[RCL] Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 2 or Psalm 99; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9 Exodus 24:12-18 In Exodus 24, God calls Moses up the mountain in order to deliver to Moses “the tablets of stone, with the law and commandment, which I have written for [the Israelites’] instruction.” The Torah is a gift from God, a…

Exodus 24:12-18 Moses is called by God to ascend Mount Sinai again, after Moses receives the Ten Commandments and the elders of Israel worship and hold a feast on the mountain. God beckons Moses to come and receive the law on tablets of stone, signifying the permanence of that law. The text has Moses continually…

Exodus 24:12-18 Exodus 24:12-18 provides an account of Moses’s ascent of Mt. Sinai for purposes of receiving the law and commandments. The reading begins with God’s two-part instruction to Moses to “come up to me on the mountain, and wait there.” Moses complies with these instructions, and sets out with Joshua toward the mountain. (Before…

Exodus 24:12-18 Theophany: the technical term for a visible manifestation of God. The clouds and fire in this passage from Exodus are congruent with my imagination of what this kind of encounter might be like. Perhaps my imagination was shaped by previous readings of this passage. Perhaps it was shaped by numerous childhood viewings of…