Jehovah Appears Before the People

(Exodus 19:1 - 19:25)
Two months to the day after the people of Israel had departed Egypt, they entered the desert of Sinai.  Leaving Rephilim, they traversed the Sinai desert and set up camp there, pitching their tents beneath the holy mountain.

Moses climbed the mountain in order to find Jehovah. Jehovah called down to him from the mountain and told him, “You shall announce this to the house of Jacob, the people of Israel: 'You have witnessed the punishment I inflicted upon the Egyptians, how I bore you out of Egypt as if upon the wings of an eagle and brought you into my presence.  If you obey me and keep the agreement you have made with me, then you will remain a particular favorite of mine, more precious than any other people, even though the entire earth belongs to me.  For me you will become a kingdom of priests, a nation dedicated to my worship.’  This is the message you must convey to the people of Israel."

Moses returned and convened a meeting of the elders of Israel.  He informed them of the plans Jehovah had for them, and they replied with one voice: "We will do all that Jehovah has asked of us!” 

Moses reported back to Jehovah on what his people had decided.  Jehovah told Moses, "I will appear before your people in a dense cloud so that they may hear me when I speak to you and have faith in you ever after.”  Moses imparted to Jehovah the desires of the Israelites.  Jehovah instructed him, "Go down to your people and make sure they purify themselves today and also tomorrow.  Let them wash their clothes.  They must be ready on the third day, for then I shall descend from Mount Sinai and make an appearance before all the people.  You must establish a perimeter around the mountain and warn the people, "Be careful not to go up the mountain or touch even its base, for whoever sets foot upon the mountain will certainly be put to death. Lay no hand upon him, but that person must either be stoned to death or shot with an arrow.  In any case, whether it be a man or beast, that individual must not be allowed to live.  Only when the horn sounds a long blast, will the people be permitted to go up on the mountain."

Moses descended the mountain and rejoined his people.  He conducted purification rituals and after the people had washed their clothes, Moses addressed them: “Have all in readiness for the third day.  Refrain until then from having any sexual relations with your wives.”

When the third day arrived there were thunderous noises and flashes of light emanating from the mountain, which was obscured by thick cloud.  A very loud blast roared, and greatly frightened all the people in camp.  When Moses led his people out of camp to meet with Jehovah, he assembled them at the foot of the mountain.  (Mount Sinai swirled with smoke because Jehovah's aerial vehicle had made a fiery landing upon it.  The smoke billowed from it as if from a kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.)

While the blast grew gradually louder and its blare more protracted, Moses spoke and Jehovah answered him amid the roar.  Jehovah had landed on the mountain, on the very summit of Mount Sinai.  He called Moses to come up there, and Moses climbed the mountain.  Jehovah instructed him, "Go down and warn your people not to break through the perimeter, for in their efforts to get a better view of the vehicle, many of them may be killed.  And even the priests who approach the ship must first be purified or else the ship will destroy them.”

Moses objected, "But the people cannot come up the slopes of Mount Sinai, for it was you who ordered, ‘Let a perimeter be established around the base of the mountain and thus set it apart as sacred.’”

Jehovah responded, "Get on down there!  You may come back up with Aaron, but don't let any of the priests or the people go beyond the perimeter or approach the ship, or else it will destroy them.”

Moses descended the mountain and spoke to his people.

Notes
1.  The "holy mountain,"  Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb where Moses and Jehovah have their meetings has been identified variously, but always as a large mountain.  This, though, is inconsistent with the story.  Moses, who is supposedly past 80 years old, is running up and down the mountain at Jehovah's behest several times a day.  (Edmund Hillary couldn’t have handled this!)  This is preposterous if this were a real, serious mountain, one that would take many strenuous hours to scale.  The “mountain”, even if it were the highest land in the region, must have been more like a hill, or, as we would say, a mount.  Surely it could not be the peaks that have been suggested.  Jehovah makes his headquarters there.  It makes sense that he would establish himself on high ground that would command the surrounding area, but not on a secluded mountain top, if he really wanted to make frequent contact with Moses and the people who worship him as their god.  And he is landing there with his flying ship: no one would land a craft on the top of some craggy mountain, though a vehicle capable of vertical take-off and landing might choose to touch down on the top of a hill.

2.  Jehovah claims ownership of the whole world and all of its people, but has no real contact with any of its nations save this insignificant tribe of nomads and brick-making slaves, whom he wishes to exalt as his priestly tribe and personal favorite.  His terms are, of course, congenial to the elders and the people of Israel.  Why not?  Who doesn't want to be among the "Chosen People?"  The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Persians, the Chinese, and many other ancient peoples as well saw themselves as being singularly favored by the divine.  Belief in the divine sanction of nations is not limited to ancient times.  In recent wars, nations on both sides of the conflict have assured themselves that God was on their side and not on the other.  Even Nazis thought so.  The spirits with whom Joan of Arc communed were strong partisans of the French in the Hundred Year's War, thus prompting her judges to question, "Does God hate the English?"  In the context of Exodus, one might ask, "Does God hate the Egyptians?"  -- Apparently so!

3.  Jehovah announces his arrival three days hence and bids the Israelites to wash their clothes before they can see him.  It is not unfitting for worshipers to put on their "Sunday best," but the reason for this and for these purifications is not obvious.  It is perhaps like much in the biblical account.  An ancient custom is habitually observed.  The origin and reason for that custom has been forgotten.  And so a story must be conceived to explain it; divine provenance or approval is necessarily incorporated into the story to justify, even sanctify the custom.  --- But perhaps the reason Jehovah insisted that those who approach him have clean clothes and be “purified” was that he was fearful they might carry some disease he did not wish to be exposed to.  (One remembers the ancient historians who believed the Israelites were exiled from Egypt because they were diseased.)  

4.  Part of the purification ritual that the Israelites must observe prior to Jehovah's visitation is that they must refrain from having sexual relations with their wives.  This is not too surprising, for many primitive societies regard the sex act as rendering one unclean.  Abstinence, celibacy, virginity are almost universally regarded as virtues of the saintly.  Why this mattered to Jehovah is a question.

5.  A perimeter is placed around the mountain (again an indication that the so-called mountain is rather small) so that the people do not harm themselves or die by approaching too close to Jehovah.  Why?  Was Jehovah radioactive?  Or was he merely protecting himself from possible mayhem from the rabble?  Jehovah warns Moses that those who approach the ship, will be destroyed by the ship.  A literal translation says, “break out against them.”  This suggests that they would be shot at, perhaps with a firearm or something like a ray gun.  Who knows? Apparently he left orders with associates in the ship (or programmed some robotic device) to kill anyone who came too close to his vehicle -- an understandable precaution.

6.  The description of Jehovah's appearance on the summit of the holy mountain corresponds well with the landing of some kind of aerial vehicle, a rocket-propelled ship which would emit flames and smoke, make a thunderous sound (that the ancients could only describe as coming from a trumpet), and shake the vicinity.  The conventional interruption is that the writers are referring to a volcanic eruption.  This is absurd.  Would Moses ascent a mountain in the midst of an eruption?  Would Jehovah summon his followers to a volcano and endanger their lives?  Would he inhabit an active volcano?  Flames and smoke and quaking would be characteristic of volcanic activity, but there would also be a fall of ash, a spewing of volcanic rock and dust, and perhaps a flow of lava.  None of these are described.  Besides, a mountain small enough for an 80 year-old man to run up and down several times a day would probably not be large enough to be a volcano.

7.  The fact that Jehovah apparently travels about in an airship that is jet or rocket powered does not particularly suggest an extraterrestrial origin.  (In accordance with the many thousands of sightings both in modern and early times, most extraterrestrial visitors seem to favor craft that exhibit anti-gravity technology; their craft therefore, make little noise and do not emit smoke and fire.  However, there have been exceptions and burnt areas where landings have occurred are not at all uncommon.)   While the original Jehovah of Eden was almost surely an extraterrestrial human, there is no certainty that the Jehovah of Moses, or even of Abraham, who may or may not be a different chap, is otherworldly.  It is just as likely he could have been a member of some advanced earth race (Atlantis, perhaps) or a survivor of some lost hi-tech earth civilization.  Another possibility is that Jehovah and his ilk may have been extraterrestrial settlers on earth who had access to only fairly primitive technology, that is, rockets, instead of anti-gravity ships.  (Judging from his conduct and character, it is not impossible that Jehovah was an alien criminal exiled to earth.)