The Israelites Reach Mount Sinai: Exodus 19.1-9a
From Rephidim, the Israelites enter the wilderness of Sinai and camp out in from of the mountain there. Moses goes up to God, who calls out to him from the mountain:
Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.The first part juxtaposes the Lord's potential actions against humanity, as just demonstrated with the Egyptians and Israelites: destruction versus salvation, taking life versus ensuring it.
(Ex. 19.3-6)
The second part emphasizes how the Israelites may maintain their protected status. The protection introduced with the Egypt narrative is promised, if the Israelites satisfy the conditions of obeying God's voice and keeping God's covenant. God, for is part, is keeping his covenant. And though God listened to the voices of the people when they cried out in the wilderness, God reminds the Israelites that the world and all the people in it belong to the Lord.
The Israelites have the potential to be the greatest of the people of the earth, the priests closest to God. They will be a "holy nation," which does not necessarily mean religious, but certainly carries a connotation of "apartness." Holiness, for the Israelites, is an orthoprax matter, a matter of practice. The legal commands ahead will exemplify this but here is a quick example: kosher laws forbid mixing milk with meat - they must be kept separate. Likewise, circumcision is a mark that separates the Israelites from the other people of Canaan. For the Israelites, holiness is very frequently a matter of some sort of separation of God's people. That is really what God is talking about, anyway - keeping what is "other" away from the Lord's holy nation.
Moses calls together the elders and tells them what the Lord has said. They all answer as one that they will do as the Lord has commanded. Moses goes back to the Lord and reports the words of the people. The Lord responds that he will come to Moses in a dense cloud, so that the Israelites will hear when the Lord speaks to Moses and thereby trust Moses "ever after" (Ex. 19.9).
The People Consecrated: Exodus 19.9b-25
The Lord further tells Moses that the Israelites should consecrate themselves and wash their clothes, for in two days "the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people" (Ex. 19.11). No one is to go up the mountain - or even touch it. Those that do, animal or human, should be stoned or shot with arrows. Only when they hear a long blast of a trumpet may they go up the mountain.
The reason for all this security is that the people are impure and must be consecrated. Continuing with the theme of "holiness," there is to be no mixing of the sacred and the profane.
Moses goes down from the mountain. He consecrates the people, and they wash their clothes. Moses also commands that the men should not go near women. This command is made in order to maintain ritual purity. Again, there can be no mixing of sacred and profane. Intercourse, while it is not sinful, can cause a person to become impure because of the exchange of bodily fluids.
On the third day there is thunder and lightning and the Lord appears as a thick cloud on the mountain. The trumpet blasts so loud that the Israelites tremble at its sound.
Moses brings the people to the base of the mountain to meet God. Smoke curls around Mount Sinai, which is shaking violently. As the trumpet blasts become louder, Moses speaks with God, who answers in thunder.
The Lord then descends to the top of the mountain and summons Moses to the top. The Lord tells Moses to warn the people "not to break through to the Lord to look; otherwise many of them will perish" (Ex. 19.21). Even the priests must consecrate themselves.
Moses responds that no one is permitted up Mount Sinai; God himself made the command to "Set limits around the mountain and keep it holy" (Ex. 19.23).
The Lord then commands Moses to bring Aaron up, but that no one else should come up the mountain.
If you have been counting, Moses' journey back down the mountain represents the third time that Moses comes back down the mountain after speaking with God. That is a lot of back and forth.
Tomorrow: The Ten Commandments.
No comments:
Post a Comment