“When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall go up on the mountain” (Exodus 19:13). The original intention was for all Israelites to be like priests, and experience YHWH’s revelation on the mountain top. But when YHWH descends and the horn sounds, the people recoil and remain below.

In the second century C.E., 4 Ezra and Irenaeus tell a story of how the Torah was burned by Nebuchadnezzar and reconstructed by Ezra through divine inspiration. Rabbinic texts know of this tradition, but in their version, Ezra’s contribution is changing the Torah into Aramaic writing, or even Aramaic language.

Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham’s servant, Laban, and Jethro all bless YHWH, but, as Rabbi Pappias notes in the Mekhilta, the Israelites don’t. Only later in the Bible do we find David and Solomon blessing YHWH, but so do Hiram King of Tyre and the Queen of Sheba.

The Hebrew term for the Decalogue is עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים aseret hadevarim. The word דבר davar is one of the most common nouns in biblical Hebrew, and can mean “word,” “thing,” “statement,” and even “commandment.” What does it mean in this context?

The Decalogue was not originally part of the Sinai theophany but was added later, both in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Its origins lie in wisdom literature.

The Bible describes YHWH as glowing (kabod), and YHWH’s heat as melting mountains, imagery connected with volcano gods, the divine patrons of metalworkers such as the Kenites, who lived in the Negev region. Indeed, the description of Israel’s encounter with YHWH at Sinai portrays a volcanic eruption, with smoke “as if from a furnace” (Exodus 19:18).

“Who controls the past controls the future.” – George Orwell, 1984

Why?

In several midrashim, God lovingly lifts Mount Sinai over the Israelites to protect them from the dangers of the revelation. One midrash, however, has God threatening to bury the Israelites with the mountain if they don’t accept the Torah. The difference is the intertext.

The answer, or lack thereof, teaches us something important about the meaning and limits of divine revelation.

Ibn Ezra gives a surprising non-explanation for why Deuteronomy’s version of the Decalogue differs from that of Exodus: Is it really such a problem if Moses changed the words a little as long as he got the point right?

Beyond the two versions of the Decalogue in Exodus and Deuteronomy, and the usual differences between MT, SP, and LXX, in Second Temple times, liturgical texts in Qumran (4QDeutⁿ) and Egypt (Nash Papyrus), Greek references in the New Testament and Philo, and even tefillin parchments, reflect slightly different recensions of the text.

The image of YHWH accompanied by a heavenly retinue (צבאות) is ubiquitous in the Prophets and the Writings. Uniquely, in Isaiah’s call narrative, YHWH appears before the prophet accompanied by six-winged seraphim. What are these heavenly beings?

Linked by words and acts of chesed (lovingkindness), Jethro and Rahab are rabbinic exemplars of true converts.

In the list of people who must not work on Shabbat, the גֵּר “sojourner” or “(resident) alien” appears last, even after the Israelite’s work animals. Is the sojourner’s standing in the Bible lower than livestock?

Tracing the tannaitic and biblical sources for the famous claim that God held Mount Sinai over the Israelites and threatened to bury them if they did not accept the Torah.

Generally translated as “do not steal,” the Rabbis make a compelling case for understanding lo tignov in the Decalogue to be a prohibition against the more serious offense of kidnapping, or, in modern terms, human trafficking.

The Decalogue texts in Exodus and Deuteronomy have significant differences, a problem grappled with by the Talmudic sages and Medieval exegetes.

From Judges to Tefillin, the Hagaddah to Kol Nidrei – Jewish Tradition has preserved or harmonized different opinions: An idea reflected in Torah as understood by the Documentary Hypothesis

The revelation at Sinai emerged as central to Israel’s story in the Persian period. No biblical text outside the Torah mentions it until its unique inclusion in the historical prologue of the Levites’ prayer in Nehemiah 9:13-14. A later scribe redacted the Sinai verses to further include a reference to the Torah of Moses.

Can all social change be antedated back to Sinai?

A Historical Approach

The Revelation of the Divine Voice Within 

The Sinai theophany is virtually absent from the Bible outside of the Torah and the very late book of Nehemiah. This absence reflects an alternative tradition that sees Israel’s laws as deriving from multiple small revelations from prophets throughout history. 

In English, to covet means to desire someone or something obsessively, wrongfully, and/or without due regard for the rights/feelings of others. It is a strong emotion, to be avoided. But does “covet” capture the meaning of the Hebrew verb חמד?

The development of the idea that the Torah has 613 mitzvot: From Talmudic aggada, to geonic liturgy, to medieval enumerations.

In the ancient world, genealogy was not about family relations but about political alliances.

Four Answers to One Question

Surprising misconceptions and ambiguities about God’s central and unmediated revelation

YHWH commissions Isaiah to distract the people of Judah so that they continue to sin and then YHWH can punish them harshly. In contrast to other biblical figures such as Abraham and Moses, Isaiah is silent at this injustice.

The Seven Commandments: The Supplementary Approach at Work

A careful examination of the three oldest copies of the Decalogue—4QDeutⁿ, 4QPaleoExodus^m, and the Nash Papyrus—surprisingly shows that none of them reflects the Masoretic Text.

Traditional commentators endued certain Torah references with midrashic or esoteric purport in an effort to counteract those who mocked them. But in so doing, they were conceding the mockers’ evaluation of these texts as being, prima facie, inconsequential. Fortunately, source criticism helps us accept these texts without discomfort, obviating the compulsion to interpret them away.