1 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.First the "Wilderness of Sin," and now the "Wilderness of Sanai"? Coincidence?
2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.
10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.
12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:
13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.
22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
23 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.
24 And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.
25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
This offer seems awfully sleazy: "I own the whole world, so obey me, and I'll treasure you." Sounds like what Charles Foster Kane said just before Susan left him, as well she should have.
In verse #6, it seems that Jethro's suggestion-box entry was listened to — God's on board with the whole delegation scheme.
It's the mark of a special day when you're allowed to wash your clothes, and Tuesday was a big day, indeed — the Israelites were called over to the invisible fence at the foot of Mount Sinai.
And "come not at your wives" beforehand, they're advised. Damned if I know why — was Yahweh jealous of the action?
God's lair was protected by an amped-up trumpet and some sort of guards or gizmos that would stone you or shoot you through, surely to your death, should you so much as touch the mount. The seething volcano smoke was a bad-ass touch, too.
Just like the garden of Eden, the Lord will mete out severe punishments for the tiniest turf violations. You know, this fellow's pretty territorial for a guy who can create universes any time he wants.
Only Moses is allowed up to YHWH's mountain retreat, and again I must cite the Raiders face-melting scene, since something like that would happen if the priests or civilians so much as gazed upon the Mighty One, who apparently is meant to be heard (at least via Moses and Aaron — assuming they weren't bullshitting everyone) but not seen.
2 comments:
Strange how you mention Raiders of the Lost Ark ....
A lot happens at this location (in subsequent chapters). Here the location is identified as Sinai, but in Deuteronomy its identified as being Horeb (that's the documentary hypothesis again). This particular chapter is very intimately spliced together mainly from Jahwist and Elohist, and the order of the verses has been mixed up a bit as a consequence.
In the Jahwist account, Yahweh tells Moses that he's going to visit in a cloud, so that the people can hear, and Sinai is smoking because Yahweh descended it "in fire", and the mountain "quakes". Yahweh calls Moses to the top of the mountain where he expresses concern about the people seeing him, so he bans them from coming up the mountain, and then Moses returns to the elders and tells them to prepare for the 3rd day, and additionally bans them from having sex. The Jahwist account continues in chapter 24, and the 3rd day doesn't happen until then.
In the Elohist account, Moses goes "up to God", who responds by telling him to make the Israelites "sanctified", wash their clothes, and expect a trumpet on the 3rd day; the instructions state that the people are to come up the mountain on the 3rd day (second half of verse 13). Moses tells them and they prepare themselves. On the 3rd day there is thunder and lightening, and a cloud on the mountain, and the noise of a loud trumpet, so Moses brings the people to meet God, and when the trumpet gets louder and louder Moses speaks, and God responds. The Elohist account doesn't state what God actually says - this account continues in the next chapter.
The Jahwist and Elohist are roughly similar, but also different; one of the most basic is that the Elohist refers to "God" ("El"), but the Jahwist refers to "Yahweh". In the Jahwist, Yahweh bans the people (apart from Moses) from going up the mountain (verse 12), but in the Elohist it says the opposite - God asks the people to go up the mountain (second half of verse 13). In the Jahwist, the people are banned from sex during the wait, but in the Elohist they are just compelled to wash. The Elohist also has the Trumpet - as before, the Elohist is quite fond of more supernatural imagery, while the Jahwist is more naturalistic.
Where is Sinai? No-one is really sure. Tradition places it in the Sinai peninsula (at "Jebel Musa"="Mount Moses"), but that's generally considered implausible, as none of the geographic details in surrounding chapters would fit with Sinai being in the Sinai peninsula - its more likely to be somewhere in north western Saudi Arabia or south western Jordan. Jabal al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia roughly fits geographic details in some of the previous narratives, and many scholars used to think it was that
The description certainly seems to make it appear quite dramatic. Clouds, thunder, and lightening, and with the Jahwist adding quakes and the Elohist adding scary loud trumpet-sounds. What could it be? well, it would fit a very vague description of a volcano; there are no volcanoes on the Sinai peninsula, but there are some in north western Saudi Arabia; Hala-'l Badr, a volcano in Saudi Arabia, has occasionally been considered to be Sinai.
But the location that is becoming increasingly popular by scholars is al-Madhbah (colloquially known as "the penis of love" - Zibb Atouf - presumably because it has two obelisks on it), in Jordan, at Petra.
al-Madbah has ancient steps carved into the mountain side, a few ancient altars on it, ceremonial pools, and a court designed for gatherings of people; it blatently was considered a very significant ancient sanctuary. Its also near the Siq - the famous narrow chasm at Petra, which Indiana Jones rides down in "the last crusade" - which produces a large trumpet sound when the wind blows down it (and local bedouins call it the "Trumpet of God"). Al-Madbah is the mountain immediately behind the building known as "the Treasury" - which is "the temple" in Indiana Jones.
Madbah also has a rare natural phenomona; the summit occasionally produces plasmas, like ball lightning, and st elmo's fire, fitting with the descriptions of lightning and "Yahweh descending upon in fire". The plasma effect and sounds from the Siq must have seemed amazing in ancient times; this probably the reason it became such a major sanctuary, and why the bible makes it THE mountain where God actually turns up himself in person.
One thing though, "Sinai" wasn't originally a sanctuary to Yahweh. The name "Sinai" derives from "Sin" - the name of the sumerian moon god, whose wilderness the Israelites have just crossed. Squeamishness about hints of polytheism is probably why deuteronomy locates the events at Horeb instead. The name "Horeb", for its part, seems to refer to the sun.
By the way, its not referring to some divine stone thrower or archer. What it means by "they shall surely be stoned or shot through" is actually "if they do this, then you should kill them"; its just King-James-Version English being a bit obscure.
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