Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were voices and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the voice of the shofar was very loud , so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moshe brought the people out of the camp to meet with G-d, and they stood under the mountain. Now Mt. Sinai was completely in smoke, because the L-rd descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the people quaked greatly. And when the blast of the shofar sounded long and became louder and louder, Moshe spoke, and G-d answered him by voice.
Shemot (Exodus) 19.16-19

These verses have been changed from our English Bibles so you could see the true meaning of them. The interpretation above is from the Septuagint is very important because it gives us a better understanding of the thought of the Jewish people in the third century B.C.E. The bold words are words that the Septuagint uses that are different from ours. Although the words are few in number, they change the whole meaning of the verses and in some cases they clarify what is happening. We will look at each of these words one at a time.

The first word is "voices." Our Bibles translate the word as, "thunder." The Hebrew is, kolot. It comes from kol, which means "voice." It is the Strong's number 6963. The addition of the Hebrew letter tav simply makes the word plural.

This is the same word used in Shemot (Exodus) 19.5....

Now therefore , if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for the earth is Mine

It is also the same word used at the end of verse 19. There are numerous passages to show that the word does indeed mean "voice" or "voices."

The next word is "voice." It is the same word that we have just looked at. The King James Version accurately translates it as "voice." We now come to the third word, 'under." This word needs little more explaining. To start off with I would like to explain the greatest miracle in the Bible, apart from the resurrection and creation itself. This miracle is read over as though it were nothing. What is this Great miracle? To find out let's go to Y'hoshua (Joshua) 10.12-14....

Then Y'hoshua (Joshua) spoke to the L-rd in the day when the L-rd delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aiyalon." So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Yasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the L-rd heeded the voice of a man; for the L-rd fought for Israel.

Everyone knows that the sun does not revolve around the earth. The earth revolves around the sun and the moon around the earth. Verse 13 tells us that the moon stopped as well. From this we can deduce that G-d stopped the entire universe so Y'hoshua and the children of Israel could defeat their enemies. The awesome power that it took to stop the earth from revolving around the sun and the moon from rotating the earth is beyond our comprehension.

All of that was said that you might know that our G-d is all Power and there is nothing that He cannot do. He will do as He wishes to convey the messages that He wants us to learn.

What does Y'hoshua (Joshua) have to do with Shavuot? Nothing. But the story is important in that it sets the stage for the next lesson to be learned. The scripture says in Shemot (Exodus) 19.17....

And Moshe brought the people out of the camp to meet with G-d, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

As mentioned before, the Hebrew does not say "at the foot of," it says. "under." The Hebrew Greek Key Study Bible has a literal translation in its reference column on this verse and it reads, "lit. under." This was the understanding of the Jewish people in the days of Yeshua. The mountain was lifted up and floating above the people. I know this can be hard to believe, that is the reason for the story of Y'hoshua. Why does the mountain have to be lifted up? The answer can be found in the Jewish wedding. G-d gives us many things to teach us and often He will use one teaching to explain another. That is what is happening at Mt. Sinai.

In the ancient past the Jewish wedding was a little different than it is now. The wedding came in two stages, first the betrothal and then the full wedding. At Mt. Sinai G-d betrothed Himself to the people of Israel. The betrothal takes place in the home of the bride, therefore G-d came to the earth to betroth Himself to Israel. The full wedding takes place in the home of the Bridegroom and for that we will be called to His house with the blast of the shofar.

In the Jewish wedding the bride and Bridegroom will stand under a canopy called a chuppah, for both the betrothal and full wedding. The room where the bride and Bridegroom go after the wedding is called a chedar, and it is the wedding chamber. These are mentioned in Yoel (Joel) 2.16....

Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the Bridegroom go out from his chedar, And the bride from her chuppah.

There are two witnesses in a wedding. One is ascribed to the bride and the other to the Bridegroom. In Shemot 19.17 it is plain that Moshe is the witness ascribed to the bride and his function is to lead the people to G-d. The word that our English Bibles translate as foot is Tach'ti, and it means: lower. It comes from the word Tachat, which means: the under part. The Strong's number for is 8482. The understanding that the people were under the mountain is more than just a folktale, it can be proven from the scriptures.

We now come to the last word, "people." The Hebrew does indeed mean mountain, but the ancient Jews saw it instead as the people. Ev'rim (Hebrews) 12.20-21 supports this reading....

"For they could not endure what was commanded; " And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow." And so terrifying was the sight that Moshe said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling."

If you could just imagine yourself standing under this huge mountain and all this is going on. You are scared out of your mind so you look over at this man who lead you here to get courage from him , only he is shaking like a leaf on a very windy day just like you are. Where can you turn but to the living G-d and put your faith in Him.

Let's now move on to what people saw while they were under the mountain. In 20.18 we read....

Now all the people witnessed the voices, the lightning flashes, the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.

The word for lightning is the word, Lapid, and it means a torch. Remember Shoftiem (Judges) 4.4....

Now D'evorah (Deborah), a prophetess, the wife of Lapidot, was judging Yisrael at that time.

D'evorah means "bee" and is a term for the congregation. Her husband is called Lapidot. In Bereshit (Genesis) 15.17 we read about a Lapid....

And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a Lapid passed between those pieces.

This is what we know as the parting of the halves. G-d and Avraham (Abraham) made a covenant, if either of them were to break any of the covenant then what was done to these animals would be done to the one breaking the covenant. Since G-d is who He is we can be assured that He will not break His covenant, however, Avraham would break it So G-d in His mercy put Avraham to sleep and a Lapid takes his place. When Avraham sins and deserves death, the Lapid intercedes for him and takes his punishment for him. This is the role of the Messiah.

Remember in Shemot (Exodus) 20.18 that the people saw the voices. Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4.12 repeats it....

And the L-rd spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you heard only a voice.

In the Hebrew the word's "you heard" are not there. They were added by our translators. The verse actually reads, "You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; only a voice." This changes the whole meaning of this verse. It says that they saw the voice. What did it look like?

In the AUTHORIZED Daily Prayer Book BY JOSEPH HERTZ pg.791 we read abut this event...

The revelation at Sinai, it was taught, was given in desert territory, which belongs to no one nation exclusively; and it was heard not by Yisrael alone, but by the inhabitants of all the earth. The Divine Voice divided itself into the 70 tongues then spoken on the earth, so that all the children of men might understand its world-embracing and man-redeeming message.

The Divine Voice divided itself into the 70 tongues of fire and spoke the Ten Commandments in every language on earth. Then it came to every Jew, one at a time and asked if they accepted it. When they replied "we will obey" then the Voice engraved itself on the tablets of stone.

In the book, This is the Torah, by Alfred J Kolatch, pg. 28 & 29, Rabbi Kolatch adresses the question of, "Why was the Torah rejected by many peoples before it was accepted by Yisrael? The answer:

According to an early Jewish legend, before G-d gave the Torah to Yisrael He offered it to many tribes so they would never be able to say, "Had G-d given us the Torah, we surely would have accepted it."

G-d approached the children of Esav and asked, "Will you accept the Torah?"

"What is in it?" they asked.

"You shall not murder," G-d replied.

The children of Esav asked, "Do you plan to deny us the blessing bestowed upon our father Esav? He was blessed with the words, 'By your sword shall you live.' We cannot accept the Torah [because it denies us the right to commit murder.]"
 

Continue