YAHWEH's COVENANT ON SINAI

Keeping The Commandments Of YAHWEH

The Mosaic Law: the civil code; complete equality before the Law

In many of its articles the code given on Sinai seems to repeat, arrange and when necessary correct the old fundamental law of the ancient East, several versions of which are nowadays known. Nevertheless, we must be careful not to assimilate the Mosaic Law too closely to certain collections of Mesopotamian laws, whether earlier or later than the Exodus.

At the outset it seems that the heart of the lawgiver is moved a little by certain of the requirements of this Law which were necessary for the establishment of social life, of course, but on occasion were unrelenting. That is why the Mosaic Law makes an appeal for mercy when it is a question of the widow, the orphan, the slave and even the foreigner.

There is another far more original feature which governs and indeed is the crowning achievement of the Law of Yisrael; for the private individual it is no longer a matter of merely refraining from killing, from stealing or committing adultery. It is far more important still to keep the commandments of the Law with fervour in an endeavour to come closer to the purity of YAHWEH. ‘You will be SET APART for ME,’ YAHWEH declared. In the history of Law this appears as an entirely new standpoint.

To complete the moral aspect of this legislation, it should be added that henceforward the Yisraelites were ruled by a constitution which was eminently democratic; there was complete equality before the Law.

The tablets of the Law; legal principles (Shemoth 31:18)

So it was that in the cloud Mosheh was informed of the legal principles which were intended to serve as the foundation of the civilization of the Chosen People. Before going down to the plain where the tents were standing Mosheh received the two tablets of stone. In the East it was customary to inscribe legal texts either on blocks of stone (the Hammurabi code, for example) or on a stele (the decrees of Horemheb).

Tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of YAHWEH. The expression is of Egyptian origin; Mosheh the scribe must have remembered it. These terms were used in the valley of the Nile to signify that the set apart text in question was an authentic expression of YAHWEH's will.

These tablets were inscribed on both faces.

Was the YAHWEH of Mosheh the ABBA of Abraham?

Before going further it seems necessary to raise this question in order to see the progress made in Yisrael’s spiritual evolution. More than five centuries separated Abraham and Mosheh and yet at both the spiritual and historical levels how near they seem to each other! The facts speak for themselves.

The Promise

 At the Oak of Moreh, at Shechem, YAHWEH told the shepherd Abraham that as a reward for his faith his descendants would one day possess as their own the land of Canaan. Six hundred years afterwards, on Sinai, YAHWEH ordered Mosheh to snatch the sons of Yacob from Egyptian slavery and lead them to the borders of the Promised Land. We have here an historical sequence of events, a progression.

The Covenant

 At the Oak of Mamre, near Hebron, YAHWEH concluded a Covenant with Abraham in accordance with an archaic ritual (an ox divided down the middle and the two contracting parties walking between the two portions) in which the clauses remained rather vague. Six hundred years afterwards, on Sinai, YAHWEH concluded a new Covenant, but this time the conditions are carefully laid down (Devarim, various codes). Once again there is an historical sequence of events, a progression.

Monotheism

 In the pastoral surroundings of Haran, in the Upper Euphrates, Abraham move on as YAHWEH’ revealed HIMSELF. Six hundred years later Mosheh appeared to have been in the same position. YAHWEH still remained a Sovereign Ruler of the Yisraelites (the ABBA of the Yisraelites); Nevertheless, certain expressions used by the writer of Shemoth enable us to discern here and there, certain new and somewhat timid theological glimmerings. YAHWEH declares loftily that the Egyptian idols are nothing. In addition, the ten plagues are intended to prove to Pharaoh, and by the same token to the Yisraelites, that the YAHWEH of the Yisraelites is more powerful than the tutelary deities of the Egyptians. Moreover, YAHWEH of Mosheh was revealed from time to time as the absolute MASTER of the earth. Nonetheless, HE remained still, and exclusively, the ABBA of Yisrael. Since the time of Abraham there had indeed been progress but hardly a theological revolution. In fact the principal step forward was not taken until the eighth -six centuries with the great prophets, the real founders of monotheism.

Morality

 From Abraham to Mosheh on this point the evolution was amazing. From the conscience of Abraham, a friend of YAHWEH, to the dazzling laws of the TORAH, the progress achieved by humanity was immense.

From Abraham to Mosheh, from Paddan-aram to the mountain of Horeb, it was always the same YAHWEH WHO spoke untiringly to HIS chosen ones.

The modern reader of the Scriptures may well wonder under what form YAHWEH manifested HIMSELF to Mosheh. At the Burning Bush we know that he heard merely a voice. But what happened on Sinai during those numerous conversations which sometimes lasted, according to the account, for forty days on end?

YAHWEH, Shemoth tells us, would speak with Mosheh face to face, as a man speaks with his friend (33:11). In Bemidbar it is said that YAHWEH spoke to Mosheh mouth to mouth and in Devarim we find, Mosheh, the man YAHWEH knew face to face (Devarim 34:10). In another chapter it is stated quite explicitly that Mosheh, then on Sinai, asked YAHWEH for the signal favour of seeing HIS honour: ‘Show me YOUR honour, I beg YOU’ (Shemoth 33:18). ‘You cannot see MY face,’ replied YAHWEH at once, ‘for man cannot see ME and live. ‘That was quite clear. Theologians indeed consider that it is very exceptional for YAHWEH to appear to HIS creatures and that great prudence is required in dealing with this subject.

Thus we shall remain within the confines of strict orthodoxy if we regard these conversations ‘face to face’ as experiences of an entirely interior nature and of transcendental origin without, for all that, exaggerating them unduly.

Breaking of the Covenant (the Golden Calf); without mercy kill the guilty ones

It was weeks since Mosheh had gone up the mountain and his lengthy absence was beginning to worry the people. A few ringleaders and some discontents approached Aaron and persuaded him to make them a god ‘to go at their head’. These still primitive populations found it very difficult to imagine YAHWEH and wanted HIM to be represented by something, a bull for example, to which their homage could be more easily paid.

Aaron, Mosheh’ brother who was later to become high kohen of Yisrael, was often weak and vacillating; on this occasion he offered no opposition to this spiritual revolution. Without more ado he ordered the gold rings worn by the women, girls and youths to be collected. The gold was melted down and the effigy of a calf was cast and placed upon an altar.

Historians have often explained the unfortunate setting up of the golden calf as a borrowing from the Egyptian worship of the bull Apis, but modern orientalists are more inclined to see in this animal representation the resurgence of an ancient Semitic and also Mesopotamian belief.

In the Scriptural text, however, the fundamental characteristics of this worship are by no means clearly described; the several traditions are so mixed up together that it is impossible to distinguish them clearly, and many scholars believe that the difficulties of interpretation are too great to be capable of solution. Sometimes the golden calf is represented as a low-class idol (Shemoth 32:30), sometimes as YAHWEH’s rival (Shemoth 32:25) and even, somewhat bafflingly, as a form of YAHWEH (Shemoth 32:5), In any case the people made an image of molten metal before which they bowed, and this was a flagrant breach of the second commandment.

Half-way down the mountain Mosheh rejoined the faithful Joshua who had awaited him there for forty days; together the two men continued the descent. Very soon they began to hear the sound of musical instruments and chanting, all the noise of a festival. Then they saw the statue of the calf, the choirs singing, the dancing girls and the whole population in a state of excitement. Aaron came forward stammering out his explanation: ‘Let not my master’s anger blaze like this. You know yourself how prone this people is to evil. They said to me, “Make us a god to go at our head”. ...So l said to them, “Who has gold?” and they took it off and brought it to me. I threw it into the fire [of the melting pot] and out came this calf.’

Mosheh’ reaction was immediate and merciless. He threw down the tablets of the Law on which were engraved the ‘Ten Words’ of YAHWEH; then before the people he broke the tablets. Then he rushed to the altar, threw down the idol, ‘the work of sin’, cast it into the fire and burned it; the ashes he threw into a stream 7 nearby. Then, going to the gate of the camp he gave the alarm and rallying cry, ‘Who is for YAHWEH? To me/’ At once the sons of Levi, fierce defenders of the faith, gathered around the leader. And of course Mosheh himself belonged to the tribe of Levi. Orders were given to these men to go through the camp, sword in hand, and without mercy to kill the guilty ones. Was the great adventure of Yisrael, willed and protected by YAHWEH, to end so lamentably, almost at its beginning, at the foot of Sinai?

7 The stream: this is the version given by Devarim (9:21) In the corresponding chapter of SHEMOTH (32:20) we find Mosheh throwing the powder from the burned and ground gold statue into water which he made the men of Yisrael drink. This is probably an instance of trial by ordeal, namely, the judgment of YAHWEH, intended to designate the guilty ones and spare the innocent. A well-known example of an ordeal is the treatment that was meted out to a wife suspected of adultery: the ‘waters of bitterness’ that she was obliged to drink brought a curse on her if she was guilty (Bemidbar 5:11 following), Here, at the camp on Sinai, it appears that the search for those responsible for the worship of the golden ca was conducted in the same way,

Mosheh intercedes with YAHWEH to save Yisrael

In the first books of the Old Covenant the rather primitive mentality of the Yisraelites gave rise to na’ive forms of anthropomorphism. Thus, in the face of the Yisraelites’ disobedience in bowing down before the golden calf, YAHWEH gave way to anger. 8 ‘I can see how headstrong these people are /’ said YAHWEH. ‘Leave ME, now, MY wrath shall blaze out against them and devour them; of you, however, I will make a great nation.’

Then in the anguished, dramatic silence Mosheh prayed, arguing point by point with YAHWEH. In the end YAHWEH declared HIMSELF satisfied, He relented and did not bring on HIS people the disaster that HE had threatened,

8 The order of this chapter of Shemoth has not been followed exactly here. It seemed clearer, in fact, to place YAHWEH’s anger and Mosheh’ prayer after the discovery by Mosheh of the golden calf.

Renewal of the Covenant; YAHWEH allowed HIMSELF to be moved

Mosheh, having returned to Mount Sinai where, once more for a period of forty days, he renewed his ‘conversation’ with YAHWEH, thus managed to obtain forgiveness for his people. Finally, after several vehement refusals YAHWEH allowed HIMSELF to be moved by HIS envoy’s plea. HE agreed to draw up a new Covenant with this headstrong people.

The first Covenant concluded on the Yisraelites’ arrival at the foot of Sinai is recorded by the Elohistic writer. The second Covenant whose clauses were laid down shortly before leaving the region of the SET APART mountain, are recorded by the Yahwistic writer: that is why it is sometimes called the Yahwistic code of the Covenant. 9 In this new body of legislation, which Mosheh obtained with such difficulty after the apostasy of Yisrael, two clearly distinct parts can be seen. On the one hand YAHWEH declared, in conclusion, that he agreed to guide the Chosen People to the Promised land; always, of course, on condition that they remained faithful to his commandments. On the other hand, there is a rapid reminder of the Law that must be observed, but this takes the form rather of a code of worship.

9 The code of the renewal of the Covenant has sometimes been wrongly called the second Decalogue (Law), or the ritual Law. The term is unfortunate because it further confuses an already complicated situation The code of the renewal of the Covenant is clearly different from the ‘Ten Words’ of Sinai. It is rather a collection of set apart principles refashioned, moreover, at a late period under the influence of Devarim.

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