We can depend on him. On the other hand, Jesus speaks of mountains being moved by our faith Matthew This is impossible by human standards, but God wants us to know that with him, all things are possible. In our own lives, we find moments in which we see God so clearly at work, just as Moses did on the mountaintop.
We also experience other seasons, such as the Israelite people did, where we feel God is distant and begin to build our own idols to worship. He is able to do the impossible even when we are stuck in the valley; he is still finding a way forward for us on the mountain. A vailable at LifeAudio. Listen to the first episode here:. Amanda Idleman is a writer whose passion is to encourage others to live joyfully.
You can find out more about Amanda on her Facebook Page or follow her on Instagram. Shoebox Collection Week is Here! Amanda Idleman Contributing Writer 16 Jun.
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The sheer volume of people places stress on the physical structures, while the growing number of secular visitors to this holy place and its consequent treatment as a tourist attraction has placed strain on the monks and visiting pilgrims. The cultural influence of Western tourists has contributed to the local community shifting away from traditional agricultural and land-management practices, and these shifts have, in turn, led to environmental impacts such as overgrazing.
Fortunately, the Mount Sinai—St. Catherine area has been the focus of national and international protection efforts. Catherine Natural Protectorate, was officially approved. Catherine Protectorate encompasses nearly all of the mountainous area of South Sinai, and it is one of the most habitat- and species-rich ecosystems in the Middle East.
There are more than species of plants in the protectorate; of these, at least 30 are endemic and dozens have medicinal properties utilized by Bedouin communities. In , the European Union, in cooperation with the Egyptian government, began a development project for the protectorate aimed at preserving biodiversity, the mountain ecosystem and traditional knowledge of natural resource management, as well as promoting sustainable socio-economic development, including sustainable tourism.
From the outset, the local Bedouin communities were involved. By the time the European Union concluded its commitment at the end of , the development project, especially the Bedouin Support Program, had been hailed a success, and the project was transferred to Egyptian authorities. The program has many components, including health and veterinary services, dam construction and clean-water projects, wildlife and botany monitoring, and a project to rehabilitate the population of acacia trees, which herders rely on for fodder during times of drought but which had recently been overharvested.
A separate project, funded in part by the U. Development Program, is helping to preserve local knowledge of medicinal plant cultivation and to enable the communities to generate income from it. In addition to conservation-oriented work, the Bedouin communities are also involved in tourism — using their knowledge to guide safaris and to run camps and eco-lodges, which are built with local materials and use clean energy. To control visitor pressure and preserve the sanctity of the area, the EEAA instituted a number of regulations.
There is a ban on removing any object, including rocks, plants and animals; disturbing animals and birds; cutting or uprooting plants; and writing, painting or carving graffiti.
Local Bedouin have traditionally respected the sanctity of the mountain by leaving with their flocks before sunset. Trekkers visiting the mountain regions are required to be accompanied by Bedouin guides. To aid in visitor management, the EEAA produced a set of walking-guide books and established a corps of Bedouin guides. In group of scientists and volunteers launched the Community and Environmental Services Center, aimed at improving the level of social and public services, especially for the Bedouins, in the St.
Services include a health clinic, mobile veterinary unit, a cultural heritage unit and training courses. The nonprofit U. The sudden shifts, doublets, contradictions and internal tensions act as signposts, alerting the reader that he may have left one document behind and shifted to another. And when some of the pieces begin to fit together with others that appear further on, we realize that the documents have not disappeared or been edited away but rather remain almost intact.
When this is done, the same picture emerges in the story of the lawgiving as has emerged elsewhere in the Torah. In the material preceding Deuteronomy, three narrative strands can be detected known as J, E and P ; in Deuteronomy we hear a fourth D , similar to one of the three preceding but not identical. Let us see if we can divide the text into these sources. Three distinct stories J, E and P seem to have been intertwined in Exodus.
One of these P continues into Leviticus and Numbers. When read separately see sidebar to this article , this is what emerges:. All this seems to occur in one day. The next morning, Moses obtains the covenant monument, the two stone tablets prepared by God. The essence of the covenant, as expressed in the opening of the Decalogue Exodus , as well as at the beginning and end of the covenant speech Exodus , , is the prohibition of other gods—in other words, the demand for absolute fidelity to the covenantal liege.
The making of the calf is thus the archetypal act of covenantal disloyalty Exodus The new tablets, upon which God rewrites the Ten Words, provide the resolution Exodus , 4, With their presentation to Moses, the story ends Exodus Several stylistic elements allow us to connect this version with other identifiably Elohistic passages in the Torah. Believability is a major concern for prophets. Why should anyone who is not present when the deity speaks to the prophet believe that he did?
In E, Moses climbs up the mountain six times:. Of course, he also comes down six times. Here the mountain is called Sinai. The story is fragmentary. Its opening lines seem not to have been preserved. We enter at the point when preparations are ordered for a theophany on Mount Sinai.
These preparations are entirely restrictive: The people must remain pure, launder their clothing and wait in anticipation for three days Exodus — Above all, when the Lord arrives they must remain at a safe distance; violators will be executed Exodus — The danger that the deity may surge forth and destroy those who come too close is so great that the Lord refuses to make his appearance until he is absolutely certain that his warnings have been received and heeded Exodus — The theophany as described in J takes place all at once on the third day.
The Lord comes down in the sight of all the people, but the different groups of participants, arranged in tiers, experience it in varying ways. The people are charged to stand back and watch; they witness fire, smoke and the trembling of the mountain, but they are not to attempt to gaze at YHWH.
They may not even approach until the signal is given that it is safe to do so Exodus , 20— From this vantage point they are vouchsafed a view of the God of Israel and are graciously spared death, which would normally result from such a vision.
Only Moses continues on alone and comes near the Lord Exodus —2, 9— Here the fragmentary nature of J is apparent. Did this actually occur at this point in the story? The Sinai theophany was probably an experience in its own right, in which the people as a whole participated, though in varying degrees. The covenant at Sinai, in which the laws were given, was made later, as a mark of reconciliation in the wake of some crisis, the complete story of which has been lost.
In what has been preserved of the first part of this story, Moses climbs the mountain four times:. He also descends four times, each time carrying out the task assigned. The tetragrammaton, YHWH, features prominently and is proclaimed by the Lord himself when the covenant is made. As seems to be the case with other J stories, this narrative appears not to have survived in its entirety. The fire cloud encasing the majesty of God takes up residence atop the mountain.
Moses enters the cloud, and God gives him, at great length, the instructions for building and furnishing the Tabernacle, preparing the vestments and performing the investiture of the priesthood, and consecrating the altar Exodus , — Though some of these matters involve permanent legislation, Moses is told that the actual lawgiving will commence only after the Tabernacle instructions are carried out Exodus Then, as promised, God concludes the session by presenting Moses with a testimony, to be deposited in the Tabernacle ark, and dismisses him.
As Moses descends with the testimony Exodus , the residual radiation of the divine reflection shines from his face, causing the people to flee. He explains the source of his fearsome radiance to Aaron and the tribal chiefs, who coax the people to return and face Moses.
Moses transmits to them the words of God—with the understanding that thereafter he will cover his radiant face Exodus — Moses assembles the people and reports to them, ordering them to supply the needed materials and build the Tabernacle Exodus — Ten months after arriving at Sinai, the Israelites complete the portable abode for the deity, and Moses dutifully deposits the testimony in the magnificent ark Exodus At the beginning of the second year, as the fire cloud descends from Sinai, God takes up residence in the Tabernacle, filling the tent and finally shrinking into the divine throne room Exodus — This visual arrival of God is thereafter repeated each time camp is struck and reversed each time the journey is to continue Exodus —38; Numbers — God calls to Moses from within the tent Leviticus , and the lawgiving process begins.
The first laws to be imparted pertain to the methods of offering sacrifices Leviticus 1—7 , as the consecration of the priesthood and dedication of the Tabernacle Leviticus 8—9 cannot take place until these laws have been elucidated. Then the rest of the law code is unfolded a section at a time by the voice speaking to Moses from within the tent. Strictly speaking, Mount Sinai is not the place of lawgiving. The laws are given in the Tabernacle: Sinai is merely where the majesty of God rested before the lawgiving commenced and where the Tabernacle was first erected; it is not the holy mountain of God.
God does not dwell on the mountain; the fire cloud comes from heaven, settles temporarily on the mountain and finally descends to earth. There is no prophetic Moses as in E. Here Moses merely receives divine commands and conveys them to the people.
He is not attributed with initiative, intercession or impulsiveness. P nowhere refers to these events or any part of them as a covenant; in P the covenant is the promise to the patriarchs Genesis —8 , not the giving of the law. The divine fire cloud and divine fire are part of a prolonged public theophany. The subsequent meetings between God and Moses also have their theophanic aspect, in the residual radiance of the divine presence beheld by the people each time Moses reports to them.
Thus the private stage of the lawgiving ultimately involves the repeated, vicarious participation of the people. P envisions not only intermittent meetings with God for receiving the laws but also regular assemblies of the entire Israelite people, at which Moses conveys laws to them.
Furthermore, in P Moses is said to have received the laws and to have conveyed them orally to the people, but nowhere is he charged with writing them down, and nowhere is it related that he did so.
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