Alright,
so we finally have the Israelites to the sides of Mount Sinai, the site at
which God appears to deliver the Ten Commandments. But as usual there’s more to
the story than most people remember and/or are told. So as usual I’m going to
dwell on the details a bit. Here we go!
The
Israelites arrive at Sinai about three months after leaving Egypt. While the
people camped there, Moses went up the mountain to talk to God. And God’s
message is to tell the Israelites that as long as they keep his covenant and
obey his commandments, they will be his “treasured possession among all
peoples,” and a holy nation. So Moses tells the people this, and they agree to
go along with the deal. Moses relays their consent to God, who then tells him
that in three days he will come down as a thick cloud so that the people can
hear him speak to Moses and thus believe Moses (I guess it was somehow unclear
so far whether Moses was actually speaking for God or not).
God then
instructs Moses to tell the people to consecrate themselves and wash their
clothes to be ready for his appearance on the third day. And also that Moses
should set limits around the mountain and that anyone who tries to cross them
and climb the mountain should be shot or stoned to death. So Moses goes back
down the mountain to relay the message, and tosses in “Do not go near a woman.”
I guess women deconsecrate men or something, and you don’t want to come near
God with woman on you. God hates cooties.
“Ex 19:16 On the morning of the third
day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a
very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then
Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand
at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because
Yahweh had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a
kiln, and the show mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the
trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.”
Now…
does this sound to anyone else like a bunch of primitives mucking around at the
base of a volcano and thinking it’s a god? Note that in this passage God does
not respond in words, but in thunder. Which is a perfectly natural occurrence.
Then Moses goes up the mountain where suddenly God is talking to him in words
again (where no one else can hear).
In these
words, God tells Moses to go back down and warn the people once again not to
try and break through the perimeter they set up, and that any priests who are
to come near should consecrate themselves. Moses seems a bit confused about
this mention of priests coming up, and he reminds God that he had forbidden
anyone to come up on the mountain. So God is like “Oh yeah… umm… I mean go
bring Aaron back. The priests have to stay back there with the people like I
said before.” This passage makes God sound like kind of a dim bulb. Or
something made up by a fallible author. Take your pick.
But now…
we’re finally there: The Ten Commandments!
“Ex 20:1 And God spoke all these
words, saying
2 ‘I am Yahweh your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall
have no other gods before me.
4
‘You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of
anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that
is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve
them, for I, Yahweh your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but
showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my
commandments.
7 ’You shall not take the name of
Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his
name in vain.
8 ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the
seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. On it you shall not do any work,
you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant,
or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six
days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested
on the seventh day. Therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 ‘Honor your father and your
mother, that your days may be long in the land that Yahweh your god is giving
you.
13 ‘You shall not murder.
14 ’You shall not commit
adultery.
15 ‘You shall not steal.
16 ‘You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.
17 ‘You shall not covet your
neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male
servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is
your neighbor’s.”
Now, for
those of you who think American law is based on the Ten Commandments, take note
of a few things here. The First Commandment is directly contradicted by the
First Amendment to the Constitution. The second, third, fourth, and fifth have
no representation in law. The sixth, eighth, and ninth do appear in American law…
as well as in the laws of pretty much every society ever formed on the earth
whether they had ever heard of Yahweh or not. The seventh shows up merely as
grounds for divorce (and is also very common in non-Abrahamic law systems as
well). And the tenth is a thought crime held to be completely unenforceable and
therefore not written into American law, and violating it is pretty much the
driving force behind our entire economic system. Coveting shit is pretty much
what capitalism is all about.
Basically,
there is absolutely nothing that is both unique to the Ten Commandments and
part of American law. Because our founding fathers had better sense than that.
Now it’s
a little unclear whether these words were actually spoken in the presence of
the people of Israel. Although the delivery of the commandments is immediately
followed by a bit about how the people saw thunder and lightning and the
mountain smoking, and heard trumpet blasts, and got scared and moved far away.
There’s nothing about them hearing God’s words. Though there’s a request from
the people for Moses not to let God speak directly to them because they’d die,
but rather for Moses to speak and they would listen to him. So I’m inclined to
think that nobody but Moses heard actual words. The whole thing reads very much
like some huckster taking advantage of the magnificent backdrop of an erupting
volcano to con a bunch of hungry, desperate primitives into thinking he speaks
for God.
Anyhow,
that’s far enough for today. Not sure exactly how I’m going to handle the next
section, which is a pretty tedious recital of laws and remarkably specific
instructions for precisely how God wants to be worshipped. I’ll probably try to
hit the highlights without going into too much eye-glazing detail.
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