I was reading in Exodus this morning, on my annual journey through the Bible, and came upon the following verses:
"Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank." (Exodus 24:9-11)
Perhaps it is wrong, I'm not sure, but whenever I read of these men of old coming into the presence of God, I find myself filled with a bit of jealousy.
Not jealousy in the way of seeing something spectacular, but jealousy because I desire to be in the presence of my adopted Father.
I desire to be with the one who chose me, who created me. The one who adopted me as his son, and has given me an inheritance beyone imagination.
Not being a Greek scholar, I'm not sure what "saw" here means, as I know that no one has fully seen God.
Nonetheless, can you imagine the things that these people witnessed at the foot of Sinai?
As I was trying to decide what image to use for this post, I decided to use an image from the Hubbell telescope as those images are about the most wonderful, and mind-bending images I have ever seen.
Here's a question to ponder: If you were able to interview Moses after his descent from the presence of God, would you ask, "What was it like?", or would you ask, "What was He like?"
Ponder the difference. :)
