A Mountain Ablaze

A Mountain Ablaze

Moshe Ben-Chaim

In the book of Deuteronomy, long after the event of Sinai, Moses recalls elements of that event. Interesting, he makes numerous mentions of one particular aspect; (4:12) “And God spoke to you from inside the fire, a voice of words did you hear, and no form did you see, only a voice”, (4:16) “ And be exceedingly careful regarding your souls, for you did not see any form the day God spoke to you in Horeb from inside the fire”, (4:33) “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from inside the fire, and survived, as you have?”, (4:36) “From the heavens He made heard His voice to train you, and on Earth He showed you His great fire, and His words you heard from inside the fire”, (5:4) “Face to face, God spoke with you on the mountain from inside the fire”, (5:19) “These matters God spoke to your entire assembly on the mountain from inside the fire...”, (5:21) “...and you said ‘and His voice we heard from inside the fire’...”, (5:23) “For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking from inside the fire, and survived, as us?”, (9:10) “And God gave to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and upon them, as all the words that God spoke with you on the mountain from inside the fire on the day of the assembly.”

What is so significant about fire? Why on a mountain? Why was Moses so careful to recall these two aspects of Sinai so many times?

Placed in the context of the event and appreciating the goal, let us rephrase the question: How is a voice emanating from a fiery mountain, indispensable for the proof God wished to offer man of His existence? Moses also recalls, “you did not see any form the day God spoke to you in Horeb from inside the fire.” Is this a new lesson, or that which supports the goal of the “fire”?

How is fire different from all other elements, such as earth, water, air, wind, metals, ice, etc? How is a mountain different from all other topography, from lakes, oceans, valleys, hills, etc? I ask this, because Moses repeats these two aspects. He must be driving a some essential feature of the Sinaic Revelation. But what?

Man has discovered life everywhere on this planet. In the most frigid zones, insects live in glacier ice, and fish, under frozen seas. In the highest altitudes, spiders with parachute-like webs keep them afloat on journeys to new locations. In hot, arid deserts, mammals hydrate themselves by licking condensation off of stones placed at the entrances to their borrows. In mud, frogs survive, and deep inside sand dunes, animals breathe air through tiny nostrils filtering sand grains from air. However, fire seems to be the one element in which no form of life can survive. Why was it used by God to prove His existence? The answer is apparent.

God desired man to know that He exists, not just believe blindly. To this end, God orchestrated an event which would leave no doubt as to the Cause of the event - that this Cause is not a created being, but the Creator of the universe. How was this to be proved? Fire. This one element is mutually exclusive to all life. Yes, certain substances remain intact in even the most severe temperatures, but not life. No one at Sinai assumed anything physical could “speak to them from inside the fire.” Perhaps someone was dying inside the fire, and shrieked so loud, and that is what they heard? No, the verse says “a voice of words”, meaning, they heard intelligent speech, not someone’s dying shriek. A voice of intelligence emanating from “inside fire” proved beyond any doubt, that they were hearing words caused by God. They were being addressed by the Creator of fire, the Creator of all matter, the One Who is not controlled or affected by all creation or laws of creation. He is the One Who designed the universe. He is the only One who could go unaffected by a mountain ablaze. The Jews had solid proof for God’s existence, for the divine nature of the Torah, for God’s will that they follow His commands, and for Moses’ selection as God’s prophet.

Moses also recalls that the Jews so no form. He says to them, “And be exceedingly careful regarding your souls, for you did not see any form the day God spoke to you in Horeb from inside the fire.” Moses wishes to stress the that one’s own soul is at stake, if he imagines any form coexisted with the Revelation at Sinai. The Jew’s idolatrous tendencies would seek to explain away this unintelligible phenomena at Sinai. Man desires that everything fit into his own, limited framework of understanding. But Moses alerts the Jews to this dangerous endeavor. He warns them that this event was not one as any other, that could be explained by natural law. “You saw no form”, “And be exceedingly careful for you life”, meaning, an error in connection with what God is, is the greatest error, and one’s life loses it’s purpose when he imagines God as physical in any way. “You saw no form.”

We now understand Moses’ numerous recollections of the event at which the Jews heard God’s voice from inside the fire. Fire dispelled any probability of an earthly existence being the cause of this event.

I believe the reason for a mountain was to enable such a large crowd of 2-3 million people to witness the event. Had this taken place on flat ground, those in the distance would see nothing. The mountain acted as an inverted stadium, where the event may be witnessed from afar, unobstructed, and by many.