The covenant at Horeb included the Decalogue only; the only covenant made over a larger corpus of laws is made in the steppes of Moab, just before Moses dies (Deuteronomy 28:68). Aaron, his sons (the priests) and the elders, collectively referred to as “the leaders” (Exodus 24:11),[7] accompany Moses up the mountain, but only a certain distance, after which they stop and bow low from afar. The Israelites were then forced to drink it. When these have been delivered (Exodus 23:33), Moses is still on the mountaintop with God. The new tablets, upon which God rewrites the Ten Words, provide the resolution (Exodus 34:1, 4, 28). The first laws to be imparted pertain to the methods of offering sacrifices (Leviticus 1–7), as the consecration of the priesthood and dedication of the Tabernacle (Leviticus 8–9) cannot take place until these laws have been elucidated. Something went wrong while submitting the form. [10] To imagine how the redactors worked, we should start by recognizing that they assumed all their sources to be “true.” As far as they were concerned, all the events took place, and all the laws were given by God. script>, Revelation and Authority: Authorâs Presentation, Deuteronomy on the Problem of Using the Senses to Experience God, The Song of the Sea and the History of Ancient Israel and Judah, Judah Meets Tamar âOn the Road to Timnahâ. Above all, when the Lord arrives they must remain at a safe distance; violators will be executed (Exodus 19:12–13). Most of the laws are given before the departure from Sinai (Leviticus 11–27), and the rest are conveyed periodically for the remainder of the Israelites’ sojourn in the wilderness—the better part of 40 years (most of Numbers 1–36, intermittently). Why not convey them all to the people at one time, either on the mountaintop or in the Tabernacle? That night Moses, at his own initiative, sets down the laws in writing. Log in with your IP address. Each account originally included one, and only one, story of how the laws were given to Moses, how they were transmitted to the people and how (and if) they were written down. (8) All the people answered as one, saying, “Whatever the LORD says, we will do!” Moses brought back the people’s words to the LORD. Is the reader to assume that by the time Moses died there were two written law books. English » » Bible » » Life of Moses » » Moses at Mount Sinai Moses at Mount Sinai. 8–19, 234–247. If they obey me and keep my laws, they will become my special people.’ The laws and statutes, orally presented to them, are written down by Moses in a document called the “Book of the Covenant” (Exodus 24:4, 7). The narrative emphasizes that the Sinai experience of the divine was only auditory. Schwartz is especially interested in how academic biblical scholarship and traditional Jewish belief and observance may co-exist. After many years of wandering in the desert, Moses saw the Promised Land. Moses led the children of Israel out of the camp and placed them at the foot of Mount Sinai, which was all covered by smoke and was quaking, for G‑d had descended upon it in fire. The basic chain of events in D, then, is the same as in E, including the making of the golden calf (Deuteronomy 9:16), Moses’ prayer of intercession (Deuteronomy 9:26–29) and the receipt, smashing and replacement of the tablets (Deuteronomy 9:11, 17, 10:3–4). Moreover, the law codes themselves are, for the most part, internally consistent, but they often duplicate and contradict each other. The first mention is in Exodus 3:1 when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush in order to send him to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Others believe that Mount Sinai was on the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba, in what is now Saudi Arabia. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain, (3) and Moses went up to God. (36) (Thenceforth, whenever the cloud would lift from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on their various journeys; (37) but if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until such time as it did lift. (34) (Thenceforth, whenever Moses would go in to the presence of the LORD to speak with Him, he would leave the veil off until he came out; when he had come out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, (35) the Israelites would see how radiant the skin of Moses’ face was. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, (6) but I shall have you as My kingdom of priests and holy nation.’ These are the words you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (7) Moses came down and summoned the elders of the people, and put before them all the words that the LORD had commanded him. Just a bit later on Mount … (18) Moses went inside the cloud and ascended the mountain, and Moses remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. Pisgah/Mt. The full story—what I call the canonical account—of the giving of the law begins with the Israelites’ arrival at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). These preparations are entirely restrictive: The people must remain pure, launder their clothing and wait in anticipation for three days (Exodus 19:10–11). In E’s view, the encounter with God on the mountain consists only of sound, as the mountain was covered in a thick cloud, and the reaction of the people was one of unmitigated terror. [15] The translation is based on that found in: Tanakh—The Holy Scriptures, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985; I have deviated from it when necessary. Booming thunder and bolts of lightning accompany Moses as he descends the cloud-covered Mount Sinai, bearing aloft two heavy tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. They treated the several existing documents as sacred literature, and they strove to combine them maximally, not selectively. He is not attributed with initiative, intercession or impulsiveness. No. [9] No Decalogue or other such sample of divine law is proclaimed. Only in three places does the traditional text refer to the “two tablets of the testimony” (Exodus 31:18a, 32:15, 34:29), and all three occur at precisely the points where P has been merged with E. In my opinion, P originally contained a continuous passage that began as follows: “When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the testimony.” In E’s narrative, immediately following Exodus 24:18b, E told of a similar event: “He then gave Moses two tablets, stone tablets which had been inscribed by the finger of God.” The redactor combined the two into one verse, Exodus 31:18. In P the Israelites arrive at Sinai in the third month after the Exodus (Exodus 19:1). Yet this is not the end of the process at all. 22 exodus route stops from Mt. Meanwhile, the people have made the golden calf (Exodus 32:1–6). 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