The Cast: Moses at Mount Sinai

A Fiery Mountain

Why does an Almighty God need clouds, smoke and fire?   If we accept the biblical text, we believe that if He chooses to, he can provide clear evidence of himself to those with whom he wants to commune?  Yet, we read that when the Lord wanted to talk to Moses, Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire...and the whole mountain quaked greatly.  Ex.19:18.  This whole scene speaks of a spacecraft landing on a mountain?

At the time that the spacecraft was landing on Mount Sinai, it was dangerous to touch the mountain.  The Bible says, Take heed that you do not go up into the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death; no hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live. Ex. 19:12-13.  

This surely cannot be just a matter of emotions with the Lord, for if it was, why should he be upset with the animals that might touch the mountain?  If it was just a matter of emotions; or if the Lord made another “rule’ just for the fun of it, would it not lower our respect and awe of Jehovah, the God of Israel?  

   

I suggest that Jehovah had a very practical reason for implanting this rule.  At the time He was descending in his spacecraft, the low output nuclear reactors which provide the back thrust for a soft landing were turned on and any person or animal in its vicinity would be contaminated by nuclear radiation.  

So the Lord warned them in advance, saying that if any person or beast was in that vicinity at that time, that person or animal must be killed; no hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.  

• They were to make sure not to touch anyone that was thus defiled by nuclear radiation.  
• They would know when the Lord had shut off the reactors because He would sound the trumpet one long blast. Ex.19:13.  
• After that trumpet blast, the people would know that it was safe to enter the area.

A Loudspeaker

The idea that the Lord uses a loudspeaker to talk to humans was mentioned concerning the vision which Jacob had when he saw the Lord standing at the top of the ladder.  Again, on Mount Sinai, and again in The Revelation, the Lord speaks to a human with a loudspeaker.  Moses heard the amplified voice of an ET.

It is not surprising that Moses would call a loudspeaker a trumpet.  Even, in our own time, some loudspeakers are called horns and their shape greatly resembles trumpets.  While posting my studies of the book of The Revelation, I noted in my blog that John writes that he heard a trumpet, but he informs us that he heard the trumpet speaking (not making musical notes).  Transferring the thought, expressed by John’s words, to the incident here on Mount Sinai, it is easy to believe that Moses also heard an electrically amplified sound - the voice of Jehovah.

Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. Ex. 24:9.  With clear, not possible to misunderstand words, the Bible tells us that Moses, three of his sidekicks, and 70 other leaders, saw the God of Israel!  Where did those people who insist that the Bible is perfect, ever get the idea that Jehovah can never be seen.  There are many recorded events in the Bible that tell of certain humans that have seen Jehovah.  In future posts, we will look at them in the proper order.

Saint Paul calls Jehovah invisible: He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God. Col. 1:15.  I take that to mean that Jehovah is not visible to humans except on those rare occasions when He wants to appear to them in His physical, humanoid, the way He is, persona.  There are a few other instances, in the Bible, where Jehovah is spoken of as being invisible, even by John in his Gospel.  

Note, though, that those statements are diametrically opposed to statements made by Moses, Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and later on even by John who all say that they saw Jehovah!  That is the same John who later wrote these words:  Then the voice that had spoken to me at first and that sounded like a trumpet said, "Come up here! I will show you what must happen next.”  Right then the Spirit took control of me, and there in heaven I saw a throne and someone sitting on it. Rev. 4:2-3 CEV.

Could it be that John changed his mind about his statement in the Gospel after he had experienced The Revelation?   If he did, I wish that he would have left us a note saying, that thing I wrote about Jehovah being invisible actually was a mistake, I have seen Him and I know He is visible.