Exodus 18:1 - 20:23
Haftarah: Isaiah 6:1 - 7:6; 9:5-6
January 29, 2000/22 Shevat, 5760
Focus Passage: Exodus 20:15-18
The Purpose Of The Law
While Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments, the people were perceiving the phenomena that demonstrated the presence of G-d. Their awareness of His presence struck them with terror, for "they fell back and stood at a distance" (v. 15). The Hebrew is much more graphic than the English, for the last word literally means that they were staggering or reeling. The awesome holiness of G-d sent them reeling backward from His presence. If their curiosity had earlier drawn them close to the mountain, the actual presence of G-d had produced the opposite effect. G-d at a distance is not as threatening as G-d nearby.
It is implied that this fear of death had sprung up in them as a response to their having heard the words of the Ten Commandments. The demands of G-d showed them just how far short of His holiness they were. For the first time they were made to see the real nature of their averah. The awesome light of G-d illuminated the stain of averah.
Moses offered his people an explanation of G-d's coming over them. He began by urging them to stop being afraid. G-d had not come to kill them as a punishment but "to test" them. This emphasis upon testing is basic to Exodus. The presence of G-d was frequently for the purpose of searching out the hearts of men and women. This knowledge of His testing should serve to help them develop the proper "fear of Him" (v.17). The true fear of G-d is to be the desire to avoid sin rather than to avoid the consequences of sin.
We must realize that the ultimate purpose of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and of the covenant of Sinai was that they should not sin. G-d's purposes for Israel were that they should be able to live lives of such quality that they would find it satisfying and fulfilling. So also the purpose of G-d in our lives today. That is, to follow the Torah so that our lives as a people are fulfilling and satisfying in the year 5760 as well as at the time of Moses.
G-d's Law with Israel is about the future. It is about responsibility to the world G-d created. To teach the world a righteous moral path. It is about caring about others at least as much as you care about yourself.
Shalom U'Vracha (peace and blessings),
Thomas
