From the first day of the third month, the day on which Israel arrived
at Mount Sinai, a heavy cloud rested upon them, and every one except
Moses was forbidden to ascend the mountain, yea, they durst not even
stay near it, lest God smite those who pushed forward, with hail or
fiery arrows. [197] The day of the revelation announced itself as an
ominous day even in the morning, for diverse rumblings sounded from
Mount Sinai. Flashes of lightning, accompanied by an ever swelling peal
of horns, moved the people with mighty fear and trembling. God bent the
heavens, moved the earth, and shook the bounds of the world, so that
the depths trembled, and the heavens grew frightened. His splendor
passed through the four portals of fire, earthquake, storm and hail.
The kings of the earth trembled in their palaces, and they all came to
the villain Balaam, and asked him if God intended the same fate for
them as for the generation of the flood. But Balaam said to them: "O ye
fools! The Holy One, blessed be He, has long since promised Noah never
again to punish the world with a flood." The kings of the heathen,
however, were not quieted, and furthermore said: "God has indeed
promised never again to bring a flood upon the world, but perhaps He
now means to destroy it by means of fire." Balaam said: "Nay, God will
not destroy the world either through fire or through water. The
commotion throughout nature was caused through this only, that He is
not about to bestow the Torah upon His people. 'The Eternal will give
strength unto His people.'" At this all the kings shouted, "May the
Eternal bless His people with peace," and each one, quieted in spirit,
went to his house. [198]
Just as the inhabitants of the earth were alarmed at the revelation,
and believed the end of all time had arrived, so too did the earth. She
thought the resurrection of the dead was about to take place, and she
would have to account for the blood of the slain that she had absorbed,
and for the bodies of the murdered whom she covered. The earth was not
calmed until she heard the first words of the Decalogue. [199]
Although phenomena were perceptible on Mount Sinai in the morning,
still God did not reveal Himself to the people until noon. For owing to
the brevity of the summer nights, and the pleasantness of the morning
sleep in summer, the people were still asleep when God had descended
upon Mount Sinai. Moses betook himself to the encampment and awakened
them with these words: "Arise from your sleep, the bridegroom is at
hand, and is waiting to lead his bride under the marriage-canopy."
Moses, at the head of the procession, hereupon brought the nation to
its bridegroom, God, to Sinai, himself going up the mountain. [200] He
said to God: "Announce Thy words, Thy children are ready to obey them."
These words of Moses rang out near and far, for on the occasion, his
voice, when he repeated the words of God to the people, had as much
power as the Divine voice that he heard. [201]
It was not indeed quite of their own free will that Israel declared
themselves ready to accept the Torah, for when the whole nation, in two
divisions, men and women, approached Sinai, God lifted up this mountain
and held it over the heads of the people like a basket, saying to them:
"If you accept the Torah, it is well, otherwise you will find you grave
under this mountain." They all burst into tears and poured out their
heart in contrition before God, and then said: "All that the Lord hath
said, will we do, and be obedient." [202] Hardly had they uttered these
words of submission to God, when a hundred and twenty myriads of angels
descended, an provided every Israelite with a crown and a girdle of
glory - Divine gifts, which they did not lose until they worshipped the
Golden Calf, when the angels came and took the gifts away from them.
[203] At the same time with these crowns and girdles of glory, a
heavenly radiance was shed over their faces, but this also they later
lost through their sins. Only Moses retained it, whose face shone so
brightly, that if even to-day a crack were made in his tomb, the light
emanating from his corpse would be so powerful that it could not but
destroy all the world. [204]
After God had bestowed upon Israel these wonderful gifts, He wanted to
proceed to the announcement of the Torah, but did not desire to do so
while Moses was with Him, that the people might not say it was Moses
who had spoken out of the cloud. Hence He sought an excuse to be rid of
him. He therefore said to Moses: "Go down, warn the people, that they
shall not press forward to see, for if even one of them were to be
destroyed, the loss to Me would be as great as if all creation had been
destroyed. Bid Nadab and Abihu also, as well as the first born that are
to perform priestly duties, beware that they do not press forward."
Moses, however, desirous of remaining with God, replied: "I have
already warned the people and set the bounds beyond which they may not
venture." God hereupon said to Moses: "Go, descend and call upon Aaron
to come up with thee, but let him keep behind thee, while the people do
not move beyond the positions thou hadst assigned them." Hardly had
Moses left the mountain, when God revealed the Torah to the people.
[205]
This was the sixth revelation of God upon earth since the creation of
the world. The tenth and last is to take place on the Day of Judgement.
The heavens opened and Mount Sinai, freed from the earth, rose into the
air, so that its summit towered into the heavens, while a thick cloud
covered the sides of it, and touched the feet of the Divine Throne.
[206] Accompanying God on one side, appeared twenty-two thousand angels
with crowns for the Levites, the only tribe that remained true to God
while the rest worshipped the Golden Calf. On the second side were
sixty myriads, three thousand five hundred and fifty angels, each
bearing a crown of fire for each individual Israelite. Double this
number of angels was on the third side, whereas on the fourth side they
were simply innumerable. For God did not appear from one direction, but
from all four simultaneously, which, however, did not prevent His glory
from filling the heaven as well as all the earth. [207] In spite of
these innumerable hosts of angels there was no crowding on Mount Sinai,
no mob, there was room for all the angels that had appeared in honor of
Israel and the Torah. They had, however, at the same time received the
order to destroy Israel in case they intended to reject the Torah.
[208]