Chapter 14
Exodus 21-24
The story of what happened on Mount Sinai quite captured Arthur’s imagination, for Mother vividly described how the mountain burned with fire and smoke like a great furnace; then there were thunderings and lightnings, and a great earthquake that shook the mount. “And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.”
“Mother,” asked her little boy, “why did God speak to Moses in a dark cloud?”
“Because, dear, He knew that sin was there and that if the people had come near He must have destroyed them, because God is holy, and He cannot allow sin to come into His presence. So God hid Himself in darkness and told the people not to come near the Mount.
“Beside the ten main commandments which God gave Moses, He gave them many other laws which would affect the smaller things in their lives. There were laws which showed His tender care for His people. Some of the laws pertained to their servants and to their animals. God said they should be kind to widows and to the little children who had lost their fathers and mothers, and to strangers, because they themselves had once been strangers in Egypt. They were not to mingle with wicked people and were to show kindness even to their enemies for they were to be a holy people to the Lord.
“And God said, ‘Six years thou shalt sow thy land and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat.’
“That was like a sabbath and it was called the Sabbatical year, or a year of rest. And the Lord said the people should keep three feasts to Him every year: the first was the passover (you know of it), the second was the feast of harvest. This was the time to offer the first sheaf of corn to the Lord; the third was the feast of ingathering — when all the corn and fruits had been gathered in from the fields.”
“I suppose that was to thank God for giving them the nice corn and fruit,” suggested Sophy.
“Yes, Sophy, and to show that they received everything from God, and that they delighted to offer to Him the best of all they had. All the men and boys were to appear before the Lord three times every year. And the Lord gave many instructions and promises if they would obey and serve Him. The Lord said, ‘Behold I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not: for he will not pardon your transgressions: for My name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak: then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For Mine Angel shall go before thee.’”
“Did God say all those things to Moses in the thick darkness?” asked Arthur.
“Yes. And when He had finished He told Moses to come up to the Lord. Aaron and his two sons and seventy of the elders of Israel should come and worship afar off. Moses alone could come near. But the people should not come at all.
“Then Moses came and told the people what the Lord had said and they answered, All that the Lord hath said we will do. And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord in a book. And he got up early in the morning and built an altar and set up twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
“That was because Jacob had twelve sons, and the family of each son was called a tribe. And the young men offered offerings on the altar; and Moses took some of the blood of the animals and put it in basins, and the rest he sprinkled on the altar; then he took the book of the covenant, when he had written the words of the Lord and read it to the people. And they said again, All that the Lord hath said, we will do. Then Moses took the blood that was in the basin 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.’
“This pointed forward to our sacrifice, the Lord Jesus; for we as believers are washed in His blood.
“When Moses had done all this, he went up as the Lord told him with Aaron and his two sons, and seventy of the elders of Israel.
“And God spoke to Moses again saying, ‘I will give thee tablets of stone and a law and commandments which I have written that thou mayest teach them.’”
“What did God mean by tablets of stone,” asked Arthur.
“He meant flat pieces of stone on which He wrote the Ten Commandments. So Moses took Joshua and went up to God and he told the elders to wait until they came back. He told them that if they had any troubles Aaron and Hur would help them. And as Moses went up a cloud covered the mount and the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered the mount for six days. On the seventh day God called to Moses out of the cloud; and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire on the top of the mount in the sight of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud and he was in the mount forty days and forty nights.”
“Mother,” inquired Sophy, “what happened to Aaron? Did he wait for Moses?”
“No, Sophy,” replied Mother. “We find that Aaron returned to the camp.” And with that Mother closed her Bible for the night./