Texts in Conversation
Exodus describes God at Sinai with thunder, lightning, and fiery torches, imagery echoed in Ezekiel’s vision where fire and brightness mark the presence of the living creatures, demonstrating how the language in Exodus was adapted in later apocalyptic traditions.
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Exodus 20:18
Hebrew Bible
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.” 18 All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance. 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin.”
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Ezekiel 1:13
Hebrew Bible
11 Their wings were spread out above them; each had two wings touching the wings of one of the other beings on either side and two wings covering their bodies. 12 Each moved straight ahead—wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 In the middle of the living beings was something like burning coals of fire or like torches. It moved back and forth among the living beings. It was bright, and lightning was flashing out of the fire. 14 The living beings moved backward and forward as quickly as flashes of lightning. 15 Then I looked, and I saw one wheel on the ground beside each of the four beings.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In this regard, Philo’s first-century description of God’s appearance at Sinai may not be a haphazard parallel: God’s revelation came “from heaven” like a “flame”, which became “a dialect” and caused “amazement” (Decalogue 46, a parallel noted by several commentators; see some identical wording in Acts 2:3, 6-7). Philo’s rendering is not that far removed from the account in the book of Exodus, where “voices” is closely linked to “torches” of fire: “all the people saw the voices and the torches” (Exodus 20:18; “torches” of fire also describe a heavenly temple scene in Ezekiel 1:13). Later Judaism also preserves references saying that God’s voice in giving the law at Sinai was like fire ..."
Beale, G. K.
Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation
(p. 125) Baker Academic, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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