The wandering tribes then left the desert and entered the mountainous region which surrounds the rock called Sinai,after Sin,the Asiatic goddess of the moon.By now,it had become clear to Moses that he would never achieve his purpose unless he could make his followers acknowledge that Jehovah was their only God.Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had known this to be the truth.Their descendants,however,had lived for such a long time among people who worshipped several hundred divinities that they had lost the old sense of a personal relationship with one almighty ruler of both Heaven and earth.
Moses bade his men build a fortified camp at the foot of Sinai.He told them to stay where they were and wait for his return.He would bring them a message of the utmost importance.
Accompanied only by Joshua (Aaron remained behind as commander-in-chief)Moses began to climb the high rocks of the ancient mountain.
When he neared the top,he asked Joshua to leave him while he alone went forth to hear the message of Jehovah.
Forty days and forty nights he was gone.
All that time,the mountain was hidden from view by a thick veil of clouds.
Then Moses returned and behold!he carried two large tablets of stone and upon these stood engraved the law of Jehovah,which has come to be known to us as the Ten Commandments.
Unfortunately,the Jews had behaved very badly while their leader was gone.Aaron was a weak commander.He could not enforce discipline and soon the camp had been turned into a veritable Egyptian village.The women and the girls had stripped themselves of their golden ornaments and out of these they had made an idol which reminded them of the holy cows which since time immemorial had been an object of worship to the people of the Nile.They were actually dancing around their golden calf when Moses entered the camp.
He was in great anger.He had heard the singing and shouting from afar.Now he knew what it meant.In his fury,he threw the stone tablets upon the ground so that they were broken.Then he pulled down the golden image and destroyed it and when this was done,he called for volunteers to stamp out this dangerous rebellion.
Only one of the tribes,that of Levi,rallied to his support.They were the strongest of them all.They fell upon their fellow-travellers and they killed those who refused to acknowledge Jehovah and they showed no mercy to the men who had been the ringleaders of the rebellion against Moses and who had stirred up trouble during his absence.
That night,peace descended upon the camp of the Jewish tribe.Two thousand men lay slain and their unseeing eyes were staring at the top of Mount Sinai where Jehovah had talked to the first of those great prophets who since then have tried to show the human race the folly of cowardice and unrighteousness.
Deeply disappointed by this occurrence,Moses acted for once with great sternness.He recognised that his people needed more than personal leadership.They must have written laws and they must be forced to respect the words of their elders.Otherwise the whole expedition would end in anarchy and there never would be a united race of Jewish men and women.
Once more he went to the top of Mount Sinai.When he returned,his face showed clearly that he had seen things which thus far had remained hidden to all other men.His eyes sent forth beams of light.No one could look at him for a long time.
He carried two new tablets of stone and upon these stood engraved those selfsame laws which had been destroyed when Moses had returned to find his people worshipping the golden calf.
And these are the commandments which Jehovah had given to Moses for the conduct of the Jews:
They must recognise no gods except Jehovah.
They must not make themselves graven images,such as had been used in the land of Egypt.
They must not take the name of Jehovah in vain.
They must work six days but rest on the seventh day,and use it to worship their God.
They must always honour their fathers and their mothers.
They must not murder.
They must not take another man's wife,and women must not take another woman's husband.
They must not steal.
They must never give false testimony against their neighbours.
They must not be greedy and wish for their neighbour's house,nor his servants,nor his cattle,nor anything that belonged to their neighbour.
The Jews now had their laws.But they needed a place where they could come together to worship Jehovah.Moses therefore ordered a Tabernacle to be built.It was really a church,made out of wooden walls,which were covered with an awning.Years later,when the wanderers once more lived in cities,they reconstructed the original Tabernacle with the help of bricks and marble and granite,and then it became the famous temple of Jerusalem.
