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Exodus 19 - gib65 - 11-22-2025
Welcome to the next installment of my journey into Exodus where I explore each chapter, one by one, and post my thoughts and ask questions in a deep dive analysis from the perspective of a non-Jewish, non-Christian, non-anything-really individual (though I do believe in God and have my own spiritual path). Today, we cover Exodus 19, the arrival at Mt. Sinai and the establishment of boundaries by God for the Israelites to observe. My sources, as usual, are as follows:
* primary: chabad.org
* secondary: biblegateway.com
* And introducing: chatgpt.com
Exodus 19:1-2 Wrote:1 In the third month of the children of Israel's departure from Egypt, on this day they arrived in the desert of Sinai. 2 They journeyed from Rephidim, and they arrived in the desert of Sinai, and they encamped in the desert, and Israel encamped there opposite the mountain.
Here again we have a bit of confusion over the exact whereabouts and the details of the Israelites' chronicles (at least, confusing to me, just a little). You might recall from my analysis of Exodus 18 (if you read it--my analysis that is, not Exodus 18) that I noted this:
gib65 Wrote:Exodus 18:5 Wrote:Now Moses' father in law, Jethro, and his [Moses'] sons and his wife came to Moses, to the desert where he was encamped, to the mountain of God.
Are we already at the mountain of God? At Mt. Sinai? Chapter 17 open with:
Exodus 17:1 Wrote:The entire community of the children of Israel journeyed from the desert of Sin to their travels by the mandate of the Lord. They encamped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.
And verse 7 has Moses naming the place Massah and Meribah:
Exodus 17:7 Wrote:He named the place Massah [testing] and Meribah [quarreling] because of the quarrel of the children of Israel and because of their testing the Lord, saying, Is the Lord in our midst or not?
It goes on to describe the battle with the Amalekites followed by Moses inscribing the event in a memorial and building an alter... all presumably at the same place. So did they travel since then or was this at the base of Mt. Sinai?
So Exodus 17 has the Israelites arriving at Rephidim, Exodus 18 describing the place as at "the mountain of God" (presumably not having moved from Rephidim), and now Exodus 19 has them leaving Rephidim to arrive at the desert of Sinai and camping opposite the mountain. So how to interpret this? Is it saying that Rephidim was close to the mountain of God (Mt. Sinai, I presume) but upon leaving Rephidim they got even closer?*
Exodus 19:9 Wrote:And the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I am coming to you in the thickness of the cloud, in order that the people hear when I speak to you, and they will also believe in you forever." And Moses relayed the words of the people to the Lord.
Now, this is an interesting passage because it sort of contradicts my interpretation of Exodus 16:9-12 (which itself is more of an interpretation of Robert's interpretation):
gib65 Wrote:If I take these passages from biblegateway.com, they say this:
Exodus 16:9-12 Wrote:9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. 11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
This puts a slightly different spin on it. This suggests that God's appearance in the cloud was not what He intended for the Israelites to "come before the Lord" for (as instructed by Aaron), but just happened to occur while Aaron was speaking to the crowd, which (understandably) caught their attention as they turned to the desert to look. And if [you, Robert, are] right that the Lord only spoke to Moses (i.e. the people didn't hear the Lord), then it makes sense that Moses would convey the message afterward, and that would be the purpose of gathering the people to hear God's response to their complaints.
Here in Exodus 19:9, however, it says that the Lord will come to Moses in the thickness of the cloud in order that the people hear when He speaks to Moses. So according to Exodus 19:9, the people can hear the Lord when he takes the form of a cloud and speaks to Moses. But maybe it's not a matter of whether the people can hear the Lord when he speaks to Moses as a cloud, but whether they do hear Him under this or that circumstance. So in Exodus 16:9-12 the people so happened not to hear the Lord but in Exodus 19:9, they did.*
Exodus 19:12-13 Wrote:12 And you shall set boundaries for the people around, saying, Beware of ascending the mountain or touching its edge; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.' 13 No hand shall touch it, for he shall be stoned or cast down; whether man or beast, he shall not live. When the ram's horn sounds a long, drawn out blast, they may ascend the mountain."
Now this is interesting. The Lord seems to be establishing that this is no ordinary mountain, that it is sacred, and therefore requires boundaries that the people must respect. What exactly the reasons for these boundaries is unclear, and quite intriguing, in the sense that it's not clear what exactly will happened if the Israelites violate these boundaries. Not so much to themselves, which this verse makes very clear, but how such boundary violations will impact the sacredness/divinity of the mountain (Will it cause evil to enter the world? Will it throw a wrench into God's plan? Will it damage the souls of those who violate the boundaries?). Or is it purely symbolic? Or maybe just a test of their loyalty? I've always been interested in questions like this, questions about how the sacred and supernatural ties into cause and effect, whether it can be explained in the same way as scientific phenomena. How exactly do violations of the boundaries God lays out here have a causal effect in the context of the sacred, divine, and supernatural. And why? In any case, the warnings are clear. So clear that I don't know if I would be willing to touch the mountain even if the ram's horn did sound.
Exodus 19:15 Wrote:He said to the people, "Be ready for three days; do not go near a woman."
Was Moses specifically addressing the men? Was it not typical for women to approach men at this time? This passage is a sign of the times, I guess.
Exodus 19:21-22 Wrote:The Lord said to Moses, "Go down, warn the people lest they break [their formation to go nearer] to the Lord, to see, and many of them will fall. 22 And also, the priests who go near to the Lord shall prepare themselves, lest the Lord wreak destruction upon them."
So what does a priest need to do to "prepare" himself? And for what? This passage tells us: to "go near to the Lord". So to cross the boundary the Lord set for the people? And how close to the Lord? I can see that it is reasonable to grant special privileges to the priestly cast, to allow them, because of their special status of being closer to the Lord in spirit, to come closer to the Lord physically.
More generally, Exodus 19:20-25 seems a little redundant. What I mean is that the Lord already issued the warning that whoever crosses the bounary "shall surely be put to death", but He nonetheless summons Moses to climb the mountain to meet Him, only for the Lord to tell Moses to go back down and "warn the people lest they break [their formation to go nearer] to the Lord". It's like if my boss tells me to warn my team at the office not to violate the rules, and then calls me into his office just to tell me to go back out and warn my team not to violate the rules. One might assume that what the Lord is doing is directing Moses' attention to the fact that many of the people will not obey the rules as "many of them will fall". But Exodus 19:24 says:
Exodus 19:24 Wrote:But the Lord said to him, "Go, descend, and [then] you shall ascend, and Aaron with you, but the priests and the populace shall not break [their formation] to ascend to the Lord, lest He wreak destruction upon them."
Here the Lord seems to be saying the populace will not violate the boundaries (in opposition to Exodus 19:21 which says "...and many of them will fall"). Perhaps the phrase "lest He wreak desctrution upon them" is meant to be interpreted as "there is still a condition under which the people might violate the boundaries, and that is if the Lord wreaks desctruction upon them in consequence".
So at best, the Lord in Exodus 19:24 is uncertain whether the people will violate His rules. But in Exodus 19:21, He seems pretty sure that Moses will see that "many of them will fall." Exodus 19:24 is, of course, the Lord's response to Moses pointing out, in Exodus 19:23, that "The people cannot ascend to Mount Sinai, for You warned us saying, Set boundaries for the mountain and sanctify it." So it's almost like the Lord is trying to have it both ways--say that the people will violate His rules and wanting Moses to see it for himself, and at the same time reassuring Moses that they won't violate His rules so that Moses' understanding is not confused.
So as usual, I consulted biblegateway.com to get a slightly different rendition of these passages, and here's what it had to say:
biblegateway.com Wrote:20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”
24 The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.”
This wording does not suggest that the people will or won't violate the rules, but simply reiterates the Lord's warning that there will be consequences for violating the rules and instructs Moses to emphasize this to the people. But this makes the Lord's instructions to Moses to come up the mountain even more redundant. He's simply instructing Moses to go back down an repeat the same warning. Of course, there's the additional instructions to address the priestly cast about consecrating themselves before approaching the Lord. And also the follow up of bringing Aaron up the mountain with him the next time he ascends to see the Lord. But why all this couldn't be instructed to Moses the first time around seems odd to me.
Finally, what is a "shofar"? Is that the ram's horn God spoke of earlier, that which when blown signals to the people that they are allowed to cross the boundary?
* I got some answers to these questions from ChatGPT. I will post them later. Right now, I just want to journal my thoughts and reactions to what I'm reading in Exodus 19. But the fact that I'm now relying on ChatGPT to help me interpret Exodus is an interesting topic in itself, and I'll probably open it for discussion soon after I post this.