37. Forty days and nights listening to the oracle. Knowing they couldn’t do it, why did God still issue the law to them?

“The LORD, the LORD, is a merciful and gracious God, who does not easily anger, but is full of love and truth, leaving love for thousands upon thousands of people, forgiving sins, transgressions, and iniquities.” [Exodus 34:6-7]

After the treaty was made, clouds covered Mount Sinai for seven days.

On the seventh day, God called Moses again on the mountain.

Moses climbed up the mountain again, this time bringing only his young assistant Joshua [meaning ‘God to save you]. Joshua belonged to the tribe of Ephraim and the tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim was Joseph’s second son. Before Jacob died, Joseph’s father gave Ephraim’s blessing to his eldest grandson, saying, “His descendants will be multiple.” Joshua was brave and courageous, and shortly after crossing the Red Sea, he led his men to fight the attacking Amalekites and defeated them.

The mountaintop was near, and God’s glory appeared through the dense clouds, like blazing flames enveloping the mountain. Moses looked down through the clouds, seeing vast wilderness at the foot of the mountain, tents scattered like stars, and the people walking there like ants being carried away. What new instructions does the mountain god have this time? After the last descent, the Ten Commandments and laws issued by God were preached to the people.

They spoke in unison, “Whatever God commands, we must obey.” Thus the covenant between God and Israel was established: Moses built an altar at the foot of the mountain, offered the sacrificial animals, and the blood of the covenant animals flowed into the basin. Moses sprinkled it over the people, signifying that the Israelites would keep God’s law and honor the true God Jehovah alone.

Not only that, God also sent Moses to bring Aaron and more than seventy elders up the mountain to feast with God to celebrate the covenant of the covenant. They saw a sapphire-like path laid beneath God’s feet, pure as the blue sky.

Moses saw that the summit was near, and knowing he was the only one who could go up alone, kept Joshua halfway up the mountain, instructing him to keep an eye on the footsteps and watch for anyone to break in. But God’s plan was to be revealed step by step to Moses, because God foresaw the future, but humans could not.

If Moses were told in advance about everything that would happen next, he definitely couldn’t bear it. God first issued the law to the Israelites, as if placing a mirror before them, so that in the mirror they could see their own filth and filth through God’s glory.

But how can people see their true nature clearly? Since Adam sinned, people have become proud and overestimate themselves. The law was meant to make people aware of their sins and humble them, but the Israelites gradually began to use it as a badge of honor for themselves.

God’s standard is absolutely not covered by the law; the law forbids adultery, but 1,400 years after Moses, God revealed the true standard to the world: “Anyone who sees a woman and has lustful thoughts has committed adultery in his heart.”

Even so, God had long foreseen that people would be utterly defeated before the law, and the fundamental reason for failure was the same as Adam’s failure: people did not regard God as God, nor seek His help, but instead created a false God out of their own selfish desires.

God’s original intention is not to trap people in sin, because they are already mired in the mire of sin and cannot escape. God’s law is meant to show people the truth and prompt them to turn to God, asking Him to pull them out of the swamp of sin.

So simply proclaiming the law to the Israelites was only the first step; God also wanted to give them the opportunity to come before Him and repent. This time when Moses ascended the mountain, God would show him this way: First, God would establish His sanctuary among the people of Israel, so that they could draw near to Him, worship Him, and call upon Him.

Second, God’s sanctuary is holy and awe-inspiring; sinners must not be offended. Only priests chosen by God can symbolically purify themselves according to the ritual rites, draw near to God, and atone for the people’s sins. God told Moses the layout of the sanctuary and the rituals for worship on the mountain. The sanctuary is surrounded by interlockable curtains and pillars, about 60 meters long east to west and 30 meters wide north to south, entering the courtyard from the east entrance,

First, we saw a bronze altar. Behind the altar was a bronze basin for the priests to wash their hands. Behind the basin was a sanctuary enclosed by curtains. The first level of the sanctuary was over five meters wide and 11 meters long, containing an incense altar, a gilded offering table, and a gilded lampstand. The second level is the Holy of Holies House, which contains only the pure gold Ark of the Covenant. Three items will be stored inside the Ark of the Covenant, reminding future generations how God will save their ancestors.

God decreed that the priests would be held by the family of Moses’ brother Aaron, who was from the tribe of Levi. Levi was Jacob’s third son. Because of his upright and violent nature, he once slaughtered the city with his second brother Simeon and showed the sword. Before his death, his father Jacob predicted the fate of the two brothers’ families: “Their anger is cursed because it is extremely violent; Their wrath is cursed, for they are fierce; I will scatter them among Jacob’s house; Scatter them throughout Israel.

Under this prophecy, the Simeon family disappeared from the public eye. At the age of forty, Moses also committed murder with a violent temper and fled for forty years, but after obeying God’s call, he led the Israelites out of Egypt after eighty. Because of this, God turned the curse on Levi into a blessing—the supreme priesthood would be held by the Levi family for generations, who were scattered among the people and never owned property.

When priests serve God in the sanctuary, they must wear a special inner robe, outer robe, headband, belt, ribbon (called an ephod), and breastplate. God commanded Moses: “I will meet with the Israelites in the sanctuary, and the tabernacle will be holy because of my glory.”

I will sanctify the tabernacle and the altar, and also Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt to dwell among them. I am the LORD their God. Moses conversed with God on the summit of Mount Sinai for forty days, during which God told Moses about the past history and more chapters. Moses later recorded what God told him, making it the first five books of the Bible.

Forty days passed quickly. God urged Moses down the mountain and gave him two stone tablets, on which were the Ten Commandments personally written by God. Moses turned to go down the mountain, but God told him something happening at the foot of the mountain. Moses was shocked and nearly dropped the stone tablet in his hand to the ground. He never expected things to deteriorate so quickly.