Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <bsr15 AT cantsl.it.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Stephen wrote:-

>The description of Mt. Sinai in the Torah clearly describes a volcanic
>mountain. It almost requires a mental block not to see this. For example,
>see Exodus Chapter 19. There are numerous other examples.

That starts from the assumption that what is being described is purely
a natural phenomena. Now if we consider that Moses went up into the
cloud on the top of the mountain for 40 days and nights and then
returned there must have been a miracle somewhere. Either we are
mistaken about our natural explanation or YHWH performed a miracle
in preserving the life of Moses who lived in a volcanic ash cloud
for a long time (if you think the 40 days and nights is merely a
symbolic time period.)

Take, for example, Ex 19:20 KJV

20 And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and
the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

If this is a volcanic eruption why does YHWH come *down* upon the
mountain?

If you look for natural explanations of the signs and wonders in the
text you miss (probably deliberately) what the text is trying to tell
you. Often you end up only having pushed the sign or wonder into a
different aspect of the event, here the preservation of Moses' life.
It's a bit like the mess in Dr Suess's Cat in the Hat - the miraculous
just moves it doesn't go away. (That's an imperfect analogy.)

Bill Rea, Information Technology Dept., Canterbury  University  \_
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