Mount Sinai

Exodus 24:18 - Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Forty is a number often used in the Bible at important times. It rained 40 days and nights at Noah's time. Here Moses is on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and nights. Jesus was tempted by Satan for 40 days.

In the symbolism of numbers in the Bible, 4 is used to refer to earthly things. The number 10 is used for a relatively short but complete amount of time. I wonder if 4 times 10, equalling 40, has significance is these instances. Does it mean a short, complete amount of time for an earthly event? You might ask what that really means, and I couldn't tell you. If there's any meaning there at all, it's a mystery to me.

Apart from any symbolism, I wonder why Moses had to stay on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and nights. Part of the reason was to test the Israelites who were to wait patiently for him. (They failed.) The giving of the law itself (the 10 commandments and all the other regulations) surely didn't take that long to communicate. In my Bible, those laws only take a few pages. They could easily have been given in a few hours.

I wonder if God and Moses talked about anything else while Moses was in the cloud. Did God show Moses anything special while he was there?

I wonder if the passage of time was different for Moses while on the mountain. Did he sleep 40 times? Did he know 40 days were passing? (Later he obviously did.) Was there a kind of time warp thing going on? It seems that he didn't need to eat. Perhaps God provided food and drink for him anyway. Either that, or God just sustained him miraculously. Perhaps he didn't need to sleep then either.

Update: The second time Moses went up on the mountain he did not eat or drink. My guess is that he didn't the first time then either.

Update #2: According to Deuteronomy 9:9, Moses didn't eat or drink the first time he spent 40 days on the mountain.

I wonder how close to what heaven is like this Mt. Sinai situation was. No need to eat or sleep with God sustaining you. Yet you might eat or sleep if you want to or if God wants you to. No need to be aware of the passage of time, again unless God wants you to know about it for some reason. Did Moses get a little heaven on earth here?