Story 45: Mo'ses On The Mount With God; The TEN COMMANDMENTS Written On Tablets Of Stone; Aa'ron Makes A Golden Calf lll

   Then Mo'ses entered the camps of Is'ra-el and gave this solemn command: "Who is on the LORD'S side, and not on the side of this idol? Let him come and stand by my side." One whole tribe, the descendants of Le'vi, came forward at once. Mo'ses said to them, "Take your swords, go through the camp, and slay every man his brother, and companion, and neighbor." As a result of this order about three thousand of the wicked Is'ra-el-ites were slain.
   After this terrible punishment had been inflicted, Mo'ses ordered a special sacrifice for those who had repented from their sins, and then he made one of the most wonderful prayers ever offered by man. He offered to take the place of Is'ra-el, and to suffer the punishment which his people deserved. God heard this prayer with favor, and granted forgiveness. The people were called to renewed consecration to God, and continued their journey under His Blessings.
   God then directed Mo'ses to prepare two tablets of stone similar to those which he had broken in his anger against Is'ra-el, and to come up into the mountain again to receive another copy of the Ten Commandments. Mo'ses obeyed the order, and went alone to the top of the mountain to commune with God. The Ten Commandments were written by the LORD on the two tablets of stone prepared by Mo'ses, and other important laws were revealed.
   Mo'ses remained on Mount Si'nai for another forty days and nights, and once again was kept in good health by the LORD during a fast which lasted for the same period. God's promise of continued blessings upon Is'ra-el was made even more clear than it had been during the previous season of converse. More elaborate and advanced rules for the government of Is'ra-el were given which Mo'ses put into permanent written form.
   When Mo'ses returned to the camp of Is'ra-el with the two tablets of stone upon which God had written the Ten Commandments, his face was so radiant with the glory of God that the people were afraid of him. For this reason he had to cover his face with a veil when the elders of Is'ra-el came to him to hear the message which he brought from God. Before long this glory passed away, and Mo'ses was no longer hindered in his dealings with Is'ra-el.

Story 45: Mo'ses On The Mount With God; The TEN COMMANDMENTS Written On Tablets Of Stone; Aa'ron Makes A Golden Calf ll

   Aa'ron said to the people, "Break off the gold from your earrings and bring this to me, and other jewels of gold." Then he took the gold furnished by the Is'ra-el-ites, melted it in the fire, and carved for them a golden calf which resembled some of the idols worshiped by the E'gyp-tians. One of the chief gods of the E'gyp-tians was a sacred bull, and the people often used little golden images of a bull in their heathen worship.
   In the hope of preventing the people from turning away from the true God during their worship around the golden calf, Aa'ron built an altar near the idol, and proclaimed a day of special worship unto the LORD. But once the first step toward idolatry had been taken, the people could not be controlled. Memories of the riotous worship they had seen in E'gypt filled them with sinful thoughts, and they began to dance around the golden calf shouting, "These are thy gods, O Is'ra-el, that brought thee out of the land of E'gypt."
   Both Is'ra-el and Aa'ron were guilty of sins against the LORD. Already they had broken the first of the Commandments spoken by the LORD just a short time before from the fiery top of Mount Si'nai. The golden idol had for the moment taken the place of God in the hearts of His chosen people, and the forbidden worship had led them on to other shameful sins.
   When Mo'ses came down from Mount Si'nai with the two tablets of stone upon which God had written the Ten Commandments, and saw the Is'ra-el-ites bowing down before an idol, his anger was so great that he hurled the tablets to the ground and broke them. Aa'ron tried to excuse himself for what had happened, but was severely blamed and rebuked by Mo'ses. His excuses were weak and false, and did not deceive the man of God. He said that the people had forced him to make the image, that he had cast the gold into the fire and the calf had come out, so that the blame for all this mischief rested upon the Is'ra-el-ites. But Mo'ses said, "Thou hast brought this great sin upon Is'ra-el."
   The people were also sternly rebuked for the sins which they had committed, and a severe punishment was inflicted upon them. God had seen the idolatry of Is'ra-el, and had heard their cries of worship for the golden calf. He, therefore, told Mo'ses that He intended to destroy the entire nation, and to make Mo'ses' descendants the chosen nation for which Is'ra-el had been intended. But Mo'ses set the welfare of the nation above the glory of his own family, and pleaded with God to spare the Is'ra-el-ites. God was moved by this prayer, and agreed to pardon Is'ra-el after suitable punishment.
   Mo'ses took the golden calf, burnt it in the fire, ground it into a fine powder, and sprinkled the powder upon water. The Is'ra-el-ites were then forced to drink the water filled with golden particles: token of the bitterness of their sin.

Story 45: Mo'ses On The Mount With God; The TEN COMMANDMENTS Written On Tablets Of Stone; Aa'ron Makes A Golden Calf l

   The Ten Commandments which form the principles upon which the Mosaic laws were based were first spoken by the LORD to all Is'ra-el, and then were written by God Himself on two tablets of stone. In this form they were kept by the Is'ra-el-ites for many centuries.
   God said to Mo'ses, "Come up to me on the Mount, and be there: and I will give thee tablets of stone, and a law, and Commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them."
   Mo'ses then told the children of Is'ra-el that he was going up to the top of Mount Si'nai, where God would talk with him at length, and would give him the laws by which they were to be governed. He also told the people that they were to remain obedient to God under the care of Aa'ron and Hur, who were to take his place while he was absent from them. Mo'ses took with him his servant Josh'u-a, who remained on the side of the mountain while Mo'ses went to the top for communion with God.
   The top of Mount Si'nai was still covered with the fiery cloud and with billows of smoke, showing the presence and glory of God. Mo'ses entered the cloud, and held intimate converse with God for forty days and nights. He walked among the flames and smoke without being harmed, and went without food for forty days and nights without losing strength. He was in deep communion with God, listening carefully to the instructions which the LORD gave him, and probably putting into written form the laws which he afterwards read to the people of Is'ra-el. It was a prolonged season of prayer and meditation, and of holy communion with the LORD God. For the entire period of forty days his intimate converse with God was free from interruption. There was nothing to disturb or distract him from the great experience of talking with God.
   During this long period of converse with God, Mo'ses was given the two tablets of stone on which it is said that the Ten Commandments had been written by the finger of God. These tablets were to be taken back to Is'ra-el and kept for the instruction of future generations.
   But forty days and nights was a long time for Is'ra-el to wait for the return of their great leader. They no doubt thought that God had taken him as He had E'noch many centuries before, and that he would never return to them. They had looked upon him as one who spoke with the authority of God, so now that no one else seemed capable of taking his place they felt that they must have some symbol of God's presence with them.
   The Is'ra-el-ites did not intend to forsake the God who had brought them out of the land of E'gypt, who had provided for them so graciously this far in their journey, and who had recently spoken to them from Mount Si'nai, but they did want some visible object to remind them of the presence of the LORD.
   They went to Aa'ron and said, "Make us a god that we may worship, and that will go up before us." Aa'ron thought it best to do what the people asked. He did not have the courage to deny the request of the Is'ra-el-ites for a god like those which they had seen in E'gypt, and so he took the first step in a course which led the people into a disgraceful state of idol-worship. It was his intention to hold them to their faith and loyalty to the true God, but he did not realize that they would soon worship the idol itself, instead of the God which it was supposed to represent.
  
  

Story 44: God Speaks From A Fiery Mountain; THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IV

They may be easily remembered by the use of a key-word for each, as follows:
   Duties to God, respecting: 1. God's Being. 2. God's Worship. 3. God's Name. 4. God's Day.
   Duties to others, respecting: 5. Parents. 6. Human Life. 7. Moral Purity. 8. Property Rights. 9. Truthfulness. 10. Covetousness.
   They all comprehended in the Two Great Commandments: Love God with all your Heart; Love thy neighbor as thyself.
   The people listened carefully to the announcement of these Commandments, kept a reverent and prayerful attitude, and greatly appreciated the direct message from God, but were all nearly overcome with fright and terror. For this reason they said to Mo'ses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." They asked that he talk with God for them, and that whatever God had to say to them should be said through Mo'ses.
   Inspired by the LORD, Mo'ses then told the Is'ra-el-ites that they were to fear God with the awe of true religion, but that they should not be frightened by His presence in any miraculous appearance, nor by His voice when the Commandments were given.
   Special attention was called to the LORD'S command against worshipping idols, and the Is'ra-el-ites were warned again not to make unto themselves gods of silver and of gold. Directions were also given for the offering of burnt sacrifices, and for other forms of worship.

Story 44: God Speaks From A Fiery Mountain; THE TEN COMMANDMENTS lll

They are as follows:
    I.   Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
   II.   Thou shalt not make unto Thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is
          in Heaven  above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou
          shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God,
          visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of
          them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My  
          Commandments.
   III.  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him
          guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
   IV.  Remember the Sab'bath Day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:
          but the seventh day is the Sab'bath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work,  
          thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,  thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor
          thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made Heaven and earth, the sea,
          and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sab'bath
          Day, and hallowed it.
   V.   Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days be long upon the land which the LORD thy God
          giveth thee.
  VI.   Thou shalt not kill.
 VII.   Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VIII.   Thou shalt not steal.
   IX.   Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
    X.   Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his
           man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.


   These TEN COMMANDMENTS were later inscribed on two stone tablets, the first four on one tablet, and the remaining six on the other. The first group concerns our duties to God; the second our duties to others.

Story 44: God Speaks From A Fiery Mountain; "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" ll

   On the third day after these orders had been given, and when all the people stood in readiness, there came a great rumbling in the midst of the mountain, like the sounding of many trumpets. The whole face of the mountain suddenly became a cloud of fire and smoke, and lightning flashed from it with a great crash of thunder while the entire mountain trembled. Then a mighty voice spoke from the midst of the cloud of fire.
   From the top of Mount Si'nai the LORD told Mo'ses, in the hearing of all the people, to come up to the top of the mountain. Through the blazing fire and smoke which covered the high mountain of God, Mo'ses bravely climbed until he was in the presence of God. He was then told to return to the people, and to warn the priests and all the people that no one must come near the mountain while it was aflame with the presence of God, and while He was uttering the words of His divine laws.
   Mo'ses returnt from the top of Mount Si'nai while the people stood lost in wonder and awe on the plain below. They were cautioned that God was about to speak, and that under the penalty of immediate death they must not touch the foot of the mountain, or go beyond the bounds already set forth.
   Then there resounded from the top of the mountain words which all could hear and understand. The LORD said:
   "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of E'gypt, and out of the house of bondage." There followed this solemn announcement the giving of that code of spiritual and moral laws which we know today as "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS." These laws were spoken by the voice of God from the top of Mount Si'nai. Three million Is'ra-el-ites heard them word for word, just as we have them today, except that they were spoken in the language of the He'brews. The translation given in the Bible is absolutely true to the meaning of the original words spoken By God Himself.
   The Ten Commandments spoken on this momentous occasion, and in the most remarkable manner of any communications ever given to man by God, stand out above all other revelations of the Old Testament scriptures. They mark the only direct utterance ever made by God to man since the Fall in the Garden of E'den.
                       

Story 44: God Speaks From A Fiery Mountain; "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" l

   Soon after Je'thro's visit the children of Is'ra-el traveled a short distance to the level plain which faced Mount Si'nai. It was on this plain that Mo'ses had received his final call to return to E'gypt to deliver Is'ra-el. It was now three months since the Is'ra-el-ites had left E'gypt. They encamped before the great mountain for a whole year, and some of the greatest messages from God in the history of Is'ra-el were given to Mo'ses during this period. The moral code for the government of the nation was spoken and written by the LORD, rules for the domestic, social, and religious life of the people were revealed to Mo'ses, and full instructions were given for the elaborate system of worship and priestly sacrifices. The Tabernacle was erected, its furnishings provided, a portable altar was built, and many other important customs were founded.
   The Mosaic Law was given from the high granite mountain called Si'nai. The mountain consists of three lofty peaks: the one on the northeast being called Ho'reb, the southwestern peak called Mount St. Cath'-er-ine, and the highest of all being known as Mount Si'nai.
   When the Is'ra-el-ites encamped before this mountain the LORD spoke secretly to Mo'ses, calling to mind the miraculous deliverance of Is'ra-el from E'gypt, and giving a new promise of love and grace if the people would only obey His voice and live according to His laws. The LORD said, "Is'ra-el shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is mine." The children of Is'ra-el were to be fenced in, preserved in their own manner of living, and kept apart from others until the Mes-si'ah reigned. Truly they might have sung!
               "We are a garden walled around,
               Chosen and made peculiar ground;
               A little spot enclosed by grace
               Out of the world's wide wilderness."
   Mo'ses called together the elders of Is'ra-el, and they in turn summoned all the people to hear the special message which God proclaimed to them. The people replied, "All that the LORD hath spoken we will do." Then Mo'ses informed the LORD of the hearty response of the people. But the great laws which God was now ready to give the Is'ra-el-ites were so important that He would not reveal them through any human being, not even through the mouth of one so good and loyal as Mo'ses.
   The LORD therefore told Mo'ses to have the people gather in a great assembly before Mount Si'nai, saying that He would appear in the midst of the mountain in fire and smoke. It was also promised that the LORD would declare His divine laws so clearly that all the people might hear them with their own ears, and see with their own eyes the majesty and power of their God.
   Special preparations were required of the people before this great revelation of God could be given. They were told to wash their bodies and their clothing, to separate their hearts from all sin, to dedicate themselves to God with renewed consecration, and to stand before the mountain in a humble, reverent attitude. They were also warned not to risk death by coming too near the mountain.