When was the Mosaic Law given?

sermonindex Aug 10, 2007

Okay, this is for all you Bible scholars. ;-)

Was it given at the same time as the feast of Pentecost?

Was it on the first day or fifteen day of the third month that they arrived at Sinai?

Was it given over a period of five days?

Okay, here are some Scriptures:

~~[b]~~Exodus 19[/b]
1~~[b]~~In the third month[/b], when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, ~~[b]~~the same day[/b] came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

2For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

3And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

4Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

5Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

6And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

7And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

8And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

9And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

10And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and ~~[b]~~sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,

11And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. [/b]

~~[b]~~Exodus 24[/b]
1And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.

2And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

3And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.

~~[b]~~4And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning,[/b] and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

5And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.

6And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.

8And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

~~[b]~~Leviticus 23[/b]
~~[i]~~Feast of Pentecost[/i]
15And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

16Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

17Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

18And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

19Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

20And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

21And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

22And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

23And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

24Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

25Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

*******************

Has anyone studied into this that would be willing to share their conclusions? Or any articles online that would be helpful?

Jewish tradition associates the giving of the Law with Pentecost and celebrates it in that way. But is there Biblical precedent for such a view?

Thanks ahead of time!!!

~Joy

C

ChrisJD Aug 11, 2007

Hi Joy, I hope you are well.

Here are a few passages that I thought might be usefull in your consideration...

"And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount." -Exodus 32:19

"Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." -Exodus 32:26-28

~~[i]~~...and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men[/i]

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?" -Acts 2:1-7

"But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:" -Acts 2:14

"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." -Acts 2:41

~~[i]~~...and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls[/i]

I think I first heard mention of this in a message given by Ray Comfort, but I can not remember for sure.

Chris

P

philologos Aug 11, 2007

I think I am perhaps missing the point here. Moses spent two periods of 40 days in the Mount. The Covenant itself seems to have come into force in Ex 24 when the blood was sprinkled on the people and the altar (and according to Hebrews, the people)

The Levitical law was then given in detail but it took a whole year to build the Tabernacle and then to consecrate the priests. In some sense the Covenant could not really function until the Priests were functioning.

As regards the Jews celebrating Pentecost as the anniversary of Sinai; this is true as far as I can deduce. The paralles between Moses as the mediator of the Old Covenant and Jesus as the mediator of the New Covenant are quite remarkable.

I see no reason to question the Jew's association of Pentecost with Sinai, but I may be missing your point.

sermonindex Aug 11, 2007

Hello brother Ron and brother Chris,

Thanks for the replies. Brother Ron, The things is that the association of Pentecost with the Mosaic Law being given is not really clear Scriptures but was put together by Jewish Rabbis so that the feast of Pentecost would be connected with a historicial event in Scripture. This was done by them by at last the second century A.D.

There are indeed wonderful parellels between the giving of the Law, the Feast of Pentecost and the Pentecost of Acts 2. Thank you, brother Chris, for pointing that out (I am well and hope you and yours are doing well also).

So, I'm just trying to make sure that Scripturally these two events are tied together an this isn't just Jewish tradition that is being followed (though much insight can be gleaned from it).

Any more thoughts? I'm trying to make this as clear as possible...but it does seem a bit muddy...hmmm...

I suppose the question would be, why do we put these two events together? What is the Scriptural reasoning of this view?

~Joy

P

philologos Aug 12, 2007

Hi
I was wondering where you got the information that the association of Pentecost and Sinai was not until the 2nd Century AD? Edersheim, in The Temple; its ministry and services says...

"According to unanimous Jewish tradition, which was universally received at the time of Christ, the day of Pentecost was the anniversary of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, which the Feast of Weeks was intended to commemorate."

Edersheim is usually very accurate on this kind of thing.

sermonindex Aug 13, 2007

Hello brother Ron,
I got the information out of 'The Feasts of Israel' by Bruce Scott.

Thanks for the information from Edersheim. I hadn't thought of checking out what he said and it is most helpful to know that and also to read the rest of the chapter about the Feast of Pentecost.
Thank you!

~Joy

C

ChrisJD Aug 14, 2007

Hi Joy,

I was just skimming over this passage and noticed verse 5 of Exodus chapter 32. Hope that is helpfull in your study.

Chris

sermonindex Aug 14, 2007

The law was given to Moses on the mountain. So I would say that was when it was given. When Moses gave it to the people I couldn't answer unless I did some research. It gets very complicated when you get into all the sacrifices and festivals days and it had to be done in a very strict manner. Aren't you glad Jesus saved us from all of that?