The scene: the majestic, yet terrifying Mount Sinai. Smoke billowed forth in reddened clouds from this active volcano—a mountain so majestic that it seemed to touch the lower regions of the heavens.
For the Israelites, Sinai was the axis mundi: the “center of the cosmos.” Also called Horeb, it was the axis upon which heaven and earth elegantly danced. Sinai represented the pristine origin, the highlight of providential history, and the dramatic climax of God’s ongoing creativity. It was the most sacred place. To use the Koine Greek New Testament term, it was the location where sacred time (kairos) superseded ordinary time (chronos.) Heaven kissed earth at Sinai.
Revealer
Only a few weeks had passed since the Israelites had been liberated from the horror of slavery in Egypt, and the afterglow of this series of events was still very much alive in their emotions. Terror had given way to exhilaration. The shackles of slavery had been hijacked by the feeling of release into the unknown. What would their future bring? How would their saga unfold?
It was at Sinai that the octogenarian Moses climbed the imposing mountain. Staff in hand, this formerly abandoned child became the elegant speaker for the Israelites and even the messenger for God’s revelation.
The stammerer became the spokesperson. The bicultural, Egyptian-educated priest became the presenter of divine revelation. Mystic scholar Martin Buber says that Moses was chosen ironically because he had this handicap. And as those who stutter often have the remarkable ability to sing without stammering, perhaps Moses also sang to the people the Torah which he received.
If not outright singing, perhaps Moses chanted the laws received on Sinai. Maybe he even davened, or prayed, rocking his head back and forward to a rhythmic beat. Most of the book of Deuteronomy is the farewell song or chant attributed to Moses.
On the mountain that the Canaanites had named after the female goddess Sin, Moses heard the voice of the God. In an intriguing metaphor, God revealed that God had been carrying the Israelites like an eagle caring for its young on its wings. This moving imagery was later replicated by the middle section of Isaiah written during the Babylonian exile. The hymn “On Eagle’s Wings” conveys this imagery of majestic caring.
It was on Sinai that Moses received not only the Ten Commandments (Decalogue) but the inclusive 613 laws of Judaism. As we will see later, he was given the design for the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant as well as other holy objects. The message on Sinai was that, if the Hebrews obey the covenant with God, they will become a holy people, a nation of priests.
Over time, the exodus became known as the most pivotal event in the history of the Israelites. Its theme of liberation was reenacted yearly in the Passover festival, the Pesach. On the eve of his death, Jesus and his disciples performed the seder in the upper room. They broke unleavened bread (matzoth) and drank wine in commemoration.
Priesthood of all
During his childhood, the young Martin Luther shared that he was often severely punished. One day his mother gave him a bloody nose for eating fruit she intended for making a cobbler. He relays that when his father came home from the mines, he was often brutal. At school he often received the rod if he incorrectly conjugated Latin verbs. One time during his youth, Luther temporarily ran away from home.
During his early adulthood, he experienced a lightning bolt hitting the forested earth close by as he walked homeward. He immediately fell to his knees in fright and cried out to the grandmother of Jesus, St. Anne. He vowed to enter a strict Augustinian monastery.
There, he wondered if, given that his parents hit him severely to discipline him, perhaps God also wanted to punish him. Fasting and self-flagellation was the order of the day. He had to be resuscitated with flute music and water. He experienced the dark night of the soul. The German word “angst” refers to the deep experience of depression.
Then one day, while reading the epistle of Paul to the Romans, he experienced the unconditional love of God. As Paul Tillich put it, he experienced being accepted, even though he felt unacceptable. It was a direct experience of God’s love, not mediated through a Catholic priest. In his preaching he later emphasized the priesthood of all believers. The Protestant Reformation had taken hold.
In the Sinaitic wilderness, the messenger Moses pronounced that Israel would be a nation of priests. Moses and his brother Aaron were from the tribe of Levi, which was the lineage of the priesthood. But in the Reformation, the priesthood of all was proclaimed.
Liberation
When the United States was being formed in the late 18th century, Ben Franklin was impressed by the figure of Moses as liberator. Rather than currency including the symbolism of the pyramid with an eye at the center, he believed that there should be Moses, rod in hand, guiding the Israelites.
While Franklin’s suggestion was turned down by the Continental Congress, the figure of Moses is found eight times in the United States Capitol building. For decades, the McGuffey Readers—widely used in public schools—included citations about Moses and his message of liberation.
In recent times there has been a proposal to replace the portrait of Andrew Jackson on the twenty-dollar bill with that of Harriet Tubman. During the Civil War she was the leading figure in the Underground Railroad and often risked her life to help others escape the horrors of antebellum slavery.
Tubman admired the stories about Moses. One of her favorite hymns was “Go Down Moses.”
Non-hierarchical Jesus
In the cultural context in which Jesus taught, equality was not an ideal. He lived in a climate in West Asia in which one was socially either higher or lower. In a list of individuals, the most important were listed first in order of their honor. Men were thought to be superior to women, free persons to slaves, those with Roman citizenship to those without, the wealthy to the poor.
Even within the family structure, there was a hierarchy with the father as head. Sons were valued depending upon who was their mother (if multiple wives) and the birth order. Even twins were rated higher or lower than one another. The first-born was designated with a red ribbon on his ankle. Recall the birthright story of Esau and Jacob.
Jesus, however, stood radically for equality. His statement that the first shall be last and the last first was revolutionary. His kingdom, according to Donald Kraybill, was upside down.
His washing of the disciples’ feet at Passover was a demonstration of this reversal of status. Here he was performing the action of a servant, even a slave, perhaps even a woman. Of all the figures who are central in the world religions, Jesus is the only one who treats women with equality.
Even though he did not use the phrase, Jesus stood for the principle of equality personified in the phrase “priesthood of all,” first revealed on Sinai.
Herb Smith is professor emeritus of philosophy and religion at McPherson College in Kansas.