The theophany on high bearing witness to the presence of the Divinity, Moses prepared for the tribal sacrifice below by erecting an altar and setting up twelve pillars (mazzeboth). The young men slew the oxen, and Moses sprinkled the blood on the pillars and the people. Then, taking with him three priests and seventy elders, he went up into the mountain. “And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone and as it were the very heaven for clearness” (Exod. xxiv. 10, 11). And they ate and they drank there.
We read that Moses’ second stay in the Mount lasted forty days and forty nights, during which he fasted (Exod. xxxiv. 28). The Moslim identified this fast as Ramadan, which, before Mohammad interfered with its date, happened during the heat of summer.[105] The Israelites at the foot of the mountain, probably observed the same fast, since Aaron’s reason for making the calf was that “to-morrow shall be a feast of the Lord,” i.e. at the conclusion of the fast, there was feasting, drinking, throwing off of clothes, dancing and much noise (Exod. xxxii. 6, 17, 25). In this case it was a question of a full moon festival, for, on a later occasion, Jeroboam made two calves of gold, one of which he set up in Bethel and one in Dan, and ordained a feast on the 15th day (1 Kings xii. 28, 32).
In the Mount, Moses was directed to make a portable sanctuary on the model of actual arrangements which he was shown. “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it” (Exod. xxv. 8, 9). “And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the Mount” (Exod. xxvi. 30). “Hollow with boards shalt thou make it; as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it” (Exod. xxvii. 8). The furniture included an ark or chest, which contained a vase and two stones, i.e. the standards of capacity and weight, and the “mercy seat” which was upon the ark (Exod. xxv. 17). There was also a standard of length, perhaps the rod of Aaron. The strict adherence to these standards was henceforth a matter of religious duty with the Israelites. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have” (Lev. xix. 35, 36). These standards were of Babylonian origin, and confirm the presence in the Mount of strong Semitic influence.
The ark further contained the two tables of testimony, which were cut in stone, but which were so brittle that they easily broke, whereupon Moses engaged to provide others (Exod. xxiv. 12; xxxii. 19; xxxiv. 1; Deut. x. 1). The commandments which they contained consisted, for the most part, of a prohibition that was followed by a precept. In this they resemble the commandments that have come out of Babylonia, which contain precepts such as these, “Thou shalt not slander, speak what is pure. Thou shalt not speak evil, speak kindly.”[106]
The tablets were in the “writing of God” (Exod. xxxii. 16), which raises the question as to the language and script that were used. Moses, as we know, was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts vii. 22). He was certainly familiar with hieroglyphs, and the fact that the commandments were preserved in two texts that differ (Exod. xx; Deut. v.), suggests that they were written in a language that was not Hebrew. But the discovery of a primitive Semitic script at Serabit itself, puts a different complexion on the matter. The “writing of God” was possibly a Semitic script.
Over and above the commandments, Moses received a collection of written customs for the guidance of those who were henceforth to decide in inter-tribal disputes. They are known as judgments (Exod. xxi. 1), which is in keeping with their being given out at a sanctuary, where Yahveh was accepted as Supreme Judge. In the Yahveh cult the pronouncements were no longer subject to the decisions at local centres. They were set down in writing and associated with the holy tent, and it was by accepting the local Baals and Ashtoreths that the Hebrews fell from the covenant and lapsed into an earlier barbarism. The discovery of the Code of Khammurabi and the points of likeness between its ordinances and those of the code accepted under the name of Moses, further corroborate the Semitic or Arabian influence of the religious centres where the ordinances were received.
Moses had many communings in the Mount, and a year had gone by when the tabernacle was set up “on the first day of the first month,” in order to celebrate the Passover (Exod. xl. 2; Num. ix. 1). On the twentieth day of the second month in the second year the fires were extinguished and the Israelites moved out of the wilderness of Sinai while a cloud lay on Paran (Num. x. 11-12). They were led by Hobab, the Kenite. Hobab is described in one passage as “the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law” (Num. x. 29), in another as “the father-in-law of Moses” (Judg. iv. 11). The Septuagint renders the term in both passages as “brother-in-law” (i.e. γαμβρός) of Moses. The terms of relationship are difficult to fix, but if Raguel be accepted as the tribal father, as already suggested, Jethro and Hobab may be looked upon as younger members of the tribe, perhaps his sons.
The first station was called Taberah because of the “Burning.” Here manna was again plentiful (Num. xi. 8), which shows that the district was wooded. The next place was called Kibroth-Hata-avah, i.e. burial place of Ta-avah, because of those who died of the plague and were buried. Here again quails were plentiful, which the wind brought up from the sea (Num. xi. 31). The next stopping place was Hazeroth (Num. xi. 35), the last station before they entered the wilderness of Paran (Num. xii. 16).
Robinson located Hazeroth at Ain Hudhera.[107] But if the original goal of the Israelites was Serabit, they would be moving in a northerly or north-easterly direction. In the opening lines of Deuteronomy occur the words Hazeroth and Dizahab (Deut. i, 1), for which the Septuagint substitutes Aulon, rich in gold (Αὐλὼν or Αὐλὸν καὶ καταχρύσεα).[108] The word Aulon signifies ravine, which suggests that Hazeroth must be sought somewhere along the escarpment of the Badiet Tîh, or “plain of wandering.” The map of Sinai in a north-easterly direction shows Wadi Hafera, which has some likeness to Hazeroth. The Bir Shaweis and the Bir Themed are perennial wells which the people would strike if they moved in a north-north-easterly direction.
The next stopping place was “in the wilderness of Paran” (Num. xii. 16).