Mount-Sinai-or-Horeb
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like it once was pre the “Masoretic Text”.
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Remember the following truth from our beloved Torah!
“Ye shall NOT ADD TO THE WORD which
I command you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM
IT, that ye may keep the commandments of אֱלֹהֵיכֶם יְהוָה - the LORD your Eloleichem,
which I command you”. Davarim - Deuteronomy 4:2. (JPS-1917).
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With Rabbi, Dr. Reuven Ben Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
The question I have continuously fought for
so many years, yet rabbis continue to say that the “Ten Commandments” - the “Ten
Words” were given at
Do you need proof? Actually, you already have it, for it is clearly stated in our beloved Torah, over and over again, it was Mount Horeb.
Horeb is mentioned on various times in the book of Deuteronomy.
For according to the Book of Deuteronomy, the
“Ten Words” were given on
For some weird reason, ancient rabbis changed details in the Book of Exodus and renamed the Mount as “Sinai”, however, our beloved אֱלֹהִים יְהוָה - the LORD Elohim continues to reveal that in Deuteronomy where He explicitly names Mount Horeb as the place where He gave the “Ten Commandments” and made the covenant with Israel. Many scholars believe ‘Horeb’ and ‘Sinai’ are simply two different names for the exact same sacred mountain; however יְהוָה - the LORD completely rejects that!
Let us now look at the information about “
The Covenant given at
In Deuteronomy 5, Moses gathers the people and says;
“יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ - the LORD our Eloheinu made a covenant with us in Horeb”.
He then repeats the “Ten Commandments” word
for word, describing how אֱלֹהִים - Elohim spoke out of
the fire on the mountain.
Key Events at
The Torah describes several monumental events
happening at this specific mountain:
The Burning Bush: Before the Exodus, Moses first encounters אֱלֹהִים - Elohim at Horeb in the blazing bush that was not consumed.
Water from the Rock: When the Israelites are thirsty in the wilderness, אֱלֹהִים - Elohim instructs Moses to strike a rock at Horeb to miraculously produce water.
The Golden Calf: While Moses is up on the mountain receiving the stone tablets, the people below create the golden calf.
Horeb vs. Sinai:
In scriptural
tradition, the use of the two names usually comes
down to different perspectives:
Deuteronomy almost
exclusively uses the name Horeb
(meaning “desert” or “glowing heat”). Whilst in Exodus and Leviticus rabbis
decided to change the name to “Sinai”.
However, they have
done much worse in times past, for in Psalms 56 and 53, they completely removed
אֱלֹהִים - Elohim’s beloved Name in the Hebrew section and removed יְהוָה and replaced it with אֱלֹהִים, whilst in the English translation they removed “the
LORD” and replaced it with “God”, which is actually an attribute, ‘who and what
He is’, for it is not a name at all! In each Psalms they removed the blessed Name
of יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ - the LORD our Eloheinu seven times
in each chapter. And tragically, there are more places where the priests and
rabbis have made forbidden changes!
Remember the following truth from our beloved Torah!
“Ye shall NOT ADD TO THE WORD which I command you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM IT, that ye may keep the commandments of אֱלֹהֵיכֶם יְהוָה - the LORD your Eloleichem, which I command you”. Davarim - Deuteronomy 4:2. (JPS-1917).
The sad fact is, our
so-called leaders have done just what is forbidden by our beloved אֱלֹהִים – Elohim, and they will have been severely punished!
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However, to return to
our subject, let me give this study a strong foundation, for below are the
critical verses from the Book of Deuteronomy
that directly connects Mount Horeb with the giving of the law, the
covenant, the Ten Commandments.
1. The Core Horeb Covenant & Face-to-Face Encounter.
The following verses
introduce the repetition of the “Ten Commandments” (Ten Words) in Deuteronomy.
Moses establishes right away that the setting for this defining moment was at
all times at Mount Horeb.
Let us now read Deuteronomy Chapter 5, verses 2-4.
“יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ - the LORD our Eloheinu made a covenant with us in Horeb. יְהוָה - the LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even
us, who are all of us here alive this day. יְהוָה - the LORD spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst
of the fire”.
2. The Link Between Horeb and the “Ten Words”.
In chapter 4, Moses
looks back at the day the law was given. This passage explicitly uses the
phrase “Ten Commandments” (literally translated from Hebrew as the “Ten Words”)
and places the event squarely at Mount Horeb.
We will now read Deuteronomy Chapter 4, verses 10-13.
“The day that thou stoodest
before יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ - the LORD thy Eloheinu in Horeb, when יְהוָה - the LORD said unto me: ‘Assemble Me the people, and I will make them
hear My words that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live upon
the earth, and that they may teach their children’. And ye came near and stood
under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven,
with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And יְהוָה - the LORD spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the
voice of words, but ye saw no form; only a voice. And He declared unto
you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even the ‘ten words’; and
He wrote them upon two tables of stone.
3. The Second Set of Tablets Written at Horeb
After the first tablets
were broken due to the golden calf incident, Moses explains how אֱלֹהִים - Elohim recreated the “Ten Commandments” on a second set of stone tablets while
they were still at Horeb.
Let us now read Deuteronomy Chapter 10, verses 4-5.
“יְהוָה - the LORD wrote on these tablets what he had
written before, the Ten Commandments which he had proclaimed to you on the
mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly; and יְהוָה - the LORD gave them to me. Then I came down the
mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made..."
4. The Golden Calf Rebellion at Horeb
For a complete academic
or spiritual study, it is vital to note that “
Let us read Deuteronomy Chapter 9, verses 8-9:
“At Horeb you
aroused יְהוָה - the LORD’s wrath so
that He was angry enough to destroy you. When I went up on the mountain to
receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that יְהוָה - the LORD had made with you, I stayed on the
mountain forty days and forty nights…”
Key Structural Point for this Study
In this study, it was important to highlight
the structural differences between Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy chapters 4, 5, 9
& 10, While Exodus uses “Sinai” and frames the Commandments around the
historical event of fleeing
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Remember
what אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, blessed be He, said the following through a number of
our prophets...
“The More Torah, the More Life”,
For Elohim is the One who
gave us our ... “Life!”
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