Revelations at Mount Sinai

Revelations at Mount Sinai

As a Jewish individual, there are some accounts in history that you just remember since there are imbedded into your mind as a staple or the foundation for your religion and even as part of your culture. In the Tanakh, Deuteronomy 6:1 says that "And this is the instruction-the laws and the rules. - That the LORD your G-d has commanded [me] to impart to you, to be observed in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy…"(Deuteronomy 6:1). If you were to read this as a stand-alone statement, you cannot assert any explanation to what this means. However, if you were to use this as a complimentary statement to tie in Exodus 19-24, it would make sense. The reason why this statement makes so much contextual sense is that we are told the story of the Jewish peoples escaping from Egypt as well as their journey to the promise land in Exodus. Through this story, we begin to learn of the laws, the expectations, and the commands G-d gives his people.

The essentials are explained in the next few sentences. On their journey, Moses gets to Mount Sinai and is told by the holy one to climb the mountain. At this time, both he and G-d are supposedly writing the five books. Moses is also given the Ten Commandments. Now, to examine exactly what Moses and G-d did collaboratively is simple. The Torah is simply the account of the Jewish people and imbedded inside of it are six hundred and thirteen laws. Now, if you think of what the ten commandments are, they are the ten golden rules, the "critical ones" perhaps that we are taught to drive into the ground and into our minds what we must do in order to obey the Holy one.

By knowing the details above, we can then analyze this text on a scholarly level. First, it is necessary to dissect this statement. The statement: "And this is the instruction-the laws and the rules. -" says a few things. First, it says, G-d has spoken to Moses and from this conversation, the two of them have come to an understanding and agreement perhaps of what a person is required to obey. It also does not make any differentiation between the word laws and rules. G-d's uses a very definitive voice using the word "law". On the other hand, the mutual decisions made between G-d and Moses using the word "rule" is clearly heard in the text but never mentioned as LAW verses RULE.