8/29/2008

On Mount Sinai

Exodus 24:13-18 - Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. He said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them."

When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

I wonder if Moses ate or slept while on the mountain. God certainly could have sustained him without food and sleep.

I wonder if Joshua ate during that same period. It sounds like he didn't leave the mountain for 40 days either. He could have taken some food with him, or there may have been something edible up there, but would it have been enough for 40 days? Again, God could have miraculously solved this problem too.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

Tablets of Stone

Exodus 24:12 - The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction."

I wonder what shape the tablets were. Modern artists' renditions (that I've seen) of them usually consist of vertical rectangles with rounded tops. But who's to say they weren't square, triangular, circular, or some other regular shape? Triangular tablets would have carried some built-in symbolism related to the Trinity. Other shapes could have been symbolic as well.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

8/26/2008

Dinner with God

Exodus 24:9-11 - Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

I wonder what form God took when he showed himself to Moses and the elders. Most likely a human likeness as he is known to have taken on other occasions.

What did they eat and drink while in God's presence? I get the idea that it was something God had prepared for them as opposed to a meal they had brought up with them. How long did they stay and how much did they eat? Did this special meal have any unusual or lasting physical effects on them?

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

Sprinkling Blood

Exodus 24:8 - Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

I wonder how many people actually got hit with some of the blood. Moses certainly didn't touch each person among the hundreds of thousands of them. Perhaps he sprinkled just Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

8/11/2008

Holding up the prophet's hands

Exodus 17:8-13 - The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

I wonder if Joshua and the army could see Moses' hands in the air from the battle field.

How many times did Moses lower his hands before Aaron and Hur decided to help him out? I'm guessing once was enough. Twice tops. Well, maybe a couple more, if it took them a while to put two and two together.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

Water Supply

Exodus 15:22 - Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.

I wonder how much water the people could carry as they traveled. How many days would it last? Apparently at least 3.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

8/07/2008

A New Year

Exodus 12:1-2 - The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

I wonder which month this had been -- 2nd, 3rd, 4th... -- on their old calendar.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

Blackout

Exodus 10:21-23 - Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt—darkness that can be felt." So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

The blackness was more than just the sun being covered by the moon as in an eclipse. It was a substance, that entered almost all of Egypt, because it could be felt. I wonder what the substance was. Was it just extremely dense fog?

If you had been in Goshen where there was light, could you see the line of demarcation between the light and the darkness? Or was there a sort of twilight zone between the two? Could you stand at the edge of the light in Goshen, reach your hand into the blackness (not that anyone would want to), and watch it disappear from view?

Did any of the Egyptians near the edge of the blackness bordering on Goshen dare to venture in that direction to see if the Israelites were spared? After all, they had been exempted from some of the other plagues.

I wonder how much money was lost due to lack of commerce for 3 days. I wonder what foreigners -- traders, businessmen, tourists, etc. (if there were any left in the country) -- thought about the darkness...or any of the other plagues, for that matter. Perhaps they all left after the Nile turned to blood.

I wonder how anyone knew whether it was day or night for those 3 days. Maybe they didn't really care.

The next time the power goes out for a few hours where you live, think twice before complaining too much. It could be a lot worse.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

8/05/2008

Hail, Hail!

Exodus 9:22-33 - Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that hail will fall all over Egypt—on men and animals and on everything growing in the fields of Egypt." When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt; hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both men and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned," he said to them. "The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don't have to stay any longer."

Moses replied, "When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the LORD's. But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God."

(The flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom. The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)

Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the LORD; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.

I wonder how Moses and Aaron were spared from being hit by the hail. Was it something miraculous that God had a hand in directly? Did they move about under the cover of some protective shield? Probably the latter since those who were sent to fetch them must have survived the trip under some form of protection as well.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

Frog Piles

Exodus 8:12-15 - After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. And the LORD did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

I wonder what became of the piles of frogs. Did the Egyptians burn them? Bury them? Did they eat any of them?

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.