Exodus 19:1-20:23

We have arrived at the destination of our seven-week countdown of prayer, the foot of Mount Sinai, where the Jewish people received the Torah on Shavuot long ago. To commemorate and reenact this history-altering event, we read the Ten Commandments each year during the festival.

The reading for Shavuot, however, is longer than just the actual commandments themselves. The Ten Commandments comprise Exodus 20:1-17, but we read almost all of Exodus chapters 19 and 20. We are not to think of the Ten Commandments as a disembodied list of dos and (mostly) don'ts, but as a covenant document that captures a whole relationship between God and Israel. Accordingly, the commandments were not given in some abstract form, but in the midst of the dramatic encounter between God and Israel that had begun long before in Egypt. Indeed, Exodus 19, the introduction to the Ten Commandments, turns out to be one of the most dramatic chapters in Scripture: 

"And it happened on the third day as it turned morning, that there was thunder and lightning and a heavy cloud on the mountain and sound of the ram's horn, very strong, and all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought out the people toward God from the camp and they stationed themselves at the bottom of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord had come down on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And the sound of the ram's horn grew stronger and stronger. . . . And the Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the mountaintop . . ." (Ex. 19:16-20, Robert Alter trans.) 

Tradition calculates the "third day" of the three-day period of preparation mentioned in Exodus 19:10-11 and 15 to be the sixth of Sivan, the date of Shavuot. The narrative is as intent on describing the scene of encounter as on conveying the contents of the word that Israel is about to receive. The cloud covering the mountain is the glory-cloud of God, which has already appeared at the splitting of the Red Sea and as Israel's guide through the first stage of the journey. We often commemorate the Ten Commandments with replicas of the stone tablets, but a more accurate commemoration would include the whole encounter at Sinai, and the presence of the Spirit in the glory-cloud of God. We cannot recreate this encounter with the Spirit, although we sometimes try, but we can remember it.  

Believers sometimes feel a tension between Torah and Spirit, between the written word and the immediate, present-tense activity of the Holy Spirit. Shavuot suggests that this tension may be our own creation, not God's. When the Lord gave the Torah, he also gave an unparalleled demonstration of his presence, demonstrating that the two aspects of revelation, Torah and Spirit, arise from the same source. The Messianic Jewish community should readily embrace this union of Torah and Spirit, for it was on Shavuot, the anniversary of the Mount Sinai encounter, that the Spirit was first poured out on Messiah's followers after his resurrection. Indeed, Luke's account of that outpouring echoes the description of Mount Sinai: "And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them" (Acts 2:2-3). Shavuot is a festival of both Torah and Spirit. Messianic Judaism follows Torah and tradition enlivened by God's presence among us through his Spirit. We are not a form of Judaism plus Messiah, but the Judaism of Messianic presence, of the union between Torah and Spirit. 

Our prayer campaign is a great example of this union. We have taken a rather obscure, although clearly Torah-based, tradition, the counting of the omer, and breathed new life into it as a time of unified intercessory prayer. Now it is time to take up another command of Torah, the offering for Shavuot, and renew it as a present-day, Spirit-empowered expression of worship. On Shavuot we are commanded to appear before the Lord to present an offering. Whether or not we make it up to Israel this year, we can reenact Shavuot by sending up an offering, which will go to help the Messianic community in Israel reach out to those in need and enhance the reputation of Messiah Yeshua, through efforts like . . .

• Helping Hands Coalition, serving elderly Holocaust survivors throughout Israel;
• Jerusalem Institute for Justice, which recently won a big case in favor of Messianic Jewish aliyah;
• Netivyah Ministries' aid programs for the hungry and homeless;
• A special English edition of the Hebrew-language Messianic journal Kivun;
• Messianic families and individuals working at a grassroots level in Israel.

"Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed; all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you" (Deut. 16:16-17). 

Chag Sameach-May you have a joyous festival in Messiah Yeshua! 

Rabbi Russ Resnik 

To donate, go to www.umjc.org and click on the 2008 Shavuot Offering banner. You can also participate in the offering at your local UMJC synagogue, send an offering directly to UMJC, 529 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108, or call toll-free at 1.800.692.8652, Monday-Thursday 8:00-2:00 Mountain time.