After they made the journey from Rephidim and entered the wilderness of Sinai, they then pitched camp in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain. Exodus 19:2
We joke about sometimes saying that someone is “as old as Moses.” Well, it is evident that Mount Sinai was known to be holy, associated with the supernatural, anciently even in Moses’ time, otherwise known as “Horeb, the mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1). The exact geographical location of this mountain is never revealed in Scripture; Moses “happened” upon it as he was ranging far and wide, most probably beyond his usual Midianite territory, in search of grazing lands for his cattle. Elijah found his way there many years later, but given the mystery that always surrounds this prophet, we cannot assume the location was common knowledge even back then; he could have been driven there by the Spirit. Though modern scholars make their guesses, nothing certain is known of its location.
Though we believe that Sinai is an actual, geographic place where Israel encountered God in space and time, the exact location is not important in Scripture, and therefore not to us. The symbolism is what is important. What we have here is the “mountain motif,” and this links Sinai with Eden, which we have seen before to be a mountain, the original mountain of God. Since the fall, where did this mountain go? Where are the cherubim guarding the gate to Paradise with flaming sword? God intended His people to worship Him on this mount, which implies a return to Eden, a restoration of the relationship between God and man, heaven touching earth. The ambiguity of the texts adds to the mystery. Rabbi Akiba picks up on this:
One verse says, “For I have spoken to you from the heavens” [Exod. 20:21] while another says “and the Lord descended upon the mountain [Exod. 19:20]. This teaches that God must have bent the highest parts of heaven down to [touch] the top of the mountain and then spoken with them there – from the heavens! And so it is written, “And he bent the heavens and went down, and there was darkness under his feet [Ps. 18:10].
Or perhaps the mountain ascended to heaven. So Piqei deR. Eliezer 41:
Mt. Sinai was uprooted from its place and the heavens opened and the top of the mountain went into the heavens and the darkness covered the mountain.
Whether heaven came down or the mountain went up, we have a sense that we have now come upon the most sublime moment in the Book of Exodus. We witness the fulfillment of YHWH’s promise to Moses, “I will be with you; and this will be your sign that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God at this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). We survey the scene before us, the people encamped before this mysterious mountain. As the drama unfolds, we see that the people were to observe strict boundaries; God wishes to embrace His people, but He is holy, and they are not. The mountain is a dangerous place. Glory or death can happen at any minute. Seismic groaning, lightning and thunder, join with unearthly sounds, issue from this mountain with uncreated light shrouded in darkness. It is the most numinous moment in all of the Old Testament.
We have spoken of Moses as a “cosmic man” earlier. Here we see God summoning him up into this celestial Mountain where transcendence touches the transient, heaven touched earth. He is the mediator between God and Israel. As such, he is now a “heavenly man.” The whole idea of “divinization,” “deification,” or man-made-like-God, is presented to us most intensely in Moses.
What is the meaning of the words, “Come up to me to the mountain and be there…” [Exodus 24:12]? This signifies that a holy soul is made divine by ascending not to the air or to the ether or to heaven [which is] higher than all, but to [a region] above the heavens. And beyond the world there is no place but God.
Philo, Questions and answers in Exodus 2.40
We have addressed this whole idea of “divinization” in our work on Joseph, so this idea is not new to us. Moses, “celestial man,” takes this to another level. Ascending the mountain of God now becomes the clear objective of the holy soul (Pss. 15, 24), along with the “ladder” imagery we have seen with Jacob and his dream at Bethel. Mount Sinai, along with Jacob’s “ladder,” are the exact opposite of natural man building the Tower of Babel with bricks made with human hands, whose top was, presumptuously, to reach heaven.
Mountains, of course, play a crucial part in the Gospels in projecting Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of the “mountain man” motif, especially in the Transfiguration, but also in the Sermon on the Mount, and elsewhere. As for our allegorical interpretation, we see that Moses represents our spirit, our most interior center of being, which must lead the soul and body up the glorious, but terrifying, mountain of God.
Takeaway: YHWH has led his chosen people to Mount Sinai, understood to be a return to Eden, the original mountain of God, making this the most sublime moment in the Book of Exodus.
Questions: 1)What has been your experience with mountains? Why are people so drawn to them, even Jesus Himself? 2)How do you describe your thoughts as you read this post? Are you inspired? Explain!
Resources Used:
Durham, John. Exodus, in the Word Biblical Commentary, Word Books: Waco Texas, 1987, p. 30.
Rabbinical and Philo quotes from Kugel, The Bible as it Was, Belknap Press, Harvard, 1997, pp374f.