilltop site in the hill country of Manasseh, dated to about 1200 BCE, shows that the bull was a known divine symbol in the early cult of the hills. Which deity it represents is uncertain.

3. The Father of Israel

  • Firstborn son. “Israel is my firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22).
  • Father and begetter. Deuteronomy 32:6 asks whether he is not your father who created you, and 32:18 says he is the God who gave you birth.
  • The call from Egypt. “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1). Jeremiah 31:9 has God say he is a father to Israel and Ephraim is his firstborn.
  • Even over Abraham. Isaiah 63:16 says Abraham does not know us, and YHWH is our father. Isaiah 64:8, Psalm 89:26 and Malachi 1:6; 2:10 use the same language.
  • The name. “Israel” is built on El, not YHWH. The people are named for the father-god.

4. The two together

The Bull Father of Ugarit has a bull cult, the titles of a father, and a family of divine sons. Israel’s father-god has a bull cult, the titles of a father, and a people who are his sons. At Bethel and Dan, the bull is the god who brought Israel out of Egypt, which is also the event Hosea 11:1 gives for the sonship of Israel. The father of Israel and the Bull are the same figure in the older layer of the tradition.