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Wow - my hand is STIFF! I did 1.25 columns of Exodus today; the mountain has shaken, the voice of the trumpet has waxed loud, the people have trembled.
There's a slightly strange bit (in chapter 19) where God tells Moses to go and put hazard fencing round the mountain because if any of the people touch the mountain they're going to die, so Moses hoofs it down the mountain and puts up the fence (it may be metaphorical, you understand), and then there are several days of sanctifying, and then a lot of highly impressive pyrotechnics and trumpets, and God descends to the top of the mountain and calls Moses up to speak with him.
This is the climactic moment, you understand. It's all been leading up to this.
Moses hoofs it back up the mountain, and God says: go down and tell the people they can't come up to the mountain. And Moses says: but God, they won't, you already told us to put a fence round the mountain, they already know not to come up. So God says: yeah, but go tell them again anyway, and bring Aaron back with you.
Then God gets down to business and delivers the Ten Commandments in a suitably awe-inspiring and impressive manner.
Don't you think that's awfully odd? Three days of dramatic suspense, thunder, lightning, thick cloud, God descends to the mountain so that all Israel will hear his voice and be awed - and then God delivers this more or less totally redundant message.
I don't get it. Any bright ideas, y'all? (Or if anyone wants to go and read the commentators and tell me what they say, do feel free.)
There's a slightly strange bit (in chapter 19) where God tells Moses to go and put hazard fencing round the mountain because if any of the people touch the mountain they're going to die, so Moses hoofs it down the mountain and puts up the fence (it may be metaphorical, you understand), and then there are several days of sanctifying, and then a lot of highly impressive pyrotechnics and trumpets, and God descends to the top of the mountain and calls Moses up to speak with him.
This is the climactic moment, you understand. It's all been leading up to this.
Moses hoofs it back up the mountain, and God says: go down and tell the people they can't come up to the mountain. And Moses says: but God, they won't, you already told us to put a fence round the mountain, they already know not to come up. So God says: yeah, but go tell them again anyway, and bring Aaron back with you.
Then God gets down to business and delivers the Ten Commandments in a suitably awe-inspiring and impressive manner.
Don't you think that's awfully odd? Three days of dramatic suspense, thunder, lightning, thick cloud, God descends to the mountain so that all Israel will hear his voice and be awed - and then God delivers this more or less totally redundant message.
I don't get it. Any bright ideas, y'all? (Or if anyone wants to go and read the commentators and tell me what they say, do feel free.)
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