[This is a Sinaite’s perspective. Translation: EV/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses. First posted November 16, 2012.–Admin1..]
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Picture yourself as a clueless gentile among the mixed multitude of slaves gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai. You’ve known these Hebrew slaves since you ended as a slave yourself in Egypt. You went through that whole experience of pre-Exodus display of power by a ‘God’ you had only heard from the lips of the leader of the Hebrews; you wanted to get out of slavery yourself, so you listened intently to all the instructions about the eve of departure; you knew it was primarily for them, the Hebrews, but you took a chance and obeyed. Before you knew it, you were included in the exodus!
You have witnessed the power of this God (you’ve merely heard about and never worshipped before) over the helpless non-gods of Egypt with whom you were more familiar. You’ve witnessed the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Sea of Reeds; provisions of food and water, victory in battle, and now you will meet this new God. You’ve heard His Name, you’ve learned to entrust to Him with your very survival in the desert because so far you have not been wanting as far as daily provisions are concerned.
You’re anxious to know what this God will require of you, so you watch and wait like the others. You are determined to do as the multitude do, say what they say. You’re breathlessly waiting for the climax of your freedom trek from Egypt; you already know what you were liberated from but you’re still wondering what were you liberated for!
This is what you witness:
Exodus/Shemoth 24
1 Now to Moshe he said:
Go up to YHVH,
you and Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,
and bow down from afar;
2 Moshe alone is to approach YHVH,
but they, they are not to approach,
and as for the people-they (too) are not to go up with him.
3 So Moshe came
and recounted to the people all the words of YHVH and all the regulations.
And all the people answered in one voice, and said:
All the words that YHVH has spoken, we will do.
4 Now Moshe wrote down all the words of YHVH.
He started-early in the morning,
building a slaughter-site beneath the mountain
and twelve standing-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.
5 Then he sent the (serving-) lads of the Children of Israel,
that they should offer-up offerings-up, slaughter slaughter-offerings of shalom for YHVH-bulls.
6 Moshe took half of the blood and put it in basins,
and half of the blood he tossed against the slaughter-site.
7 Then he took the account of the covenant
and read it in the ears of the people.
They said:
All that YHVH has spoken, we will do and we will hearken!
8 Moshe took the blood, he tossed it on the people
and said:
Here is the blood of the covenant
that YHVH has cut with you
by means of all these words.
9 Then went up
Moshe and Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.
10 And they saw
the God of Israel: beneath his feet
(something) like work of sapphire tiles,
(something) like the substance of the heavens in purity.
11 Yet against the Pillars of the Children of Israel, he did not send forth his hand-
they beheld Godhood
and ate and drank.
12 Now YHVH said to Moshe:
Go up to me on the mountain
and remain there,
that I may give you tablets of stone:
the Instruction and the Command
that I have written down, to instruct them.
13 Moshe arose, and Yehoshua his attendant,
and Moshe went up to the mountain of God.
14 Now to the elders he said:
Stay here for us, until we return to you;
here, Aharon and Hur are with you-
whoever has a legal-matter is to approach them.
15 So Moshe went up the mountain,
and the cloud covered the mountain;
16 the Glory of YHVH took up dwelling on Mount Sinai.
The cloud covered it for six days,
and he called to Moshe on the seventh day from amidst the cloud.
17 And the sight of the Glory of YHVH
(was) like a consuming fire
on top of the mountain
in the eyes of the Children of Israel.
18 Moshe came into the midst of the cloud
when he went up the mountain.
And Moshe was on the mountain
for forty days and forty nights.
We gentiles living in this 21st century are able to experience that climactic moment by reading and studying this portion of the TORAH. Indeed, we see YHWH not quite as dramatically as the mixed multitude did, but perhaps even better through these accounts recorded in Exodus.
There is a saying that hindsight is 20/20 vision, i.e. we begin to see and understand the question marks in our past only later in our lives, as we mature and hopefully become wiser and more introspective about the meaning or seeming meaninglessness of happenings in history, whether personal, national, or universal.
Søren Kierkegaard adds a twist to this:
“Only 20:20 vision is hindsight.
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
As we endeavor to understand each portion in the TORAH of YHWH, much of it will seem irrelevant to our current situation but if we see beyond the time-bound cultural and religious situations and begin to understand what truly has not change—human nature and the Great Revelator who designed the perfect blueprint for living in peace, happily and contentedly with family, community, country and the nations, the unquestionable conclusion is: TORAH is relevant to ALL humankind, not just to Israel, and specially to me, to this very day.
NSB@S6K
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