Exodus 24:1-18

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24:1 VE EL MOSHEH AMAR ALEH EL YHVH ATAH VE AHARON NADAV VE AVI-HU VE SHIV'IM MI ZIKNEY YISRA-EL VE HISHTACHAVIYTEM ME RACHOK

וְאֶל מֹשֶׁה אָמַר עֲלֵה אֶל יְהוָה אַתָּה וְאַהֲרֹן נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא וְשִׁבְעִים מִזִּקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתֶם מֵרָחֹק

KJ: And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.

BN: And to Mosheh he said: "Come up to YHVH, you, and Aharon, Nadav, and Avi-Hu, and seventy of the elders of Yisra-El; and prostrate yourselves at a distance...


Separating out the versions again, specifically separating the volcano from the covenant renewal ceremony, we have to imagine that, somewhere on this holy mountain (see my notes to Exodus 19:18-20), like the Greek Athos, a sacred shrine was situated, with its attendant priests or priestesses, oracles, etc., and quite probably a lodging-place for pilgrims, and even a library for hieroglyphic tablets and early papyrus documents The voice of the god would come from the shrine, in "human" form, through the mouth of a masked priest or priestess, or possibly through a skull or serpent emblemising the deity. It may even be that, when the Hyksos conquered, copies of the ancient Mitsri (Egyptian) laws were put in safe-hiding in this shrine-temple, and that the book of laws we have just read was precisely that document: or at least, the original would have been, what we are reading being a later Yisra-Eli re-draft.

ALEH: The first occasion when this word will appear within the context of prayer; the same root that gives ALIYAH (עֲלִיָּה), which today is the act of migration to Israel, but before that, and still today, was the act of going up to the Temple on pilgrimage, of going up the ramp to offer sacrifice, of going up to the Bimah in synagogue to read from the Torah Scrolls.

Who goes up the mountain? Mosheh, Aharon, Nadav, Avi-Hu and 70 elders. Note that number 70 again. Are these the same as the SARIM appointed as judges in Exodus 18; and if not, is there not a confusion of roles?

NADAV... AVI-HU: We learn very little about them, except their being two of Aharon's four sons (the others are El-Azar and Itamar), and their appointment as Kohanim, until their unfortunate deaths, recorded in Leviticus 10.

HISHTACHAVITEM: Translated as worship, which misses a key element; the word properly means "prostrated themselves", which is the normal Moslem method of worship (Salat). For most of Biblical history it was the Yisra-Eli method as well (Leviticus 26:1, Psalm 96:9, 138:2 and hundreds of other references), but was gradually removed from practice (cf Rama, Orach Chayim 131:8 and Mishnah Berurah 40 which extend the law in Leviticus 26:1 that prohibits prostration on hewn stone; no reason to extend a law if the practice has ceased altogether, so we can assume it was still active at that time), though not from the words of the prayers (see for example the prayer Mah Tovu). Today Jews only prostrate themselves on one occasion in the year, during the final recitation of Aleynu on Yom Kippur, and even then only in Conservative and Orthodox synagogues, and even then with the knees still bent rather than fully flat on the floor. If you are interested in this subject, the best resource is Maimonides in Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Tefila 5:13-14, though there is a useful short chapter in my own "Day of Atonement".

24:2 VE NIGASH MOSHEH LEVADO EL YHVH VE HEM LO YIGASHU VE HA AM LO YA'ALEH IMO

וְנִגַּשׁ מֹשֶׁה לְבַדּוֹ אֶל יְהוָה וְהֵם לֹא יִגָּשׁוּ וְהָעָם לֹא יַעֲלוּ עִמּוֹ

KJ: And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

BN: "And Mosheh alone shall come near to YHVH; but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him."

There is of course a logic to not having everybody see the god face to face - mysteries are better when kept this way, and Mosheh as priestly initiate would know it was a "human" mask. On the other hand, once the Temple was built in Yeru-Shala'im, a similar ruling was in place, that only the High Priest was allowed to step beyond the PAROCHET, the curtain that separated the main courtyard from the DEVIR, the Holy of Holies, and even he could only go there one day in the year, on Yom Kippur; which leads me to wonder why it was Mosheh and not Aharon who went on this occasion.

24:3 VA YAVO MOSHEH VA YESAPER LA AM ET KOL DIVREY YHVH VE ET KOL HA MISHPATIM VA YA'AN KOL HA AM KOL ECHAD VA YOMRU KOL HA DEVARIM ASHER DIBER YHVH NA'ASEH

וַיָּבֹא מֹשֶׁה וַיְסַפֵּר לָעָם אֵת כָּל דִּבְרֵי יְהוָה וְאֵת כָּל הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים וַיַּעַן כָּל הָעָם קוֹל אֶחָד וַיֹּאמְרוּ כָּל הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה נַעֲשֶׂה

KJ: And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.

BN: And Mosheh came and told the people all the words of YHVH, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said: "All the words which YHVH has spoken we will do."

Throughout the early chapters of Exodus, this commentary insisted that (in one of the several versions anyway) the real purpose of the journey to Sinai was a covenant renewal ceremony, to re-establish the laws, customs, forms of worship et cetera that had been in place before the Hyksos invasion and conquest of Mitsrayim; we witnessed the military defeat of the Hyksos through the tale of the miracle of Yam Suph and the ensuing battle with the Amelekites; now, precisely here, we are witnessing that covenant renewal ceremony, with Mosheh (Ach-Mousa in the Egyptian original) and the religious leadership going to the shrine, the people gathering behind them, the words of the covenant being read out (presumably the chapters we have just read, from the Ten Commandments to the end of 23, were part of that), and a grand "amen" completing the acceptance procedure. Worth comparing the account of Ezra's reading of the Torah in Nehemiah 8 - verse 6 especially. Note that they say Amen twice, with their hands raised above their heads, probably to make the Sheen (ש) that is also made with the Yevarechacha and in the mikveh, and that they then prostrated themselves fully on the ground.

24:4 VA YICHTOV MOSHEH ET KOL DIVREY YHVH VA YASHKEM BA BOKER VA YIVEN MIZBE'ACH TACHAT HA HAR U SHETEYM ESREH MATSEVAH LI SHENEYM ASSAR SHIVTEY YISRA-EL

וַיִּכְתֹּב מֹשֶׁה אֵת כָּל דִּבְרֵי יְהוָה וַיַּשְׁכֵּם בַּבֹּקֶר וַיִּבֶן מִזְבֵּחַ תַּחַת הָהָר וּשְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה מַצֵּבָה לִשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

KJ: And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

BN:And Mosheh wrote down all the words of YHVH, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Yisra-El.

YICHTOV: This "writing" is a problem. That he produced a written text is implausible, though it is entirely plausible that, as an Egyptian prince, even more as a trained priest, he would have been taught the hieroglyphs. But hieroglyphs are the most that he could have done (alphabetic writing would not be invented for at least another two hundred years, even in its simplest form, and the Yehudit alphabet in which the Torah is written was a late development of Ugaritic Phoenician, not of Mitsri), and that would have taken time: the Ten Commandments fit quite easily on two tablets of stone, but the number of MISHPATIM given in the previous chapter would have required innumerable stones and many weeks of carving. This endorses the view that the tablets already existed, and not just the two of the Ten Commandments; I would suggest, further to my comment on verse 1 above, that they not only existed, but had been kept precisely, safely, here through the period of Hyksos rule.

MATSEVAH: this too is problematic; as pointed out, there have been no references to the twelve tribes at any time in the book of Exodus, nor any hint of them in the political structures (elders, priests or SARIM). Yet here they are now. That Mosheh built an altar is not a problem. That he laid down twelve stones or set up twelve pillars may be an attribution of an already existent megalithic shrine, as in Ya'akov's "building" of the Gil-Gal at Luz. If so, then the fact of twelve stones allows a logical attribution to the tribes by the later rabbis. In fact they would have been to the zodiacal constellations and their respective deities, the twelve principal gods of the pantheon - all of whom we witnessed when we exegised the Ten Plagues and realised they were actually twelve.  also wonder if he built a new altar, or simply restoredone that was already there, perhaps in ruins or dilapidated.

But this then leads on to a secondary issue. Which god was he worshipping, and in what form, at this already existent shrine? The text of course gives YHVH, but the text belongs to a much later period, somewhere between the 6th and probably the 3rd centuries BCE. From everything we have heard to date, we have to assume it was the Egyptian Trinity, Eshet (Isis), Osher (Osiris) and Hor (Horus), and for such a significant ceremony their father, Ra, and his Tanist brother Geb, would have been the centrepiece, accompanied by the lesser deities through their human counterparts, Mosheh (Osher), Aharon (Hor) and Eshet (Mir-Yam). In which case, there is one object missing from the shrine: we have the altar and the pillars, but where is the representation of the reborn deity, Hor the son of Osher, risen to be the new sun-god? Aharon will build it very shortly: a Golden Calf.

24:5 VA YISHLACH ET NA'AREY BENEY YISRA'EL VA YA'ALU OLOT VA YIZBECHU ZEVACHIM SHELAMIM LA YHVH PARIM

וַיִּשְׁלַח אֶת נַעֲרֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּעֲלוּ עֹלֹת וַיִּזְבְּחוּ זְבָחִים שְׁלָמִים לַיהוָה פָּרִים

KJ: And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.

BN: And he sent young men of the Beney Yisra-El, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen to YHVH.

We are now at the culmination of the entire pilgrimage; from Passover until this moment, when Mosheh and co climb up to the top of the mountain and confirm the covenant. Before they go up, a ceremony of sacrifices is needed, for which we need to explain what precisely these sacrifices were, but cannot, because the only details are the Mosaic practices, which have not yet been given. But we already have the Ten Commandments, and Mosheh has already been up the mountain several times, alone and with others, and we have already developed the first Mitzvot beyond the Ten, and Mosheh has already "written them down" himself; so we have to ask if the attempt to amalgamate various versions into one has not led to some mis-ordering of events, as well as repetitions, and therefore confusions. The absurdity is, that the tale of him smashing the tablets, and the tablets themselves, has become axial to Judaism; yet Mosheh already has a spare set, written by his own hand, two verses ago!

NA'AREY: Why young men? And how old is young? Were these parts of a 13-year-old initiation ceremony, a Mitsri equivalent of Bar Mitzvah? Any connection with the "infantry" (צָעִירה) of the last chapter (23:28)?

PARIM: The sacrifice of bulls is an ancient custom, and young men fighting/chasing may have been a part of the ceremony. The twelve stones would have made an interesting amphitheatre for such an event. The fact that they, not Mosheh, made the offerings, likewise suggests a games is in progress. And note that they are worshipping the deity here in the form of a bull. Or, actually, not. PARIM is translated as oxen, but this is deceptive; PARIM are quite specifically young bullocks, and the sacrifice of a young bullock is latent with significance. For one thing it links to the name PHARAOH. Psalm 69:32 quite specifically distinguishes SHOR (שּׁוֹר) = OX from PAR (פָּר) = BULLOCK as does Isaiah 34:7. This is the young bull-god, Geb, in his spring-to-early-summer phase, Moloch in Kena'an, Herakles Melkarth among the Pelishtim, soon to achieve his birth as Hor at the summer solstice. The golden calf!

24:6 VA YIKACH MOSHEH CHATSI HA DAM VA YASEM BA AGANOT VA CHATSI HA DAM ZARAK AL HA MIZBE'ACH

וַיִּקַּח מֹשֶׁה חֲצִי הַדָּם וַיָּשֶׂם בָּאַגָּנֹת וַחֲצִי הַדָּם זָרַק עַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ

KJ: And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

BN: And Mosheh took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.

Blood-practices! among the Beney Yisra-El! Surely not? But go to "Day of Atonement" for the Temple service and you will see how close this was to normal Temple practice. Or for an even fuller account, click here.

Why is it sometimes MIZBACH and sometimes MIZBE'ACH? I have asked this before, and still no answer.

24:7 VA YIKACH SEPHER HA BERIT VA YIKRA BE AZNEY HA AM VA YOMRU KOL ASHER DIBER YHVH NA'ASEH VE NISHMA

וַיִּקַּח סֵפֶר הַבְּרִית וַיִּקְרָא בְּאָזְנֵי הָעָם וַיֹּאמְרוּ כֹּל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע

KJ: And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.

BN: And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said: "All that YHVH has spoken we will do, and we will hear."

KOL ASHER DIBER YHVH NA'ASEH VE NISHMA: As per verse 3, but with the addition of the last phrase.

The text once again endorses the commentary that [this version of...] the journey to Sinai was primarily for the purposes of covenant renewal - that, not Passover, which as we have seen was already celebrated before they left Mitsrayim; and not emigration to Kenaa'an either. And indeed, the text that has presumably been stored here, and which Mosheh has now brought out and re-copied (or has that been one of the tasks of the priests of the shrine, to carve new hieroglyphic versions, ready for the day of liberation and renewal?), is even named SEPHER HA BRIT - "The Book of the Covenant "(though we need to read "Book of the Covenant", or even "Parchment Scroll of the Covenant" with some scepticism; it rings as untrue as suggesting that Julius Caesar wrote his Gallic Wars on a lap-top. "Tablets of the Covenant" possibly.)

24:8 VA YIKACH MOSHEH ET HA DAM VA YIZROK AL HA AM VA YOMER HINEH DAM HA BERIT ASHER KARAT YHVH IMACHEM AL KOL HA DEVARIM HA ELEH

וַיִּקַּח מֹשֶׁה אֶת הַדָּם וַיִּזְרֹק עַל הָעָם וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה דַם הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר כָּרַת יְהוָה עִמָּכֶם עַל כָּל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה

KJ: And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

BN: And Mosheh took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said: "Behold the blood of the covenant, which YHVH has agreed with you, through all these words."

Another of the many practices glossed over by the commentators - a blood-ceremony of this kind is most "pagan". Probably the most important moment in the entire story, and yet passed over by the commentators for three thousand years. The pilgrimage began with a ceremony of sacrifice (Exodus 12:21-23), and the blood - which is the source of life and sacred to YHVH - was sprinkled on the lintels and doorposts of the houses, to denote who was a pilgrim and who was not. Now the pilgrims have completed their journey and arrived at the moment of covenant confirmation, and again there is a ceremony of sacrifice, and this time a blood-ceremony in which they themselves are sprinkled.

Later, and still today in many religions, the sprinkling of blood was replaced by the sprinkling of "holy water".

But now go back to Exodus 4:5, where Tsiporah undertakes the circumcision of her 8-day old son Gershom, and afterwards describes Mosheh as "a bridegroom of blood" (CHATAN DAMIM). We were uncertain then whether that was a positive or negative statement, and assumed, because of our present-day detestation of the spilling of blood in any context, that it must have been negative. I also asked, at verse 5 "why 'young men'" for this ceremony, and wondered if some sort of initiation rite was taking place. Circumcision at day 8, initiation at 13, and the showing of the wedding-sheet after the first night, to confirm the virginity of the bride before the marriage. Blood rites at every key stage - and their removal in Kashrut. Blood is the ultimate source of life; therefore blood = YHVH.

24:9 VA YA'AL MOSHEH VE AHARON NADAV VA AVI'HU VE SHIV'IM MI ZIKNEY YISRA-EL

וַיַּעַל מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא וְשִׁבְעִים מִזִּקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

KJ: Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

BN: Then Mosheh, and Aharon, Nadav, and Avi-Hu, and seventy of the elders of Yisra-El went up.

The instruction to "go up" was given in verse 1, but in fact they do not actually go up until now; the intervening verses have been preparatory religious ceremony, culminating with this ALIYAH.

What does "went up" actually mean, physically? If the mountain was still in volcanic eruption (version a), we cannot imagine them climbing it at all. If they are at the shrine (version b), is there a summit to the shrine itself, as opposed to the summit of the mountain - the belfry in a church, the observation tower for the watchers of the movements of the stars and planets? Or is there a raised platform within the shrine, as there would be later in the Temple, where the concept of ALIYAH or "going up" simply meant climbing a ramp onto the altar? Mosheh apparently just built an altar (verse 4 above), after all - so would he not logically have built one with a ramp, given what he was instructed in Exodus 20:22? Why do we assume that he even needed to go to the summit of the mountain to approach his god?

24:10 VA YIRU ET ELOHEY YISRA-EL VE TACHAT RAGLAV KE MA'ASEH LIVNAT HA SAPIR U CHE ETSEM HA SHAMAYIM LA TOHAR

וַיִּרְאוּ אֵת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְתַחַת רַגְלָיו כְּמַעֲשֵׂה לִבְנַת הַסַּפִּיר וּכְעֶצֶם הַשָּׁמַיִם לָטֹהַר

KJ: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.

BN: And they saw the gods of Yisra-El. And under the feet of the altar there was something like a pavement, made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.

You rejected my last comments as fanciful and silly, simply a way of trying to "disprove" the traditional reading; and yet, in the very next verse, ad even more so in the next one, here is the text confirming that I was correct. They have gone up to the altar, not the summit of the mountain. If you are a believer, you don't need to go to Yeru-Shala'im to encounter the deity - you can find him in your local synagogue, or in your heart, at home (though for atheists like me the nearest summit, especially at sunrise and sunset, may still be the best place to go searching for him).

ELOHEY YISRA-EL: I have translated this as "the gods of Yisra-El", because I always translate Elohim in the plural, but here especially, because the twelve pillars, the Book of the Covenant, the blood-ceremonies, the bull-sacrifices, the Passover celebrations before the pilgrimage, all imply that Mosheh and the Beney Yisra-El were participating in an Egyptian religious cult of a decidedly polytheistic nature; though the later Yehudit text has proto-Judaised it into the form that we now know.

My translation of the second half of this verse is actually that of the New International Version, with a couple of very minor variants. It is by no means certain that SAPIR is lapiz lazuli, but the significance of lapis in mediaeval art could not be ignored in a Christian translation!

Nor can I let this verse pass without referencing Yesha-Yahu (Isaiah) once again, because this is precisely the form in which he describes his vision of YHVH in the sixth chapter of his book, and it takes us once again to the Seraphim, which were noted in the previous chapter (Exodus 23:20):

"In the year that king Uzi-Yahu died I saw my Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the Seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole Earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were moved at the voice of them that called, and the house was filled with smoke." (Isaiah 6:1-4).

As per the following verse, seventy-four of them actually "saw" their god (which was impossible, because YHVH is adamant throughout the Tanach that he does not exist in any physical form that can be seen; but let that go) - and all we get for a description of this unique event in world history is a description of the pavement! What did they really see? Elohey Yisra-El, but not YHVH - the gods, not God. And their eyes recall the pavement! So they must have been looking downwards, to avert their eyes - in respect, or out of fear? Or were they simply looking at a collection of stone idols, sitting like garden gnomes on a sapphire pavement. If only it were otherwise, but sadly this is most likely the truth.

And yet we were told just a few verses ago that only Mosheh ever saw YHVH face to face. And later that he only saw his rear-end. But right now, in the very next verse, all the nobles get to see him, or them. Far too many versions, and far too little proof-reading!


24:11 VE EL ATSIYLEY BENEY YISRA-EL LO SHALACH YADO VA YECHEZU ET HA ELOHIM VA YOCHLU VA YISHTU

וְאֶל אֲצִילֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא שָׁלַח יָדוֹ וַיֶּחֱזוּ אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאכְלוּ וַיִּשְׁתּוּ

KJ: And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

BN: And he did not lay a hand upon the nobles of the Beney Yisra-El ; and they beheld Ha Elohim, and they ate and drank.


ATSIYLEY: nobles. Are these the same as the SHIV'IM MI ZIKNEY YISRA-EL of verse 1?

HA ELOHIM: plural, please note. Plural.

"They beheld Ha Elohim, and they ate and drank": what, with them? Or does it mean that they were still able to do so, even after seeing them? It is made to sound as if they popped up to Heaven to have tea with His Grace, or are we mis-placing the verbs and it should read "and they beheld the gods eating and drinking"? In all probability Mosheh and his chiefs have been invited to a banquet by the shrine-priest, and they have made sacrifices, said their own gratis-prayers, and are now feasting. The gods not laying a hand on them I take as a reference to their going into the cave, which is beyond the bounds set as a safety-barrier against the volcano, and yes it's still erupting, but only tiny explosions here and there, and they made it through unscathed.

samech break

24:12 VA YOMER YHVH EL MOSHEH ALEH ELAI HA HARAH VE HEYEH SHAM VE ETNAH LECHA ET LUCHOT HA EVEN VE HA TORAH VE HA MITSVAH ASHER KATAVTI LEHOROTAM

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה עֲלֵה אֵלַי הָהָרָה וֶהְיֵה שָׁם וְאֶתְּנָה לְךָ אֶת לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶן וְהַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוָה אֲשֶׁר כָּתַבְתִּי לְהוֹרֹתָם

KJ: And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

BN: Then YHVH said to Mosheh: "Come up to me on the mountain and be there with me; and I will give you the tablets of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that you may teach them."

Confirming the comment on verse 9: the ALIYAH was not to the mountain, so it must have been to a high place within the shrine. A distinction is apparently being made between the tablets, the Book of the Covenant, the Torah and the commandments, as if they were not all the same thing; or is that just a matter of linguistic style; or still more versions? MITSVAH (commandment) is here in the singular: does Judaism actually possess a Torah and a Mitzvah, both given by YHVH, and we have never realised it, thinking we only had a Torah? Such is the inference of the Yehudit here.

Or perhaps Mosheh is going up to a higher temple, another cave above this one? If this is anything like Mount Carmel, where Eli-Yahu spent much time, or Adul-Am, where David did, it is highly likely that there were multiple caves, many of them no doubt the consequence of previous volcanic explosions; and each one would have been a shrine of some sort to the volcano-deity.

And yes, this is definitely a variant version of what we have already read; because he is going to see YHVH, where the others only saw HA ELOHIM.

And in this version YHVH is the author; a few verses earlier we were told that Mosheh wrote it. Or did Mosheh only "write it down". Either way, there seems to be both a Book of Law and a Book of the Covenant, and now there are going to be the Tablets of Stone as well, delivered by hand in the mountain shrine.

24:13 VA YAKAM MOSHEH VI YEHOSHU'A MESHARTO VA YA AL MOSHEH EL HAR HA ELOHIM

וַיָּקָם מֹשֶׁה וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ מְשָׁרְתוֹ וַיַּעַל מֹשֶׁה אֶל הַר הָאֱלֹהִים

KJ: And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

BN: And Mosheh rose up, and Yehoshu'a his minister; and Mosheh went up into the mount of Ha Elohim.

YEHOSHU'A: Why is Yehoshu'a going with him, when YHVH specifically invited Mosheh alone? And if Yehoshu'a, why not the others: Aharon, Nadav, Avi-Hu? Was Yehoshu'a one of the seventy elders/nobles? And since when was he Mosheh's "minister"? And in what sense: a minister of religion, or political? The one time we saw him previously (Exodus 17:8 ff) he was leading the army of Yisra-El against Amalek, which makes him military, not priesthood or cabinet: so Minister of Defense, or on that occasion War. Is it, yet again, yet another different version - the Joshuaites would want their hero to have been there, even if he wasn't actually. "Let the records show that..."

... if you follow my commentaries, both here and in The Book of Joshua, on the Ach-Mousa version, you will see that Mosheh and Yehoshu'a are both simply variant names for him, and so, yes, both of them were there.

MESHARTO: Multiple occurrences. Genesis 39:4 and 40:4 find Yoseph "ministering" to Poti-Phera, and then to the butler and baker. Deuteronomy 17:12 uses the word in a religious context, but applied specifically to the Kohanim; likewise Numbers 3:6, 4:9 and 18:2 for the role of the Leviyim (we will see this slightly confused however in Exodus 28, where verse 1 ff creates the verb "to Kohen" for priestly ministration, but then reverts to SHARAT in verse 35). All of which suggests any kind of service role, from the administrative to the clerical, and including butlers and chambermaids. However, 1 Kings 1:15 finds Avi-Shag "ministering" to King David in a rather different manner.

24:14 VE EL HA ZEKENIM AMAR SHEVU LANU VA ZEH AD ASHER NASHUV ALEYCHEM VE HINEH AHARON VE CHUR IMACHEM MI VA'AL DEVARIM YIGASH AL'EHEM

וְאֶל הַזְּקֵנִים אָמַר שְׁבוּ לָנוּ בָזֶה עַד אֲשֶׁר נָשׁוּב אֲלֵיכֶם וְהִנֵּה אַהֲרֹן וְחוּר עִמָּכֶם מִי בַעַל דְּבָרִים יִגַּשׁ אֲלֵהֶם

KJ: And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.

BN: And he said to the elders: "Leave us, and all this, until we come back to you. Look, Aharon and Chur are with you. If anyone has a legal issue, let him bring it to them."


SHEVU: If NASHUV five words on means "return", why does SHEVU here mean "wait"? Answer: because most translators are lazy. Mosheh is not telling them to wait; he is sending them back.

VA ZEH: KJ, like most translators, simply ignores these two tiny words. What they refer to is whatever Mosheh and the nobles were in the middle of doing when the summons came - for all we know, he could have meant the washing-up after the banquet, though given the detailed complexity of the laws given in the last few chapters, and the closing statement here, they were probably in deep colloquium about the detail of clause three, paragraph five, sub-clause 2d.

This is where Mosheh needs Yitro again, because, as with most management consultants hired to guide the incompetents who run things, one visit is never enough. Yitro persuaded Mosheh of the need to delegate, and so he appointed these people. Phase 1. Follow-up visit agenda: institute a training regime for these appointees; define their role; inform the people. As we shall see, Aharon and Chur may well be there, but manage they cannot.

CHUR: see my note to Exodus 17:10 

24:15 VA YA'AL MOSHEH EL HA HAR VA YECHAS HE ANAN ET HA HAR

וַיַּעַל מֹשֶׁה אֶל הָהָר וַיְכַס הֶעָנָן אֶת הָהָר

KJ: And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.

BN: And Mosheh went up onto the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

How convenient, for obscuring mysteries! Or inconvenient, if it was genuinely an erupting volcano. And what about Yehoshu'a all this time? What is he doing?

maphtir

24:16 VA YISHKON KEVOD YHVH AL HAR SINAI VA YECHAS'EHU HE ANAN SHESHET YAMIM VA YIKRA EL MOSHEH BA YOM HA SHEVIY'I MI TOCH HE ANAN

וַיִּשְׁכֹּן כְּבוֹד יְהוָה עַל הַר סִינַי וַיְכַסֵּהוּ הֶעָנָן שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים וַיִּקְרָא אֶל מֹשֶׁה בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִתּוֹךְ הֶעָנָן

KJ: And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

BN: And the glory of YHVH rested on mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day he called to Mosheh out of the midst of the cloud.

KEVOD YHVH: What a beautiful way of describing the lava-cloud!

SHESHET YAMIM; being the god of the 7th day he only appears then; the identification with Saturn, Jupiter etc has already been explained.

I have never walked underneath an erupting volcano, but I have walked underneath one of the world's great waterfalls, Niagara, and it looks from the outside as though you are going to get soaked through, or simply swept away; but the truth is, there are rocky ledges that cut into the rock, and so you stand beneath the falling water, on its inside, and yes there may be some occasional splash, but you actually don't need waterproofs.

But all of these comments are based on a physical, a literal volcanic eruption, which this may well have been, but probably isn't at this point of this telling. Here it is purely mythological - how do we know? Because of the seven-day time-frame. The volcano is now the Big Bang, the Shevirat ha Kelim in Rabbi Luria's much earlier phrase, and what is being described is the Creation of the world itself - completing thereby the Passover version of this tale, at its correct place, not simply 50 days after the Spring equinox, but at the very point of the Summer Solstice. YHVH here, Hor in the Egyptian original. So, at the foot of the mountain, knowing that this is what is happening, Aharon should be gathering up all the jewellery that was collected from the Egyptians for precisely this purpose, and making out of it Hor's ikon, a Golden Calf.

24:17 U MAREH KEVOD YHVH KE ESH OCHELET BE ROSH HA HAR LE EYNEY BENEY YISRA-EL

וּמַרְאֵה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה כְּאֵשׁ אֹכֶלֶת בְּרֹאשׁ הָהָר לְעֵינֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

KJ: And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.

BN: And the appearance of the glory of YHVH was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the Beney Yisra-El.

Have I still not managed to convince you that this is a description of an erupting volcano? The question lingers however: did the man Mosheh really go up into the mountain, and face the eruption like George his fiery dragon; or are Mosheh and Yehoshu'a in fact Osher (Osiris) and Horus, father and son, the gods of that mountain, depicted there in carved statues, or simply imagined there in liturgy; and this a revision of the story to make it Mosheh the man?

24:18 VA YAVO MOSHEH BETOCH HE ANAN VA YA'AL EL HA HAR VA YEHI MOSHEH BA HAR ARBA'IM YOM VE ARBA'IM LAILAH

וַיָּבֹא מֹשֶׁה בְּתוֹךְ הֶעָנָן וַיַּעַל אֶל הָהָר וַיְהִי מֹשֶׁה בָּהָר אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְאַרְבָּעִים לָיְלָה

KJ: And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

BN: And Mosheh entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mountain; and Mosheh was in the mountain forty days and forty nights.

ARBA'IM: this number is fascinating: a period of fasting, of contemplation, of ritual separation, whenever it appears in the Tanach, is always forty days. It is there in No'ach's watery voyage of purification (evil earth purged, good new human order emerges from the Ark). It is there in Jesus, overcoming the Devil and all temptation, in Matthew 4, which would become the Christian version of the forty-year purgation journey in the Mosaic wilderness, the Lenten period. It is there in Eli-Yahu (Elijah), who is another version of the Risen Lord, who spends forty days and nights in the wilderness in 1 Kings 19; and Eli-Yahu is specifically connected with Giv'ah (Gibeah) which plays a prominent role throughout this tale because of its source, Egyptian Geb, and even more specifically connected with this very cave, which he will come to at the end of that forty-day wander in 1 Kings 19:8/9.

Forty will be the number of years in the wilderness. Muhammad's wanderings in the desert before the first revelation are equivalent as well. It describes a period of abstinence, silence, fasting, a hermetic or monastic period, of contemplation, of ritual separation really, often but not always associated with the vow of the Nazir (Numbers 6:21, but see also Acts 18:18 for St Paul's equivalent), invariably a period of preparation for a major event. Forty is also regarded by the Cabbalists as the age of readiness to study its esoterica - the years before then regarded as a wandering in the wilderness of immaturity. Why forty? We have asked a similar question previously, when the phrase BEYN HA ARAVIM occurred at Exodus 12:6.

We need to ask what Mosheh is really doing up there, whether in some cave near the crater of the volcano, or at the feet of the oracle in its shrine. Preparation obviously, but for what? Not the giving of the law, because, as we have seen, that has already been given. The Sacred Kingship then, like Ya'akov, when he too saw the face of the deity, at Penu-El? We shall see. Or is this really Osher, the god, being taken up into the heavens to sit at the right hand of his father, mythological once again, not literal-physical at all?

We also need to keep on asking where Yehoshu'a is through all this, because he has gone some of the way up the mountain with Mosheh (verse 13), but does not appear to have accompanied Mosheh into the cloud (verse 18). Forty-seven days and nights in total on the mountain, and no role described for him; we have to assume that in the original tale he wasn't there at all but, as in my comment on verse 13 above, the history books needed to include him, so he is included.

end of Sedra Mishpatim

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