But Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him. – Exodus 24:2

 Today's Scripture Reading (November 24, 2024): Exodus 24

There are many places to which I will never go, some because it is forbidden for most people to go there. As I pondered this post, I wondered if I could pick the one I most wanted to visit from among a list of forbidden places. But that was too hard a task for me. I would love to visit Area 51 or Groom Lake Air Force Facility and see what is really there. I heard one person recently argue that he would love to become President of the United States just so that he could have the clearance to see the restricted files on the Groom Lake Facility. 

I would love to wander around North Brother Island at the other end of the nation. It was the home of Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary. Mary was an Irish-born cook who was an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever. While she didn't have symptoms of the virus, she was a carrier of the virus and infected many others. Because Mallon insisted on working as a cook, she freely infected those who ate the food she prepared. Mary Mallon spent the last 23 years of her life in quarantine on North Brother Island. Today, the Island is a bird sanctuary, and visitation is forbidden.

Or maybe, if you are more adventurous, North Sentinel Island interests you. This small Island in the Bay of Bengal is inhabited by an indigenous population known as the Sentinelese. How much these people know about the outside world would be hard to judge because they are highly xenophobic. No one is allowed to come to the Island, and any attempts are met with arrows aimed to kill. In 2004, researchers approached the Island in a helicopter to evaluate the damage caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami, but even the helicopters were greeted with a barrage of arrows. No one was injured, but it once more stressed that visitors were unwelcome on their turf.

The invitation was given to Moses, Aaron, Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, as well as the seventy elders, to come to the mountain, but only Moses was permitted to go up the mountain to meet God. The rest were told to worship at a distance. Moses would be allowed to mediate for the people, to be the go-between, but a vast gulf separated God from the people. It was an image of the barriers that exist between us and God. The mountain was one place where the people couldn't go. Moses would have to stand in the place of the people.

The gulf still exists today, and we cannot enter the presence of God except that a way has been made for us through the death of Jesus. He has become our mediator, and he is the one who welcomes us to cross the distance and come into the presence of the Father.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 25