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Last week's Torah portion (Beshalach) told how Pharaoh's armies pursued the children of Israel but were drowned in the Sea of Reeds by the hand of the LORD. Initially delighted over their new freedom from bondage, the rescued nation soon began complaining about the hardships of life in the desert. The LORD was gracious, however, and provided water and manna from heaven to meet the people's needs.
In this week's Torah portion, Moses' father-in-law Jethro (i.e., "Yitro") had heard how God blessed his son-in-law and his kinsmen by delivering them from their oppression in Egypt, and set out to meet him in the desert of Midian. Upon their reunion, Moses told him all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and how the LORD had delivered them. Jethro then proclaimed that the LORD is greater than all other gods, and offered up a sacrifice.
Seeing the strain the journey had brought upon Moses, however, Jethro wisely advised his son in law to appoint a hierarchy of magistrates and judges to help him govern the people, thereby freeing Moses to be a more effective intercessor before the LORD.
After the third new moon after leaving Egypt (i.e., the 1st day of the month of Sivan), the Israelites encamped opposite Mount Sinai, the place where Moses was initially commissioned. Moses then ascended the mountain, and there God commanded him to tell the leaders that if they would obey the LORD and keep His covenant, then they would be mamlekhet kohanim v'goy kadosh -- a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation." After delivering this message, the people responded by proclaiming, kol asher diber Adonai na'aseh ("all that the LORD has spoken, we shall do"). Moses then returned to the mountain and was told to command the people to prepare themselves to experience the presence of God upon the mountain in three days.
On the morning of the third day (i.e., the sixth of Sivan, exactly seven weeks after the Exodus), all the children of Israel gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai, where the LORD descended amidst thunder, lightning, billowing smoke, fire, and the voluminous blast of the heavenly shofar. The LORD then declared the foundation of moral conduct required of the people, namely, the Ten Commandments. Because this vision was so overwhelming, the terrified Israelites began beseeching Moses to be their mediator lest they die before the Presence of God. The portion ends as the people stood far off, while Moses alone drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
The Ten Commandments (עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים)
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