The Mosaic Covenant (Continued)
The terms of the Mosaic Covenant have been examined and analyzed over centuries, and Jewish legal experts have ordered and codified it in such a way that the nation could understand its requirements and obey its precepts. R. Simlai, a Palestinian haggadist, summarized their conclusion. "Six hundred and thirteen commandments were revealed to Moses; 365 being prohibitions equal in number to the days of the year, and 248 being mandates corresponding in number to the bones of the human body." The number 613 is found as early as tannaitic times—e.g., in a saying of Simon ben Eleazar and one of Simon ben Azzai—and is apparently based upon ancient tradition. The need to understand and obey it arose from the fact that there were blessings offered for obedience and curses threatened for disobedience, as vocalized by Moses himself. “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God”. (Deut 11:26-28)
This momentous event, the giving of the Law, seems to have unfolded in the following order.
1. In the third month after their exodus from Egypt they arrived at Mount Sinai. Moses had known from the time of his call that Israel would meet God there. On arrival, they encamped at the foot of the mountain. The Lord descended from heaven and made Himself available at the peak of the mountain. Several meteorological signs attended his presence. Then He called Moses into His presence and made an offer of a special relationship, a relationship in which Israel would be
(a) His ‘special treasure’, ‘segulah’ in Hebrew, the private property of a king, as distinct from that used for public purposes, as with David in 1 Chron.29.3 “Moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special treasure of gold and silver”. Israel was to be God’s ‘special treasure’. This particular and peculiar relationship is referred to again in Deuteronomy. “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth”; (Deut. 7:6) and “you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth”; (Deut. 14:2) and “the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments”. (Deut. 26:18) It is of great importance to the nation, preceding as it does, the giving of the Law.
(b) “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests”. (Exod.19.6) This implied more than a priestly caste, and indeed later Jewish tradition understood it as such, converting it from a promise to a responsibility (noblesse oblige), and requiring the whole population to live by the same code of holiness that the priests lived by. This formed part of the background to the conflict between the Messiah and the Pharisees.
(c) “and a holy nation”. (Ex 19:6) A nation that could discern between holy and unholy, between clean and unclean.
2. Moses descended the mountain and made the offer, on behalf of the Lord, to the elders and people of Israel, who accepted it without hesitation. Moses then returned to the presence of the Lord and relayed the response of the nation.
The terms of the Mosaic Covenant have been examined and analyzed over centuries, and Jewish legal experts have ordered and codified it in such a way that the nation could understand its requirements and obey its precepts. R. Simlai, a Palestinian haggadist, summarized their conclusion. "Six hundred and thirteen commandments were revealed to Moses; 365 being prohibitions equal in number to the days of the year, and 248 being mandates corresponding in number to the bones of the human body." The number 613 is found as early as tannaitic times—e.g., in a saying of Simon ben Eleazar and one of Simon ben Azzai—and is apparently based upon ancient tradition. The need to understand and obey it arose from the fact that there were blessings offered for obedience and curses threatened for disobedience, as vocalized by Moses himself. “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God”. (Deut 11:26-28)
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