[This was first posted July 1, 2012, a continuation of our MUST READ series featuring James Tabor’s THE WAY, Chapter 2 of his book Restoring Abrahamic Faith. Reformatted and highlights added. — Admin1.]
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As human beings we long for the supernatural, we desperately seek some definitive revelation about the mystery of our existence.
Isaiah tells of a time when God will hide His face from both Israel and the nations, and people will walk in darkness, turning to Spiritualism and the Occult in order to find answers. We see this vividly illustrated in our own time with the incredible upsurge of interest in New Age thinking and a revived neo-Paganism, or worship of Nature.
Isaiah vividly describes how humanity, “hungry” for revelation, will “look to the earth” when in despair of hearing from heaven:
Bind up the TESTIMONY, seal the TORAH among my disciples . . . And when they say to you seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter, should not a people consult their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the TORAH and to the TESTIMONY! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. . . they will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry; and when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse their King and their God, and turn their faces upward; then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness. (Isaiah 8:16-22)
The setting of this text is immediately prior to the appearance of the Davidic Messiah, but sometime between the Exile and the Redemption (see Isaiah 9:1-7). This is an important and fascinating portion of prophetic Scripture.
The “disciples” of YHVH, as they are called here, know and turn to the TORAH, which is the true light in a world of darkness. Those who turn to either means of revelation end up stumbling in the dark. But Isaiah also speaks of the TESTIMONY.
What is this TESTIMONY? Does he have something specific in mind? Notice carefully the instructions God gives to Moses at Sinai:
And you shall put the covering on top of the Ark [of the Covenant], and in the Ark you shall put the TESTIMONY that I will give to you (Exodus 25:21).
Here we learn that the TESTIMONY is something quite specific. It is an actual object that can be placed inside the Ark of the Covenant. Indeed, the Ark itself is often called the “Ark of the TESTIMONY” (Exodus 25:16, 22; 40:21). In Exodus 31:7 it is even called “the Ark for the TESTIMONY.” The more familiar term, “Ark of the Covenant” is merely a variation of the phrase “Ark of the TESTIMONY” (compare Exodus 32:15-16 with Deuteronomy 9:10-11). These texts make it plain that the whole point of having the Ark, which was a gold-plated wooden chest, or box, was to hold this TESTIMONY! This chest was the only piece of furniture in the inner room of the Temple, the Holy of Holies. In the days of Moses it radiated the Presence or Glory of YHVH. It was there, emanating from above this Chest of the TESTIMONY, God would directly speak in an audible voice to Moses, and Moses would behold the “form” or outline TEMUNAH) of YHVH Himself (Numbers 7:89; 12:8). The entire phenomenon sounds to our modern scientific ears like some sort of advanced extra-terrestrial communication system.
This TESTIMONY is the locus of the revelation of God’s WAY. But there is even more involved. The entire Tabernacle, which Moses is instructed to build, is called the “Tabernacle of the TESTIMONY“ (Exodus 38:21). In other words, this mysterious TESTIMONY, was the central focus of the entire system of worship revealed to Moses.
Many think of the Tabernacle as primarily a place for the ritual slaughter of animals. Actually, “animal sacrifices” were not originally intended as the focal point of the Tabernacle/Tent in the desert, nor even of the later Temple in Jerusalem. Rather, this special “Tent” is called the miqdash (“Sanctuary” or “Holy) or the mishkan (“Dwelling” or “Tabernacle”). Both have to do with God actually dwelling among humans.
YHVH tells Moses, Make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (Exodus 25:8). In other words, the Tabernacle, or Temple, is the “earthly House” for the literal manifestation of the Glory or “Face” of YHVH Himself. This Glory is described as appearing like a Cloud or a Fire. It is described as a physical manifestation that the people could see. Only Moses could go near to YHVH as He manifested Himself in this extraordinary way. And the TESTIMONY is an integral part of this phenomenon.
What then was the TESTIMONY?
In Exodus 31:18 we read the plain answer:
And when He had made an end of speaking with him [Moses} on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the TESTIMONY, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.
These mysterious tablets . . . are written on both sides, engraved with the writing of God Himself (Exodus 32:15). This is quite phenomenal — that God Himself would literally write on two tablets of stone His TESTIMONY, and give them to Moses to be preserved at the very heart of the Sanctuary, in the most holy Chest or Ark of the Covenant.
Written on the tablets are the Ten Commandments (literally “Ten Words”), spoken by God Himself to all Israel at Mount Sinai, as well as the related laws and commandments that make up the TORAH (Exodus 24:12, 34:28). These tablets seem to reflect some kind of advanced laser-like holographic technology in which data was embedded into these translucent stones. Unlike the huge stone tablets popular in paintings and film, they are small enough to be carried in the palm of the hand of Moses (Exodus 34:29). They were placed in a small wooden box that Moses himself fashioned, and this box was subsequently put in the larger gold plated “Ark,” or chest made famous in the film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (Deuteronomy 10:1-3). There is a lot of discussion in our day about finding the “Ark of the Covenant,” with various theories as to where it might have ended up. However, the “Ark” is just the box — it would be the contents, the engraved stones within, that would be the real treasure.
At this unprecedented moment in history, God Himself gave TESTIMONY to His eternal WAY of justice and righteousness—literally speaking the TEN WORDS in an ear splitting voice that terrified the entire nation, while Mount Sinai quaked with an awesome display of smoke and fire. This unprecedented historical event is recorded in Exodus 19-20 and recounted by Moses in Deuteronomy 5.
The great and unique character of this Sinai revelation cannot be overemphasized. This is the definitive time in human history that the Creator God—YHVH–has literally spoken to humanity in such a way. People today ask “Where is God?” They wonder why, if God exists, we have no word from heaven. If God were to speak today, actually and literally for the entire world to hear, what would He say? The answer goes back to Sinai.
Although God has hidden Himself from humankind in working out a specific and strategic PLAN, He has not always been silent, nor will He be so in the future. At Sinai we have this greatest event of all human history —YHVH God HAS SPOKEN—and we humans, like the ancient Israelites, can only hear and fear!
These TEN WORDS are the heart and core of the TORAH. God spoke these words, and He added no more (Deuteronomy 5:22). They are complete within themselves, perfect, and never to be changed or abrogated. All the other commandments, statutes, and ordinances of TORAH, which were given for Israel to observe in the Land are essentially amplifications of this basic eternal WAY of justice and righteousness (Deuteronomy 12:1).
Rabbi J.H. Hertz has commented eloquently on this point:
The Decalogue is a sublime summary of human duties binding upon all mankind; a summary unequalled for simplicity, comprehensiveness and solemnity; a summary which bears divinity on its face, and cannot be antiquated as long as the world endures. It is at the same time a Divine epitome of the fundamentals of Israel’s Creed and Life; and Jewish teachers, ancient and modern, have looked upon it as the fountain-head fro which all Jewish truth and Jewish teaching could be derived” (Pentateuch and Haftorahs, p. 294).
Anciently this TESTIMONY was memorized word for word and recited daily, and taught by heart to children. It is a beautiful and unparalleled summary of the basic contours of God’s Eternal WAY for all humankind.
Each of the TEN WORDS including the seventh day Sabbath, was known and practiced by those who knew God, from Adam to Moses. We read that Enoch walked with God, and that Noah was a righteous man (zadiq) who also walked with God (Genesis 5:22; 6:9). God reminds Isaac that Abraham was chosen because he kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws (Genesis 26:5). Although these men and women did not know TORAH in the precise codified form given to the nation of Israel through Moses, they certainly knew the basic WAY of justice and righteousness (see Genesis 18:19). There is nothing exclusively “Jewish” about this TESTIMONY of YHVH, although it obviously was the center and core of God’s specific Covenant with Israel at Sinai.
These Ten “Words” as they are called, are much more than mere “commandments” which one might view in a superficial or legalistic way. The term “Word” in Hebrew (davar), literally means “matter” or “thing.” So the “Ten Commandments” are the Ten “Matters” or categories. Each represents a topical heading, an entire WAY of living, broken down into logical subjects: e.g., idolatry, human sexuality, property rights, sacredness of life, truthful speech, and so forth. They are amplified and expanded throughout the Scriptures.
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