Taking the Sinai Revelation personally . . .

[This was first posted 2012. It explains why we chose to call ourselves Sinaites and rooted our foundational beliefs on the Revelation on Sinai by the Creator-God who chose that neutral site and that time in history and the people He gathered there to declare His Name and His Way of life for all humanity. Related posts:

—Admin1.]

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While reading Rabbi Harold S. Kushner’s book To Life!, this paragraph leaped out of p. 124, in the chapter “Sanctuaries in Time: The Calendar.“

I once heard Bishop James Pike define a Christian as a person who took the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection personally. He then went on to define a Jew as a person who took the story of the Exodus from Egypt personally. In a real sense, Passover is where Judaism begins. This is what turned the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob into a people summoned by God, a people into whose collective life God suddenly erupted with His liberating message.

Just think . . . you are out of Christianity and not into Judaism; what significant act of YHWH do you personally take as your springboard into a faith that falls under ‘neither of the above’? We have always connected with Abrahamic faith, because obviously, Abraham was gentile, and while he received promises about his descendants and how a specific line through him would impact the nations, he was not the receiver of the TORAH.

Image from destination-yisrael.biblesearchers.com

So, in our thinking, the most significant event in the history of mankind’s existence on this planet earth is not the Creation, since no man was yet present there; it is the Sinai Revelation where the Creator officially presented Himself, declared His Name, made a covenant with representative humanity but specifically with a chosen people He formed, and to whom He gave His TORAH, His instructions or guidelines for life.

On Mount Sinai

the God of all nations

and specifically of a chosen divinely-formed nation,

descended to make Himself

and His Way known.

Until we came to a closer reading of the Hebrew Scriptures and surprise, surprise, saw the words “mixed multitude” in Exodus 12:38, we had missed that significant fact in all previous readings. You know how you keep reading the Bible over and over and wonder WHY DID I NOT SEE THAT BEFORE????”

Imagine, if a “mixed multitude” was allowed to leave Egypt, that would mean the slaves were not only from the 70 Jacobites who went there during the time of Joseph 430 years before. Granted the story of the Exodus focuses only on the descendants of Jacob who had multiplied from their original number after so many generations later, you would think that the powerful nation of Egypt where the patriarchs of Israel “descended” to when they faced famine in Canaan would have accumulated slaves from different people-groups surrounding it. Egypt was not only a popular destination during times of famine as the Joseph story evinced; was it not the practice in those times of antiquity for the victors to enslave the people they defeat in battle?

If you were a non-Israelite slave in Egypt and you not only heard about but witnessed and experienced the plagues reportedly caused by the miraculous power of the God of Moses and the Hebrews, would you not think:

“This God is more powerful

than our tribal gods or the gods of Egypt,

surely He must be God higher than all gods!

I better get to know him.”

And so you ask the Israelites—-

“Did your God specify He will deliver ‘only the people descended from Jacob’ or did he include ALL slaves in Egypt?
“Exactly what instructions were given, may I execute them for my family too? Would we be liberated from bondage as well?
“I’m desperate, whether or not I believe in your God, If I do as you do, whatever happens next, could I be part of it? May I come along wherever He leads you?”

And so you prepare to do exactly as instructed, perhaps even try to convince your good Egyptian masters to do the same if they don’t want their firstborn to die. The instructions after all did not have exclusive application; surely anyone—Israelite, Egyptian, other nationalities—-

could believe in the God Who spoke to Moses,
have faith in what He warned would happen,
and obey to the last detail.

If only the Israelites were allowed to leave Egypt and the Sinai experience was exclusive for the bloodline of Jacob, would not the Exodus story specifically have said so?

What was the requirement, 100% pure Israelite? Perhaps not, for the tribal lines such as Joseph’s sons were from a mixed marriage.

The only requirement was probably a prelude and postlude to the Shema:

Hear . . . and heed.

It is those gentiles who joined the Israelites that we relate to and connect with. Surely, if they were amidst the Israelites and experienced redemption from slavery in Egypt by this powerful God, they would have witnessed the covenant and would have answered as the Israelites did:

All the words which YHWH has spoken we will do!

And the rest is . . . biblical history!

Well, not quite . . . there is a downside to this “mixed multitude.” According to Rabbinic commentary, just like the gentile nations who were bad influences on the people of God, those within (mixed) were the ones who were the non-stop grumblers and who actually caused the Israelites to do abominable things, such as the construction of the golden calf during Moses’ 40 day absence.

Still, whether Israelite or gentile, this is probably the more believable version—(sorry for not remembering the source)—

It was easier to get Israel out of Egypt

than to get Egypt out of Israel.

Figure that out.

We hold on to later utterances through the mouth of Moses spoken to the generation born free in the wilderness of Sinai, who were in the ‘loins’ of their parents who stood on Sinai:

The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers,

but with us,

with all those of us alive here today.

[Deuteronomy 5:2-3]

YHWH is Creator as well as Revelator on Sinai;

He wants all of humanity to–

know Him,
acknowledge Him
and worship Him as the God of all nations.

He gathered representative humanity (“mixed multitude“) on Sinai to–

declare who He is,
what is His Name,
and His Way of living for Jew and Gentile.

Israel, His chosen people, are to model His Torah for His divine purpose so clearly stated:

Keep them and do them,

for that will be your wisdom and your understanding

in the sight of the peoples, who,

when they hear all these statutes, will say,

‘Surely this great nation

is a wise and understanding people.’

[Deuteronomy 4:6/ESV]

What part of “hear” and “heed” don’t we understand, O Jew, O Gentile?

In behalf of Sinai 6000 Core Community

Update: The UNchosen: What if you were a gentile slave in Egypt?

Source: Exodus/Shemoth 24 – "the sight of the Glory of YHVH (was) like a consuming fire" -- We gentiles living in this 21st century are able to experience that climactic moment [God appearing on Sinai] by reading and studying this portion of the TORAH. Indeed, we see YHWH not quite as dramatically as the mixed multitude did, but perhaps even better through these accounts recorded in Exodus. There is a saying that hindsight is 20/20 vision, i.e., we begin to see and understand the question marks in our past only later in our lives, as we mature and hopefully become wiser and more introspective about the meaning or seeming meaninglessness of happenings in history, whether personal, national, or universal. Søren Kierkegaard adds a twist to this: “Only 20:20 vision is hindsight. Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” As we endeavor to understand each portion in the TORAH of YHWH, much of it will seem irrelevant to our current situation but if we see beyond the time-bound cultural and religious situations and begin to understand what truly has not change—human nature and the Great Revelator who designed the perfect blueprint for living in peace, happily and contentedly with family, community, country and the nations, the unquestionable conclusion is: TORAH is relevant to ALL humankind, not just to Israel, to this very day.

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