Yitro
Jethro
“Shema Yisrael”
Exodus 18:1-20:23[26]
Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6[6-7] (A); 6:1-13 (S)
excerpted from TorahScope, Volume I
After considering what has thus far transpired in the Book of Exodus, this week’s Torah portion, Yitro, involves one of the most memorable scenes outside of the deliverance from Egypt. It is in this reading where the Lord visited Mount Sinai and delivered the Ten Commandments.[1] The Ancient Israelites were deathly afraid of what was taking place, and so Moses had to explain what the intention of this awesome scene was intended to mean for them:
“They said to Moses, ‘Speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won’t sin’” (Exodus 20:19-20, WMB).
Here at the bottom of Mount Sinai, the people of Israel actually heard the voice of the Lord. One would think that this would be a blessed event, but from the reaction recorded, we read that the people were absolutely terrified by the Voice:
“All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance…The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was. The LORD said to Moses, ‘This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: “You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven”’” (Exodus 20:18, 21-22, WMB).
Prior to this time since the Exodus from Egypt, the Lord had chosen to communicate to Israel through His intermediary Moses. For the most part, the Israelites were quite content with this means of communication. After all, a considerable amount of the information which came to them from Moses was very encouraging. Consider some of earlier statements from Moses just prior to the Divine declaration of the Ten Commandments:
“‘“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.’ Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. All the people answered together, and said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD” (Exodus 19:5-8, WMB).
Here, the Lord communicated a fairly simple if/then formula for Israel to become a holy nation of priests. It conveyed the mission of what they were to do as intermediaries between the Creator and the rest of the Earth. It should have been something very hopeful to those who really were ready to enter into God’s purpose and no longer be slaves at the behest of Egypt.
The Israelites had just witnessed a great deliverance from the Egyptians and had only been in the desert several months. The Lord was fighting their battles. Their basic daily nourishment was provided for by the morning arrival of manna. They were probably feeling pretty confident about their relationship with Him. Without much hesitation, upon hearing what God was calling them to do, they responded to the proposal with these affirming words:
“All the people answered together, and said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD” (Exodus 19:8, WMB).
Remarkably, the Scriptures record how all of the people agreed to do all which the Lord had spoken. This was apparently a sincere response. But little did the Ancient Israelites understand the magnitude of their commitment. At this point in the narrative, we see their response to the Lord, but not a huge amount of instruction on what it meant to specifically follow and obey Him was given. As you can imagine, the Lord was already putting in motion a monumental event which would test the hearts of the Israelites, and ascertain whether they could really honor this pledge of obedience:
“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.’ Moses told the words of the people to the LORD” (Exodus 19:9, WMB).
The Lord was going to accomplish two objectives by letting His people hear His voice. First, He would let them understand more about His holiness, and how they must consecrate themselves in order to even hear His voice. Secondly, He was going to solidify Moses’ position as their intermediary before Him. Moses came back to the people and gave them instructions on how to consecrate themselves, before the Holy One would speak to them.[2] A period of separation commenced, as physical actions started preparing Israel for hearing the voice of the Lord:
“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai. You shall set bounds to the people all around, saying, “Be careful that you don’t go up onto the mountain, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death”…Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. He said to the people, ‘Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman’” (Exodus 19:10-12, 14-15, WMB).
The people began to prepare for hearing the voice of God. Looming in the distance was a dark cloud over Mount Sinai. The people could see, and possibly even feel, the presence of the Lord. They began to cleanse themselves and did not have sexual relations for several days. Limits were set around the base of the mountain. People were told not to touch it for fear of death. Each of these actions was preparing Israel for a profound event. By performing these required things, the hearts of the Ancient Israelites were being focused on the opportunity to hear the actual voice of the Creator.
On the morning of the third day, there was thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, and the blast of a piercing shofar. The moment for God to speak was approaching:
“All of Mount Sinai smoked, because the LORD descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. When the sound of the shofar grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice” (Exodus 19:18-19, WMB).
It is difficult to imagine how frightening this must have been for the Ancient Israelites. The noise of the shofar was increasing in intensity. The top of Mount Sinai was engulfed in fire and smoke. As they stood there, the whole mountain shook violently. The people thought they were going to die. After all, it had been much easier to listen to the requirements of the Lord when Moses came back and reported his conversations with Him. At this juncture, Israel was fully engaged in hearing the actual voice of God—and then the Lord declared the Ten Words. Can you imagine how petrified the people were when these commands came forth? The intensity of the fear was recorded after the commands were declared.
With fear and trepidation, the people immediately wanted to go back to the former way of communing with the Most High (Exodus 19:20). Apparently, the voice of God was so powerful that the people believed they were going to die. Even after they were consecrated before Him, the Israelites were convinced that they would rather have Moses as their mediator. The fear was that intense!
Interestingly, Moses immediately told the Israelites that the Lord was using this event to test them: “God has come only in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be ever with you, so that you do not go astray” (Exodus 19:20, NJPS). A holy fear should have been instilled in them, so that they would not sin and rebel against Him. God was very serious about His people not sinning—something which even until today has not changed!
How about today? Is there something we should be learning from the experiences of the Ancient Israelites? How should we be approaching the Lord?
The author of Hebrews referred to the events we have been considering in the past few Torah readings, imploring how Believers in Yeshua are to take seriously the Divine work of God. His admonition was to not let Believers’ hearts be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, and remember the examples of the past when God’s people have had to be severely punished for their disloyalty to Him:
“Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years. Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, “They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways.” As I swore in my wrath, “They will not enter into my rest [Psalm 95:7-11].”’ Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called ‘today’, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Messiah, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, while it is said, ‘Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion [Psalm 95:7-8].’ For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:7-19, WMB).
In this passage, the author of Hebrews reminded his audience that the generation which came out of Egypt hardened their hearts instead of listening to God’s voice. By hardening their hearts, they did not know the ways of the Lord. In fact, because of their disobedience, they were not allowed to enter into the rest of the Promised Land because of their unbelief. Within his argument is the implication that if such severe punishment was enacted upon these people in Israel’s past—how much more severe punishment can be guaranteed to those who deny the more recent (for the First Century C.E.), and even more serious deliverance, via the Messiah’s sacrifice?
We need to remember that according to the words of Yeshua Himself, the ability to hear the voice of the Holy One is something fully accessible to His followers. Today, in this post-resurrection era, we have the privilege of hearing the voice of the Most High. Instead of exclusively having to rely on others to listen to Him for us, we should be striving to listen to the voice of the Holy One ourselves. Remember that our Heavenly Father has sent His Son Yeshua to be the Good Shepherd over His people:
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd…My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:14-16, 27-28, WMB).
We know that in this passage Yeshua called Himself the Good Shepherd, and His flock were the people who would hear His voice. Are you part of His flock? Are you hearing the Lord’s voice and obeying Him? If you are, then you should be comforted by your desire to please Him. But if you are not hearing His voice and obeying Him—conforming your life to the example left by the Messiah—perhaps you need to cry out to the Lord for mercy. As the author of Hebrews stated concerning the ancient encounter at Mount Sinai, there is a different mountain which the Messiah’s followers should now be approaching—one even more awesome and profound—as awesome and profound as Mount Sinai enveloped in smoke surely was:
“For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, the sound of a shofar, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, for they could not stand that which was commanded, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned’. So fearful was the appearance that Moses said, ‘I am terrified and trembling [Exodus 19:12-13].’ But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Yeshua, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel. See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven” (Hebrews 12:18-25, WMB).
Here, the warning witnessed is to seek Yeshua as the Mediator of the New Covenant. His followers are reminded that they should not refuse His voice (cf. Hebrews 3:3). If so, the consequences for Believers today are even worse than those from the Exodus generation: You will not enter His eternal rest! So without any hesitation, dear brothers and sisters, remember: hear and obey. Shema Yisrael!
NOTES
[1] Exodus 19:1-20:17.
[2] Exodus 19:10-17.
