000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Ash Wednesday/Years A, B, and C 29
the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these
words” (v. 8). Half of the blood is “dashed against the altar” (v. 6), in recognition
that all life is a gift of God and that blood belongs to God (one reason
why killing is a crime—it is the shedding of blood that is not ours to shed).
Exodus assumes that Israel is already in covenant with God; they do not
become covenanted with God at Sinai. At Sinai they learn what their calling
is as God’s people. The consecration celebrates being at one with
the Lord (atonement is the usual term) as well as Israel’s task within the
covenant that goes back to Abraham and Sarah. Israel’s response to the
rite is to say again “All that the LORD has spoken we will do” (v. 7).
Then Moses and the rest go up the mountain. In the lead-in to today’s
reading they see the God of Israel: “under his feet there was something
like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness”
(v. 10). And “they beheld God, and they ate and drank” (v. 11). The event
achieves its pinnacle in a communal feast of companionship that is a communion
with YHWH and each other, an event of life-giving elation.
This is but one time among many in the First Testament where we are
reminded that YHWH is holiness-in-community with the people, that
God dwells with the people. It is immediately followed by a story (chap.
25) in which the Lord instructs Moses on the building of a sanctuary “so
that I may dwell among them” (25:8).
Today’s reading is sandwiched between these two stories; its meaning
is interwoven with what precedes and follows it. Again, the Lord summons
Moses to come up the mountain where, this time, he will receive
“the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have
written for their instruction” (v. 12). Here Moses will receive the instructions
for the sanctuary in which the Lord may dwell with the people.
As at the burning bush, which was not consumed, so here Moses is
exposed to the glory of God “which was like a devouring fire” (v. 17). But
Moses is not devoured by the fire, as the bush was not. Moses is with God
in glory and remains there for forty days. The presence and communion
with God that took place on Sinai in these stories is also the theme of the
transfiguration.
Ash Wednesday/Years A, B, and C
Isaiah 58:1–12 (Alternate)
For comments on this passage, please see the Fifth Sunday after the
Epiphany/Year A.