The Giving of the Law
The crossing of the sea may have been the central saving event in Israelite history, but the entering into relationship with Yahweh, by receiving the Ten Commandments, was the most permanent.
The conditions Yahweh laid down were not onerous, but were designed to make it easier for Israel to experience to the full this newfound freedom. The Law is not an imposition; it was merely the first of God’s many gifts. And what were the terms of this relationship? They were, and remain, what we know as the ten commandments, even if our culture is so transformed from theirs that we no longer comprehend the meaning of most of them.
Moses stands on top of Mount Sinai, his conversation with Yahweh at an end. Below him the bush burns on in a brilliance associated only with deity, and above him hovers the cloud of God’s presence. His face now radiates a brilliance so that his colourful clothes are seen as washed out, and even his hair has temporarily turned white.