Today's Scripture Reading (February 21, 2025): Deuteronomy 5
I know I have said this before, but names in the Bible are important. Names are more than just something we call a particular person or place. And often, in North America, the way we name our cities and towns is to copy names from the United Kingdom or Europe or other places, sometimes even places in the "new world." So, there is a London in England and a London in the Canadian province of Ontario. Speaking of Ontario, the largest province in Canada is named Ontario, but there is also a city named Ontario in California in the United States. My ancestors, who came over from Europe almost 400 years ago, landed and lived in a place called New Amsterdam, a region named after the capital city of the Netherlands. But don't go looking for New Amsterdam on a map. The area where my ancestors started living their lives in the New World no longer goes by the name it had taken from the Netherlandic Capital. It changed its name, removing the name from the name adapted from the Capital of the Netherlands and exchanging it for the name of a cathedral city in England, a place called York. The area where my ancestors began their lives is now part of New York. There is very little originality in these names; they are memories of somewhere else or names that arise from a different language. The city and province of Ontario find their name origin in the language of the Iroquois people. Ontario means "beautiful" or "sparkling water;" for the Canadian province, it alludes to the Great Lakes, especially the Eastern ones, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, while, for the Californian city, the allusion is to the Pacific Ocean.
But in the Bible, names are chosen because they have meaning. And so, people sometimes had two names. As a result, Simon, which means "listen" or "hearing," becomes Peter, which means "rock." Abram, which means "exalted Father," becomes Abraham, meaning "Father of Multitudes."
So maybe it shouldn't surprise us that the Mountain of God, the place where Moses received the "Ten Commandments," also carries at least two names, and both names refer to the character of God. Maybe the most common name is Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai refers to God's "glory and holiness." It reminds us of the moment when God met with Moses, and the people of Israel were commanded to stay away from even the base of the mountain. God was holy, and he was separate. Everything that had to do with God had to be entered into very carefully and with significant forethought and planning. When Israel began to treat God casually, they got into trouble. And all of this was summed up in the name "Sinai."
A less well-known name for the same mountain was Mount Horeb. Horeb concentrated on God's "judgment and wrath." It called into consideration what had happened to the nation when they forgot about the meaning of Sinai. It was another side of God that Israel knew well.
In this moment, Moses stresses the Horeb side of God. Moses wouldn't be with Israel when they entered the Promised Land. But they couldn't forget that God was still there and that the best results always came when they listened to God and acted as he had instructed them. This meant obeying God even in those moments when his instruction didn't make sense. (Like marching around the walls of Jericho. Really!)
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 6
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