Exodus 24:16: “And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mt. Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the seventh day God called out to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.”
What was Moses was doing in that cloud for six days before God called him. When you read this verse in the KJV you find that it says that God called out to Moses out of the midst of the cloud, so according to the KJV Moses was not in the cloud at all. However, if you read this in the Hebrew Bible you will find that the preposition that is used is really from. God called Moses from the midst of the cloud. Jewish literature teaches that Moses spent the six days in the cloud with God. Now if Moses was in this cloud for six days and did not speak with Him for six days, I wonder what he was doing.
For six days the cloud descended upon the mountain of Sinai. No, that is not what the text says; it says he abode on Mt. Sinai. That word abode is very important. Here. In the Hebrew the word is shekin which, if you add a feminine ending, would be Shekinah like in the Shekinah glory of God. The word shekin means to rest, reside, inhabit. The first two letters of this word, Shin and Kap, form a dual root which in its Semitic origins carries the idea of rest and the third letter tells us what type of rest this is. The third letter here is Nun which carries the idea of faith, revelation productivity, and fertility. This word is also used to express the idea of intimacy. I believe it is safe to say that Moses and God spent six days just enjoying each other’s company before God got down to business on the seventh day. Now that seems a little backward as he rested for six days and worked on the seventh day. Ok, I have no idea what took place during those six days, but whatever took place I know I sure would not mind having a similar experience.
What really captured my attention, however, was the word used for six that isin six days. This word for six in Hebrew is spelled Shin and Shin (shash). However, the word six in this verse is shashat, which isspelled Shin, Shin and Taw. I am baffled as to why the Taw is added. It is grammatically ok to do this, but my question is why? Unless, of course, there is a play on words here. Keep in mind a play on words is not always to create humor; actually it is a device to create a broader range of meaning. In this case it appears that shashat is a play on the word Shatah. Shatah means to drink or in the Niphal to be drunk or saturated. This is a loan word for the ancient Persian which has the idea of weaving, intermingling. With this as a play on words, it would suggest that during the six days God was just saturating and intermingling His presence with Moses.
After six days of communing with God Moses was ready to receive instruction from God. You know sometimes we treat God like a celestial boss; we go to Him for our orders and knock ourselves out trying to discern His voice. Maybe Moses had the right idea, spend a little quiet time with God, I mean quiet in the sense of just enjoying His presence and not speaking, then after six days you can get down to business and start chit chatting. His voice might be a little clearer after that time.
The text further tells us that God called to Moses on the seventh day. Moses was most likely a bit deaf as well as having a speech problems, after all why did God have to call out to him. The word call is qara’ in Hebrew. This means to call or shout. But soft, qara’ has a dual meaning. It also means to have a meeting. Possibly the Lord did not call out to Moses but met with Moses to have a sort of business meeting. What that means is that God did not meet with Moses for six days; He had that meeting on the seventh day. The first six days were pleasure, the seventh day was business.
I know it is supposed to be business before pleasure, God set that up at creation, but, after all He is God, and he can bend the rules a little and have pleasure before business. I guess for myself next time I start seeking a word or direction from God, I may just indulge in a little time of pleasure with God before getting down to business. You see, when I study and write, I feel God’s pleasure. Sometimes, God and I get down to business and I either learn something or get some direction. But to be perfectly honest, the reason I spend so much time studying and writing is not to learn something or get direction from God. I don’t even write these studies to share them with those who may or may not read them. I do it for only one reason, the same reason Moses spent six days in the cloud. He just enjoyed, bringing God pleasure and feeling His pleasure. As Eric Liddell said in his explanation as to why he was training for the Olympics rather than preparing for the mission field. “God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.”
Sometimes just sitting back, saying nothing or using the abilities or desires that God gave you such as carpentry, music, repairing a lawn mower, mowing the lawn or working in the garden, whatever you enjoy doing will bring God pleasure. If God gave you that ability and/or desire, then doing it with God will bring Him just as much if not more pleasure than getting down to “business.”
Yesterday I downloaded a version of a song that Fats Waller, the master of stride piano, had arranged. I looked at the sheet music and thought, “I’ll never be able to play this thing on my keyboard.” I mean I play the piano and read music, but I am certainly no musician. My talents just do not lie in music. I remember as a child taking piano lessons, I would drive my piano teacher to distraction because I could never get the proper beat and timing. The metronome and I just never hit it off. So when I play the piano or keyboard now I wear a set of headphones so only I can hear what others would describe as my horrible music. Well, I seriously struggled with this piece of music trying to hit every note like Fats Waller and it appeared absolutely hopeless. Then I realized that Fats Waller has been dead for eighty years, my piano teacher may be in the same fix, and I am wearing head phones so no one can hear my horrible music, what do I care if I do not hit every note like Fats or maintain the proper timing and rhythm. I am playing this for my own pleasure and no one else. So I just relaxed and started to play it my own way letting my left hand hit the chords my own way and my right hand playing the notes that I was able to reach and suddenly, without thinking I fell into a stride. It was no Fats Waller, and my music teacher would probably throw salt in the air over my lack of rhythm but who cares, I was just enjoying myself, playing the song my own way as I am sure no one else would play it.
You know the problem with most Christians is that we just do not relax and enjoy ourselves with God. We take this faith business too seriously, trying to be perfect at it, trying to achieve some style like other more successful Christians when all along God simply wants us to spend six days in that cloud, just relaxing and enjoying His presence and He enjoying our presence. Ok, so we hit a sour note once in a while, only God will hear it and He doesn’t care so long as we enjoy it and He is enjoying himself, After a while we can start to get serious.
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