golden calf

golden calf

That which is given inordinate or unworthy praise, worship, or reverence. A reference to an idol mentioned in Exodus 32:4 of the Bible, created and worshipped by the Israelites in the absence of Moses, which was considered blasphemous in God's eyes. It has become apparent that wealth and power have become the golden calves of this country, the attainment of which people prioritize with slavish devotion.
See also: calf, golden
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a golden calf

something, especially wealth, as an object of excessive or unworthy worship.
In the Bible, the golden calf was a statue of gold in the shape of a calf, made by Aaron in response to the Israelites' plea for a god while they awaited Moses' return from Mount Sinai, where he was receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus, chapter 32).
See also: calf, golden
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • a golden calf
  • fall all over
  • fall all over (one)
  • make a fuss of/over somebody/something
  • make a fuss over (someone or something)
  • make a fuss of (someone or something)
  • fuss over
  • fuss over (someone or something)
  • the age of miracles is past
  • a fuss over nothing
References in periodicals archive
Lastly, the story to be remembered was originally understood to refer to a generic condition but is now taken by some to refer specifically to the Golden Calf.
I contend that guns have become like a golden calf, a version of religion in many places in the United States.
The Golden Calf accounts are clearly responses to a major societal upheaval, the division of the Monarchy, whereas the Nebuchadnezzar vignette relates obviously to the position of Jews in the Diaspora vis-a-vis royal control of religion.
Is there a lesson here in the apparent rejection of the established Church in favour of some golden calf idolatry?
Although she writes that the inclusion of quotations from Ilf and Petrov's The Golden Calf, the supreme Soviet satire, is her way of paying "homage to [her] literary predecessors," the passages, in fact, enrich her essays with burlesque.
Our sages tell us that after G-d found the people of Israel worshipping the Golden Calf, following what they thought was Moses not returning to them, the Almighty wanted to destroy the entire nation.
golden calf. My No God has two dogs: Night and Day.
He was impressively authoritative in the Golden Calf aria, and naturally drew all eyes with his acid wit and mordant comedy.
The Golden Calf, left, said to be the highlight with an estimate of pounds 8million-pounds 12million, sold for pounds 10.3million.
Searching Jewish, Christian, and Greco-Roman antiquity for sources that clarify the meaning of the Pauline phrase, he argues that it should be understood as metaphor, and that its taproot is found in Israel's worship of the golden calf.
In speaking of Israel's apostasy in their worship of the golden calf, he writes:
QUIZ CHALLENGE: 1 Tom Jones; 2 A golden calf; 3 Sudan; 4 Vladimir; 5 The Nimrod.
A grainy reproduction of Poussin's The Adoration of the Golden Calf stands at the heart of W.
Set during the Second World War, her performance as a Jewish girl who falls in love with a Nazi officer, played by Sebastian Koch, has won her a Golden Calf, the Dutch film industry's Oscar.