Pentecost and the Ten Commandments, Part 2

Well, thank you, Jacob. Every time you play, you're better and better, and really appreciate that.

I think over the years, we have off and on taught that the Ten Commandments were given on Pentecost or somewhere around there. But is that true? Can we determine with any degree of validity when they were given? Now, we know the most important thing is that God gave us His commandments to live by, and that they are His standard that we are to live by. But you might remember in Exodus, beginning on the night of the 15th of Nicene, the first day of Unleavened Bread occurred. You can go back to Exodus 12. And after the days of Unleavened Bread, the next holy day occurs in the late spring, Pentecost, which we're going to be focusing on. A major event that occurred after the Exodus was the giving of the Ten Commandments on tables of stone. And to save a little time here, I've quoted a couple of scriptures. You'll notice in Exodus 24 or 12, then the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I'll give you the tables of stone and the law and commandments which I have written that you may teach them. And then in Exodus 31, 18, and when He had made an end with speaking with Him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. Now in the New Testament, we find that God gave the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and that they were written on the tablets of flesh. Notice 2 Corinthians 3.3. We'll just read one of these. 2 Corinthians 3.3 says, Clearly you are in the pistol of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is, the heart. Now I think because the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, and the Bible talks about it being written upon the tablets of our heart, that many have equated the giving of the Ten Commandments written on two tables of stone with Pentecost, and that one sort of follows the other, or one upholds or substantiates the other. Does this logic alone prove that the Ten Commandments were given on Pentecost? And I think we'll see, obviously, you can't go by that alone to try to establish something. Pentecost is calculated, as we know, by a specific biblical formula. And what we want to do here today is to follow the journey of Israel out of Egypt and see if we can determine to any extent when were the Ten Commandments given, and how are they associated with the day of Pentecost. What we'll have to do is to take a look at the chronology of the book of Exodus and see if we can establish when the Ten Commandments were given.

As I said earlier, what is important is that the Ten Commandments were given to mankind for our benefit. Now, let's notice, and we'll begin to go through a number of scriptures here, that Jewish tradition holds that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on the last day of the days of Unleavened Bread. And we have tended to think that that's probably true also. The Red Sea is said to have been about a seven-day journey from Egypt. Now, if that's true, it would nicely fit in with the message of the spring Holy Days, though it's not clearly stated or calculated in the Bible.

I think we could say that they crossed the Red Sea on or near the last day of the days of Unleavened Bread and be safe. Now, after they crossed the Red Sea, let's notice in Exodus 12 and verse 22. Excuse me, Exodus 15 and verse 22.

So Moses, it says here, brought Israel from the Red Sea. And then they went out into the wilderness of Sur, and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. So here you have them going seven days. They get out of the land of Egypt, and then they go three more days.

So this was about three days after the days of Unleavened Bread. At the most, one Sabbath towards Pentecost would have occurred by this time. Now, the reason why I mentioned that is because the Bible says you're to count seven Sabbaths, and then the next day is Pentecost. So what we're going to try to do is to establish how many Sabbaths there were, and can we count six or seven Sabbaths in here? From here, they went to Elam, where they camped for an unspecified period of time by the 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees in verse 27 of this chapter. Exodus 15, 27 says, then they came to Elam, where there were 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees, and they camped by the waters. Now, it doesn't say how long they stayed there. It just says that they came there and they camped. Now, in Exodus 16, beginning in verse 1, the next benchmark of time is given here. Notice in verse 1, Exodus 16 verse 1, and they journeyed from Elam, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month. After they departed from the land of Egypt, and the whole congregation was happy and through a dance and jumped up and down. Now, it says the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses. Thirty days later, they're murmuring. So, they're coming out with a high hand. Didn't last very long, did it? They were murmuring and complaining.

Now, this is on the 15th day of the second month, so this brings us to exactly 30 days after the Exodus. Now, I want you to notice a quote from Josephus, what Josephus had to say about Exodus 16. And when they had no food out of the land, because it was a desert, they eat of loaves needed of flour only warmed by a gentle heat. And this food they made use of for 30 days. For what they brought with them out of Egypt would not suffice them any longer time. So, here you've got about 3 million people out in the desert. There's nothing to eat there. If there is, it's eaten very quickly. And they've eaten everything they brought with them, as far as the food, unless they kill all their livestock. So, Exodus 16, if you will remember, records the first time that God rained bread from heaven for the Israelites. Moses explained this would continue every day through the sixth day. Let's read verses 4 and 5.

Here, verse 2, we read that the children of Israel murmured. And they said, at least back in Egypt, we had plenty of food to eat. And so, they were complaining. Now, verse 4, then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day. And I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gathered daily.

Now, this is an interesting section.

Let me quote to you what one of the rabbis writing in the Talmud had to say about this section.

Our papa observed that on the fifteenth day of the second month, now that day was the Sabbath, he says, for it is written, Six days you shall gather it. Now, the logic is this. That God, they murmured somewhere around Friday or Saturday against Moses, and God then revealed that he was going to send the manna. And he said, Okay, you will gather it for six days, and then you're to rest on the Sabbath. So, the implication is that they started gathering mamma. Or manna on a Sunday, and they collected it for six days. And then we come to the Sabbath, where some of them rebelled and went out and started collecting on the Sabbath day, or looking for it at least. So, you have another Sabbath. In other words, the implication is that this would have been the fourth Sabbath. Beginning here in verse 15, that if they started collecting on the Sunday, the day before was the Sabbath, and so therefore the fact that they had been traveling 30 days, this would have probably have been the fourth Sabbath. And then you come down to verse 16, where he gives the instructions here, and that would bring you actually to another Sabbath, which would be the fifth Sabbath. Now, I know that some of this is conjecture, but you've got to use a little, you know, let's say logic and try to look at what was going on through here. It's not, and I will admit, it's not written in stone. So, that's why it's always interesting when you study this topic, because if it just said, this was the first week in the camp here, and this was the second week in the camp there, third week and so on, there would be no problem. But we do have certain benchmarks, and one of them is 30 days. And apparently they observed a Sabbath, and then God said, okay, I'm going to give you this manna every six, you know, for six days, and then you're to rest on the seventh. So, the fifth Sabbath towards Pentecost would be recorded here next to this 16 again, and this is where they went out looking for the manna. What that would mean is Pentecost was only 15 days later, because if you already have five Sabbaths that have occurred, all you need is two more Sabbaths, and then the day after the seventh Sabbath would be Pentecost. So, from this day forward, only 15 days to Pentecost. Now come to chapter 19, Exodus 19, and we'll begin to read here in verse 1. In the third month, after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai. For they had departed from Rephidom, and they had come to the desert of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness so Israel camped there before the mountain. Now, it says here in the third month, on the same day, what does the expression on the same day mean?

If you look this up in commentaries, there are many different explanations of what this means. Some versions of the Bible indicate that it was three months or 90 days after the Exodus. Two of those Bibles, I'll just show you here, one's the Living Bible, and the other is the NCV, what is that, the New Something Bible, New Century or whatever. I should write those out rather than put the initials. But notice what the Living Bible says, the Israelites arrived in Sinai Peninsula three months after the night of their departure from Egypt. So that's how it interprets it. Another one, the NCV says exactly three months after the Israelites had left Egypt, they reached the desert of Sinai. This rendering, in other words, if that's true, would result in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 being given in the fourth month, rather than Pentecost occurring in the third month, and either the Ten Commandments being given shortly before or on or shortly after. So that doesn't seem to be a valid translation or way. Most translations accurately note that Exodus 19.1 occurred during the third calendar month, the month of seven, S-I-V-A-N, and it's the month in which Pentecost occurs. What is the proper rendering of the third month and that very day?

Well, let me show you that there are several things that that very day could refer to. That very day refers to the same day of the month on which the Exodus occurred, the 15th. That's one explanation. Now, is that the correct explanation? Well, we will take a look at that. Let's notice the four. Here's a translation that supports that belief, the NLT translation. You ask me, where do I get all these translations? I've got about 20 or 30 of them on my computer. Sometimes, when I'm in doubt what a verse means, I will say, give me all translations. It'll list every one of them, and you can read through them and see basically what they tell you. This particular translation says exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai. Now, that's different from what we read earlier. Now, the problem is, the Hebrew does not define or refute this rendering because it does not say exactly two months or the 15th day. There aren't any other descriptive terms. Remember this because, therefore, I'll present to you four different scenarios. The second one is that this refers to the same day of the week that the Exodus occurred, which we've shown would have been a Thursday that year. The Exodus was probably on a Thursday.

Now, there's a problem with this. The Hebrew does not again define or refute this reading since the fourth day of the week is not noted here. An arrival on Thursday would most likely result in the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments being given on a Sunday. But you might remember that after they arrived, Moses had to go up into the mountain twice, and then they had to set boundary marks. They had to wash their clothes. They had to refrain from any sexual relations. Then, on the third day, God was going to come down and give them the commandments. Well, if this were exactly two months later and these sequence of events were going to occur, then they would actually be washing and doing things on the Sabbath that they were prohibited from doing. So that doesn't seem to make sense. Notice in chapter 19, Exodus 19 verse 12, they were told this, "...you shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that you do not go up on the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death." And then verses 14 and 15, Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day, do not come near your wives. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that these events began to take place. So the boundaries would have been set as well as their clothes washed before the next day, Friday at sunset. Now, let me show you the third possibility. The same day indicates the same ordinal number associated with the month, the third day of the third month. Now, some put forward that teaching. We don't believe that that's really what this is referring to. Now we come to the fourth explanation, and the fourth explanation seems to fit what it's talking about here. Let's notice. That very day indicates Israel arrived at Sinai on the first day of the third month. The first day of the third month. The Hebrew word for month, chodesh, is the same word for new moon. It's used over 20 times in the Old Testament and translated new moon in most of those cases. Notice Numbers 29 verses 5 and 6. It says, one kid of the goats you shall take for a sin offering to make an atonement for you beside the burnt offering of the month and the daily burnt offering. The word month there, again, is chodesh. So what you find that this same word is used back here in Exodus 19 in verse 1. In the third month, our new moon, you could say, after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai. So they would have come on the day of the new moon and are on the first day. So this seems to be the most plausible explanation. As I said, of the four possibilities above, and I know that these are technical, but I'm just mentioning them so that you can know that they are discussed because if you go back and read this on your own in different commentaries, they will present different scenarios. The fourth reading has the strength of both the Hebrew and the descriptive detail of Scripture. Moreover, or furthermore, it offers an objective method for Israel's pre-Pentecost arrival at Sinai. In other words, they had arrived at Sinai prior to Pentecost. Now, when it comes to the giving of the Ten Commandments, many Jews embrace the Talmud that embraced the Talmud, hold that the Ten Commandments were given on Pentecost. Again, this is a Jewish tradition, and this is one why we, over the years, have wondered if this were not true. However, the problem with this is simply this. They believe that Pentecost occurs every year on 7-6. They set a specific date on the calendar.

Now, we don't do that. It can vary as far as the date on the calendar, but it's a specific day of the week. We say it's on a Sunday. For them, Pentecost can occur on almost any day of the week, but on a specific calendar day, which they reckoned on a Saturday during the year of the Exodus.

Yet, we say Pentecost, and I believe we can prove it, is always on a Sunday. So, they believe that Saturday that year was Pentecost, and therefore, they say the Ten Commandments were given on Pentecost, which was a weekly Sabbath. The problem is, the Jewish tradition doesn't support the concept that the Ten Commandments were given on a Sunday during the year of the Exodus. Now, there is another school of thought of the Talmud, and that is those who believe that Silvan VI that year fell on a Friday. So, some think it fell on a Friday, some think it fell on Saturday. But all the Talmudic traditions give the giving of the Decalogue on the weekly Sabbath, not Sunday. I mean, you go back and you read all of their traditions. Notice this quote. It says, our rabbis taught on the sixth day of the month, seven, were the Ten Commandments given to Israel. Our Hosei maintained that on the seventh thereof said, Rabbi, all agree they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the month. So, that's how they interpret chapter 19 verse 1. For here it is written, on this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai, Exodus 19.1, while elsewhere it is written, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months. Again, all agree that the Torah was given to Israel on the Sabbath. Now, the Sadducees calculated Pentecost, if you'll remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Sadducees calculated Pentecost from the Sunday of the Wave Sheep offering, on the moral after the Sabbath, just as we do today. It is the Pharisaical tradition that is kept today in Judaism. That's why they keep Pentecost on 7-6.

But during the day when Christ was on the earth, the Sadducees had control of the temple, and they counted it the same way we do, from the time that the Wave Sheep offering was offered up after the weekly Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread. Now, I want you to notice the following quote.

This is taken from the Karaite Jews who claim to continue the tradition of the Sadducees. And notice what they have to say about this. The revelation at Sinai did occur toward the beginning of the third month, 7, and Shabbat always falls out towards the beginning of the third month, or the Sabbath. Like Shabbat, the exact day of the revelation of Sinai is not specified, and it is tempting to connect the two. However, it is important to remember that the connection between the two events is never made in the Tanaka. That's another word for the Hebrew Bible. As it is written, You shall not add to the words which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, in order that you will keep the commandments of Yahweh, your God which I command you. You can see where you can go to a website here, and you can find this quote on the Internet. So, from the Scriptures alone, a strong case can be made that Israel arrived at Sinai on the first day of Sivan. From this, we can reasonably conclude that the Decalogue was most likely given the Ten Commandments between Thursday and Sunday. Somewhere in there.

But beyond that, there is no exact information.

Now, can we narrow it down a little more? Can you get a little closer? The chapters that follow the giving of the Ten Commandments may add significantly to the understanding of this topic. Let's go over to chapter 24 of the book of Exodus, verses 15 and 16. This is a key passage in understanding. I want you to notice Exodus 24 beginning in verse 15. Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it. Six days.

On the seventh day, he called the Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now this verse raises a lot of questions. But again, let's go back to the account Exodus 19 and work our way over to Exodus 24 and see how much time elapsed between Exodus 19 and Exodus 24. How much time passed? Were there days? Were there weeks? One day? Two days? How much time? Well, beginning in verse 19 of the book of Exodus, chapter 19, verse 11, excuse me, Exodus 19-11.

Here God gives them final instructions concerning the giving of the Ten Commandments. Verse 16, Let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down from Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. So after their preparations were completed, Israel was gathered before Mount Sinai to witness the glory of God descending on the mountain. Notice verse 16. And it came to pass that on the third day, in the morning, now take note of that, this is the third day, it's in the morning that there were thunders and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain and the very sound of the trumpet was very loud so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke and there were blasted trumpets. And verse 20, Then the Lord came down from Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, Go down, warn the people, let's say, break through to gaze at the Lord, and also let the priests who come near to the Lord sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break out against them. So Moses said to the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us, saying, Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it. And the Lord said to him, Away, get down, then come up you and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people break through and come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them. So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. So what we find here is that on the third day, early in the morning, God's glory descends on the mountain. There's thunder and lightning and all of this. The word morning is the Hebrew word here, boger, indicates a time early in the morning at sunrise, or as vines adds, this word means morning, though not the period of time before noon. Rather, it indicates the point of time at which night is changing today, the time at the end of night, what we would call daylight. You're right at that time when it starts to get light. So at that point, the Israelites had gathered. Then God calls Moses up to the top of the mountain. He goes up before the giving of the Ten Commandments. Chapter 19 closes with Moses coming back down from the mountain. Immediately after this, he comes down, you find that the Ten Commandments are given. Moses went down to the people, verse 25, and he spoke to them. Now later, we'll see where Moses returns up the mountain. He's going up and down to talk to God, and he keeps coming back and talking to the people.

Given the above timing when you read it, it's safe to say that the Ten Commandments were given on the same day. Because God said, look, I'm going to come down and speak to the people on the third day.

So it's the third day early in the morning. Moses goes up, he comes back down. It's still the third day. So it's safe to say that the Ten Commandments were given on the same day for which they were told to be ready, probably done during the same morning.

Is this... what is this day? Is it Saturday? Is it Sunday? Is it Thursday? Is it Friday? What day is it? Now, you find Exodus 20 through 23. Moses comes close to the mountain after God spoke the Ten Commandments for everybody to hear. And in verse 21, Exodus 20, they said to Moses, you speak with us, for we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. So the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. So Moses comes back up and he approaches God here. Chapter 20 concludes with guidelines for building an altar.

And you find that God didn't add any more to the Ten Commandments. Verse 22, the Lord said to Moses, you say to the children of Israel, you have seen that I've talked with you, and that they're not to make any idols. And then he was to make an altar on which to offer up sacrifices. Now God proceeds, then, in chapter 21, it says, now these are the judgments which you shall set before them. So now you find that God gives to Moses judgments, chapter 21 through 23. Now these judgments, though they're numerous, could easily have been spoken in the same time frame of the same day upon which the Ten Commandments were given. There's no evidence, or there's nothing in here that you read stating or implying a transition to a different day. There's nothing that says it. It just says that Moses, you know, that people prepared themselves. They come before God early in the morning. God calls Moses up. He comes back down and warns the people. They hear the Ten Commandments. They say, Moses, you speak to us. We don't want to hear God. He goes back up, and now you find God is giving him instructions. Therefore, it seems that this is going over to chapter 24, an uninterrupted period of time. Ten Commandments and judgments are given. Now in Exodus 24, it begins in verse 1 with the instructions that Moses is to come up to the mountain with Aaron. Now he said to Moses, come up to the Lord, you and Aaron. And they dab in a bayou, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people go up with him. Now the word here now doesn't necessarily mean that it's a different day, because chapter 21 started the same way when God gave the judgments. Now these are the judgments. It just simply means there's a different activity going on. So what you find, Moses came up, well verse 3 says, so Moses came and told the people all the words of the law, excuse me, all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words which the Lord has said we will do. So Moses then gives them what God said, and they said, okay, we'll do it. Now notice verse 4. Now we have a transition. This is the first transition that you find in context. Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes.

So this seems to be a transition into a new day. The fact that he rose early in the morning here implies that it was the next morning after the Ten Commandments and judgments had been given. The NET Bible includes the following translation note for Exodus 24.4. Literally, it says, and he got up early in the morning and built.

This means early in the morning he built. Well, that couldn't have been the day that the Ten Commandments were given. It was early in the morning the people were meeting before God. He goes up to God. He comes back down. He goes back up, and he's given the judgments. So that seems to be clear.

So the day after the Ten Commandments were given, Moses carries out God's repeated instructions to come up with Aaron in verses 9 through 11. Moses went up also in Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 of the elders of Israel. They saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet, as it were, a paid work of sapphire stone. It was like the very heavens in its clarity. On the nobles of the children of Israel, he did not lay his hand.

So they saw God, and they ate and drank. And then the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I will give you the tables of stone and the law and the commandments which I have written that you may teach them. Moses arose and his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up onto the mountain. Verse 15.

This is the scripture that we were going to come to. Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. And the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days, and on the seventh day he called the Moses out of the sight of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire. So this brings us to this particular scripture. Evidently, this is the second time that God comes down on the top of the mountain. First time was giving the Ten Commandments. Now, this is where God told him to go back up the next day.

And what we find then is simply this, if I could sort of summarize it. The expression here, and I have about seven or eight scriptures. In the book of Exodus, the expression six days, and the seventh is used quite often, and it almost always, I think almost exclusively in the book of Exodus, refers to the weekly cycle and the Sabbath. Now, of course, it's not stating that here, but it seems to be the way that you find that Moses used it. So basically what you find is this, that if the first of these six days corresponds to a Sunday, in other words, what we found was that probably the Ten Commandments were given the day before, and if the six days would begin with a Sunday, and the seventh would be a Sabbath, the conclusion would be that the Ten Commandments were probably given on the weekly Sabbath, and the next day would have been Pentecost.

And it was on that day that he went up into the mountain, and that God was going to then reveal himself to him and the elders, and was going to give him the two tables of stone. Now, obviously, there's some conjecture to that, but it would seem reasonable. This would be when God first called Moses up to get the handwritten origin of the Ten Commandments.

And if you remember, he was up there 40 days, came back down, and guess what? In 40 days, they'd built a golden calf, and he threw the tablets down, had to go back up for another 40 days. And he's fasting during all this period of time. So, you know, it's quite a story. So basically, what we believe, or let's say, what we think happened. I'll put it that way, because you can't conclusively prove it. And one of the reasons for covering this, or actually two reasons, is to show you what would seem to be reasonable, but also to show you that you can't nail it down. That it's very hard to nail down exactly which day it is.

A brief summary would be this. In preparation for the third day, Israel washed their clothes, sat boundaries on a Thursday and Friday, and they would not have done all of that work on the Sabbath. Then on the third day, on the morning of the weekly Sabbath, God spoke to 10 commandments for everyone to hear. Also on the Sabbath, judgments were given. Then the next day, Pentecost, God called Moses up to receive God's own handwritten version. Then after six days, again, waiting for the seventh day, Sabbath, God spoke to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Consequently, Exodus 20-24 covers a time span from one Sabbath to the next, emphasizing the Sabbath as a special time for receiving God's instructions.

So that is, brethren, an educated synopsis of what happened here. Again, one of the main reasons for showing this is to show that we cannot be totally dogmatic about it. We do know that the 10 commandments were given around the day of Pentecost, but it logically seems that the weekly Sabbath would have been the day that it was given. So, just something to think about. When you get home, it might be interesting to go through and study that section of the Scripture. I think you'll find it interesting and see what you come up with. But this is what the church has studied, written on, and feels is probably the most likely teaching and scenario as to when the 10 commandments were given.