Based on EX Chs. 18-40...Read more there...(N1)
When the Hebrews reach Mt. Sinai Moses tells
them to prepare themselves for a great revelation from YHWH God.
There comes an awesome electrical storm, & to cap it off,
what sounds very much like volcanic activity. All this sets a
mystic scene for greater things to come! God then 'comes down'
on the mountain top & is joined there by Moses (N2). Whatever
is going on there is coming to a climax! The really big event is
the giving & receiving of The Law, the Ten Commandments [Ch.20]
(N3). The original just refers to the Commandments as
'words'. Here's an attempt to summarise & interpret what
Moses is reported to have scratched on 'tablets of stone' at
God's behest:
{1} I'm your only God! Stick with Me!{2} No substitute gods of any kind allowed!
{3} Don't mess with my name (YAHWEH); that means Me!
{4} Set aside regular time for sacred-space - for my sake & yours!
{5} Always respect your parents!
{6} Always respect life; don't murder anyone!
{7} Always respect your own marriage and other people's.
{8} Keep your hands off other people's belongings!
{9} Always tell the truth, about everyone & everything!
{10} Stay focused on what's yours, not anything that belongs to someone else!
However, after this uniquely inspired
law-giving, human nature kicks in pretty quickly again. In
much of the rest of EX God, Moses, & the
Hebrews seem to get bogged down in pettifogging instructions
for complying with these Ten Laws & equally complicated
instructions for ritual worship. One significant feature is
the creation of a portable 'Ark' [Ch.31] a
decorative wooden chest the Hebrews will carry ahead of them
on poles in their journeyings. The stone tablets on which
the Commandments have been inscribed are housed inside the
Ark. The Ark itself is housed inside a holy 'tent of
meeting' set up by Moses [33:7] a kind of proto-type
of the eventual permanent Temple to be built in Jerusalem
much later. A lot of the detailed material here bears the
hallmark of later times, but this is part & parcel of
the very process of story telling. In the middle of all
this, in Ch.32 we find a second account of Moses
coming down from the mountain top with the Commandments
scratched on two pieces of stone, this time to find the
people have tired of waiting for him & been playing up.
Worse, they've made an idol of a calf from gold (given by
the Egyptians to get rid of them? See Ep.26.) Moses snaps
& so do the stone tablets (earlier versions of our
modern tablets, I-pads, etc?). The story then starts all
over again combining multiple sources - with a lot of seams!
In 34:10+ God makes a new covenant with the people,
renewing the relationship He's promised Abraham
& Sarah long before (Ep.14). Overall one might say the
telling of such a life-giving story deteriorates into a
mind-boggling complexity not in keeping with the spirit of
the original Laws & today maybe only of interest to very
Orthodox Jewish believers (N4). In a reversal of
this trend Jesus will later reduce the Ten to Two Great
Commandments [MT 22:34-40](N5) Next
time...30: Laying Down the Laws.
(N1): Many scholars believe there is a coming together here, as elsewhere, of differing accounts combined into one at a later date. We will see that happen in the Gospels too. (N2): Such appearances of God are known as a 'theophany', Greek for 'revealing God'. (N3): A slightly different version of the Commandments appears in DT:5. (N4): Jewish tradition developed 613 Commandments as extensions of the original 10. (N5): Augustine, Bp. of Hippo in North Africa in the 5th C. went even further & reduced them to 'Love God & do as you like!' Ironically, most churches today have 'rule books' extending to hundreds of pages & more!
Question: Is it easier to try to compel people to do or not do something rather than encourage them to keep the spirit of the Commandments?
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