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SERIES C --- EXODUS FROM BONDAGE --- LESSON 17
THUNDER FROM THE MOUNT
A SIGN OF FIRE AND SMOKE
From Exodus 19
Exactly three months after they had left Egypt, the people of Israel entered the Sinai wilderness. After leaving Rephidim, they made their way to the foot of Mount Sinai where they set up camp facing the mountain. Moses climbed up Mount Sinai to meet YHVH and YHVH spoke to him somewhere from the mountains. [Tell your people what I shall instruct you,] YHVH said. [I have brought you to Myself on eagles’ wings, for you have seen what I did to the Egyptians. If you will do what I tell you and keep My Covenant with you, you will be My own special nation above all other nations; for the whole earth is Mine. You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Now go and tell the people of Israel what I have said.] When Moses returned to camp, he called together the elders of Israel and told them what Adonai had said. [We shall do all that Adonai says,] the elders promised and Moses told Adonai what the people had said. Adonai spoke again to Moses: [I shall come in a dark cloud so that the people may hear Me when I speak to you and will never have reason to doubt. Go back to your people and prepare them for My visit. Consecrate them today and tomorrow so they will be ready on the third day, for I shall come upon Mount Sinai on the third day so that all may see. Tell your people to wash their clothes in preparation for My coming. Mark boundary lines for the people and warn them not to climb the mountain or touch it; for whoever does shall be put to death. He shall be stoned or shot with arrows, whether he be a man or an animal. They must not even come near the mountain until they hear a sound like a blast of a ram’s horn. Then they may gather around the mountain to listen.] Moses went down from the mountain and consecrated his people. They washed their clothes to prepare for Adonai’s coming. [He will appear two days from now,] Moses told his people. [Husbands and wives must not go in to one another until then.] On the morning of the third day, a thick dark cloud appeared on the mountain with thunder and lightning. A mighty sound of a trumpet blast, like the sound of a ram’s horn, came down from the mountain and the people trembled when they heard it. Moses led his people from the camp to the foot of Mount Sinai. The entire mountain was smoking, for Adonai had come down upon it in fire. The smoke billowed up like the smoke from a great furnace and the whole mountain shook violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses called out to Adonai and He answered in a voice like great thunder. Adonai descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses up to meet Him. [Go down to your people again,] Adonai Commanded. [Warn them once more not to go across the boundaries you have set. They must not try to see YHVH or they will die. Order the priests to consecrate themselves also, so that I will not come upon them to destroy them.] [But I have already set boundaries for the people,] Moses replied. [The people will not cross them, for they know that they will die if they do.] But Adonai Commanded Moses again, [Go! When you return, bring Aaron with you. But do not let the priests or the people come up into My sacred mountain, for if they do, I will punish them.] Moses returned to his people and told them what Adonai had Commanded.
COMMENTARY
ROUTE TO MOUNT SINAI
YHVH now led His people to the foot of Mount Sinai. There the people of Israel promised to obey YHVH fully. And there, as thunder and lightning covered the mountaintop and the ground itself shook, the Voice of YHVH was heard like the blast of a giant trumpet. The people were terrified. But Moses boldly climbed to the top of the mount to speak with Adonai. For four hundred years, the Israelites had lived in the rich, flat land known as Goshen, a section of Egypt in the Nile Delta close to the Mediterranean Sea. The region was low, well-watered by streams and therefore fertile. Thus, when the Israelites went into the wilderness, the barren sandy land was a sharp contrast to their former home in Goshen. Often, they complained about their poor food in the wilderness and reminded Moses how well-fed they had been as slaves in Egypt. From Goshen to the Promised Land was actually a rather short distance. The entire journey could have been made in two or three weeks if the Israelites had gone north-east along the Way to the Land of the Philistines {Via Maris}. But this road was controlled by fierce Philistine warriors. The loose band of ex-slaves was certainly not ready to fight trained Philistines. So, the only alternative was to take the barren Road of the Wilderness of the Red Sea. The Israelites began their journey at the store-city of Rameses, which they had built. From there, they travelled southward to Succoth, an Egyptian army base for desert scouts. Etham, their next stop, may have been the wilderness region east of Succoth, on both sides of what is now the Suez Canal. Had it not been for Adonai’s command for them to go back north again, the Israelites would probably have crossed at Etham, arriving at the intersection of two ancient roads; the way to Shur and The Road of the Wilderness of the Red Sea. They would have taken the latter southward toward Mount Sinai. But Adonai had another important miracle to show to Egypt and Pharaoh. He wanted it to appear to Pharaoh that the Israelites were trapped. Then Adonai would show to pharaoh and the Israelites, His complete power over pharaoh’s armies. Thus, the Israelites went to Pi-ha-hiroth, east of Baal-zephon, where YHVH parted the sea and led them across to the Wilderness of Shur.
It’s Preparation Day! Let’s start prepping for Shabbat!
What is the one commandment God said not to forget?
But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.
John 7:27
"No one will know where he comes from" doesn't refer to the place of his birth, but to his personal history. Per John Gill and Adam Clarke, the Jews had a tradition that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of the line of David, but then would appear mysteriously with no backstory. This Yeshua was brought up in Nazareth to known parents, with known brothers and sisters, an extended family, etc. A few, no doubt, knew him as a boy, visiting Jerusalem at other feasts with his parents. They didn't believe that the Messiah should be so normal.
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
Luke 23:34
Most people who do others harm believe they're doing good or are just trying to save themselves. They're not acting out of conscious malice, but out of ignorance or selfishness.
Thought crime is now a thing in the UK.
https://nypost.com/2022/12/22/....uk-woman-arrested-fo
On this date in history, 12/30/1780: Timothy Standfast makes an impassioned plea to Virginia for continued patriotic fervor in the war against tyranny. #otd #tdih #americanrevolution #amrev https://www.historycarper.com/....1780/12/30/an-appeal
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