Concealed commemoration: the Torah's ambivalent attitude to recalling the events of Sinai

By Daniel Abraham and Shmuli Phillips

A malady that frequently afflicts academic critiques of the Torah is the tendency to build mountains of theories on the most fragile of foundations: the argument from silence. This argument involves the inference that, if a book of the Bible fails to mention any particular historical detail that preceded it, this detail was therefore unknown to the later biblical author.

In an article for thetorah.com (linked at the end of this post), Dr. Rabbi David Frankel writes of the Sinai theophany, “it is striking to note that, in the rest of the Tanach, this event is almost totally ignored”. He proceeds to argue that this absence across biblical works demonstrates that the event was unknown by most, if not all ancient Israelites, and reflects an alternative tradition that sees Israel’s laws as deriving from multiple small revelations from prophets throughout history.

In order to counter this argument, we will first note numerous later references to the events at Sinai (or Horeb). The second half of this post will then examine whether the theophany was really the “dramatic highpoint” of Jewish history that Frankel suggests. Is it justifiable to be so astounded by the paucity of its subsequent recounting in biblical texts?

Deuteronomy 33:2 consists of a reference to God’s glory appearing at Sinai that is referenced in at least three other biblical books:

“He said: The LORD came from Sinai; He shone upon them from Seir; He appeared from Mount Paran, And approached from Ribeboth-kodesh, Lightning flashing at them from His right.”

Judges 5:4-5 uses notably similar language to describe the theophany:

“O LORD, when You came forth from Seir, Advanced from the country of Edom, The earth trembled; The heavens dripped, Yea, the clouds dripped water. The mountains quaked— Before the LORD, Him of Sinai, Before the LORD, God of Israel."

Habakkuk 3:2-3 

“God is coming from Teman, The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His majesty covers the skies, His splendor fills the earth. It is a brilliant light Which gives off rays on every side— And therein His glory is enveloped.”

Habakkuk employs similar terminology to Deuteronomy 33 and, while not mentioning Sinai explicitly, is understood by biblical scholars as a reference to the Sinai theophany.

Psalms 68:8, 9, 18: 

“O God, when You went at the head of Your army, when You marched through the desert, selah. The earth trembled, the sky rained because of God, on Sinai, because of God, the God of Israel…God’s chariots are myriads upon myriads, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them as in Sinai in holiness.”

This reference to Sinai employs similar terminology to both the revelation at Sinai in Deuteronomy 33 and that of Judges 5 cited above.

Other biblical references to the events at Sinai are more explicit:

1 Kings 8:9 “There was nothing inside the Ark but the two tablets of stone which Moses placed there at Horeb, when the LORD made [a covenant] with the Israelites after their departure from the land of Egypt.”

1 Kings 19:8 “He [Elijah] arose and ate and drank; and with the strength from that meal he walked forty days and forty nights as far as the mountain of God at Horeb.”

Psalms 106:19, 23: “They made a calf at Horeb and bowed down to a molten image…He would have destroyed them had not Moses His chosen one confronted Him in the breach to avert His destructive wrath.”

Malachi 3:22 “Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel.”

A high proportion of the so-called “Later Prophets” consists of allegorical poetic verse rather than precise historical recordings. Nevertheless, certain clear references to the events of Sinai are evident in the haunting words of Ezekiel (chap. 16) as he recounts the delicate dynamics of the early relationship between God and Israel, as well as in the stern rebuke of Jeremiah (chap. 2). Both draw upon the term “edyo”: the ornament with which Israel was crowned at Sinai before being stripped of after the sin of the Golden Calf (more on this soon). Other more subtle references, such as Rahab’s speech in the second chapter of Joshua and Elijah’s vision at Horeb in Kings I 19, are analysed by biblical scholars.

While Frankel claims that historical reviews of the Israelite’s sojourn in the desert (Psalms 136, Numbers 33, Deuteronomy 26, Joshua 24, 1 Samuel 12:8) omit mention of Sinai, it should be recognized that each one of these apparent reviews of history are brief in nature, and contain minimal details of the Israelite sojourn in the desert.

This is typical of biblical reviews which are generally brief summaries, or focused on specific themes such as sins or plagues, and are hardly comprehensive. In fact, there are many major events in the Tanach, such as the Akeida, Mannah and miraculous death of Korach’s assembly, that are barely mentioned again. The fact that some individual book or prophet does not record a particular major event from the past should not lead us to conclude prematurely that it must not have been known to its author.

While the sources listed above provide ample evidence that the theophany at Sinai was well known to later biblical authors, the question remains why such an apparently significant event in Jewish national history is referenced only obliquely and indirectly in subsequent biblical texts.

When one carefully examines the Torah’s account as well as rabbinic sources it becomes evident that the prime significance of Sinai is not the Ten Commandments themselves, which are not the first laws taught to the nation. Nor can Sinai truly be considered the primary place of the Lawgiving with the majority of the Torah’s laws and text transmitted over the subsequent 39 years in the desert. Rather the Sinai revelation was intended to authenticate Moshe’s prophecy, as God explains to Moshe:

"I am coming to you in the thickness of the cloud, in order that the people hear when I speak to you, and they will also believe in you forever." (Exodus 19:9, see Hil. Yesodei HaTorah 8:1)

In terms of the historical implications of Sinai, it is the national covenant with God which appears most important. A covenant the significance of which is emphasised and continually referenced not just in the Torah itself, but throughout later prophetic works.

The Ten Commandments, while occupying a special place within Jewish thought, are not as central in Jewish tradition as they are for Christians, who emphasised the Ten Commandments at the expense of the Torah’s other teachings. To quote biblical scholar, Professor Dominik Markl:

“Within the New Testament, Jesus is shown as taking the validity of the Decalogue for granted (Mk 10:19 // Mt 19:18f // Lk 18:29) and using it for his ethical teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt 5: 21, 27, 28). Against this backdrop, the Decalogue gained a central role in Early Christian interpretation of the divine law. Rabbinic Judaism, however, emphasised that every commandment of the Torah had the same divine authority.”

From the Jewish perspective, the special significance of the Ten Commandments lies more in their representation of the entirety of Torah law in condensed form; perhaps as a manner of preamble which was utilized for the sealing of the nation’s covenant with God. Scholars evaluating the Sinai theophany solely from the perspective of Jewish tradition, unaffected by Christian teachings and influence (which includes the Western tradition of art) may be somewhat less surprised that the Ten Commandments are not explicitly referenced throughout later prophetic works.

Finally, it can also be persuasively argued that the momentous national revelation of Sinai was irreparably marred by the sin of the Golden Calf which immediately followed it. We read in yesterday’s parashah how, in the aftermath of the Sinai sin, God proposes to destroy the nation. While God rescinds His threat, the fallout of the Golden Calf sees an angel lead the people in His place and Moshe remove his dwelling place from the camp. Not only is the nation described as having lost their adornments (“edyo”, see above), it is also informed that punishment for the sin would be visited upon them in future. Centuries later, memories of the sin still haunt the Israelite kingdom, with Jeroboam forming his own golden calves and repeating the declaration: “these are your gods O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt”. The Talmud shockingly compares the Israelite sinning with the Golden Calf at Sinai to a “bride whoring under her wedding canopy” (Shabbat 88a).

Taking this loss of status and national shame into account we may be able to understand why later biblical books do not refer to Sinai explicitly. The Torah’s instruction to “remember” the national revelation is accomplished through veiled references to the event which initially promised so much, but ultimately set the stage for a complicated relationship between God and Israel.

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First posted to Facebook 7 March 2021.

Sinai: what happened -- and what was the point?

Yesterday’s Torah reading featured Moshe revisiting the Sinai revelation as he continues recounting major desert events on the Plains of Moav. While Sinai is widely associated with Lawgiving, Rabbi S. R. Hirsch points out that many laws and instructions had already been received by the nation before this event, and that laws continued to be revealed afterwards throughout the desert years. What, then, was the particular significance of this national revelation?

Two important functions are mentioned explicitly here by Moshe himself.

The first relates to Israel’s eternal unique status as a chosen nation. Even though Israel was destined to sin and suffer severe exile as a consequence, Moshe maintains that they can be assured that God will never abandon them; the eternal covenant will never be broken: “He will not forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them.” After all “Did ever a people hear God's voice speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard, and live?”. As Rabbi Yehuda Halevi emphasises, this mass revelation represents a theological foundation for Christianity and Islam too. While these subsequent religions argue that Israel’s sins led it to be abandoned by God, Moshe – a prophet whose legitimacy they all accept – makes it unambiguously clear that the Jewish nation will never be replaced.

A second fundamental function of the Sinai revelation is also hammered home by Moshe in his introduction to the Ten Commandments: “And you shall guard yourselves very carefully, for you did not see any image on the day that God spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire”. The human imagination has long dreamed up creative speculations as to the image of God and how He can be physically represented. As Moshe describes at length, humans are prone to “lift their eyes up to heaven” and attribute divinity to the celestial bodies, or consider that impressive “beasts of the earth” must be endowed with supernatural powers. The point emphasised by Moshe is that even in the nation’s most direct and intimate encounter with the Divine, no image was seen. God can most accurately be depicted in the negative – what could NOT be seen. The Sinai revelation thereby condemns any subsequent attempt to attribute a form of divinity to any physical image, object or even great sage as a product of human imagination – not the God who revealed Himself to the nation at Sinai.

A third vital function of the Sinai revelation is not mentioned here in Moshe’s recounting, but is stated by God before the initial account of the Ten Commandments in Shemot (19:9): "I am coming to you in the thickness of the cloud, in order that the people hear when I speak to you, and they will also believe in you forever". As analysed in Judaism Reclaimed, the primary purpose of the Sinai revelation was not the Ten Commandments themselves, but rather that – as explained by Rambam – the nation participated in a direct prophetic encounter between God and Moshe. Having witnessed such an extraordinary phenomenon they became aware of their own inability to maintain such a level of proximity with the divine and implored God to communicate with them instead through Moshe. This represented the ultimate authentication and vindication of Moshe’s prophecy through which the Torah was received.

Various questions have been raised over the ambiguity of the Torah’s accounts of the Sinai revelation. Which words, if any, were heard directly by the nation and what was conveyed instead by Moshe? If the collective national memory did not preserve such details, does this not undermine the force and significance of such a revelation?

Bearing in mind the functions of the Sinai revelation that we have identified explicitly within the Torah’s text, we can argue that the content of the Commandments – while obviously important – is not what makes this event so highly-emphasised and unique. Rather it is the implications that this revelation had for the relationship between God and His chosen people. First, we gained actual knowledge that His divinity cannot be represented by anything within the physical world and secondly that our relationship with Him is eternal and non-revocable.

Once the nation had been granted third-party participatory status and thereby witnessed Moshe receiving prophecy, his authenticity as an instrument of God’s word was now beyond doubt. The question of which parts of the Ten Commandments were heard directly from God and which via Moshe’s agency becomes far less significant.

First posted to Facebook 30 July 2023, here.