Torah Through the Lens of Midrash Part 2: Revelation

(16) On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the shofar; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. (17) Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain [or literally on the underside of the mountain]. (18)

Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the LORD had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently. (19) The blare of the shofar grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder.

(1) God spoke all these words, saying: (2) I the LORD am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage... (and then the rest of the 10 commandments)

(19) The LORD spoke these words to your whole congregation at the mountain, from the midst of the fire and the cloud and the smog, with a mighty voice that did not cease; and He inscribed them on two tablets of stone, and gave them to me.

(3) Moses came and enumerated to the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules; and all the people answered with one voice, saying, “All the things that the LORD has commanded we will do!”...

(7) Then he took the record of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do and we will understand [hear].”

Rabbi Abahu taught in the name of Rabbi Yochanan:

When the Holy One of Blessing gave the Torah, no bird chirped, no fowl fluttered, no ox lowed; the stars stopped moving, and the seraphim stopped saying "Holy Holy Holy." The sea was utterly still, and all the creatures fell silent - for the whole world was struck dumb.

And then the voice came forth

“Anochi Adonai Elohecha”

- I am the Infinite, your God.

And likewise as it says in Deuteronomy 5:19 "The LORD spoke these words to your whole congregation ... with a mighty voice that did not cease."

(4) "[And God spoke] all these words, saying" (Exodus 20:1).

For God does everything in a single instant, in the blink of an eye; kills and gives life in a single instant, harms and heals in a single instant. [God simultaneously hears the prayers of] a woman in labor, sailors and desert-walkers and those bound in jail, this one in the east and that one in the west and this one in the north and that one in the south - all of them, God hears all together, at once. And so it says (Isaiah 45:7) "God forms light and creates darkness" [simultaneously]. Dust, like so, is turned to a person, and returned to dust... The staff is turned to a snake, and the snake is returned to a staff. The sea is turned to dry land, and the dry land is returned to sea ... And simultaneously it is written (Exodus 20:8) "Remember Shabbat to sanctify it" and it says (Numbers 28:9) "And on the Shabbat day [offer] two yearling sheep". Simultaneously it says (Leviticus 18:16) "The nakedness of your brother's wife you shall not uncover", and (Deuteronomy 25:5) "When brothers dwell together [and one of them dies and leaves no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married to a stranger, outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall unite with her: he shall take her as his wife and perform the levir’s duty]."

And ALL are spoken in a single instant, in the blink of an eye. That is what it means when it says "And God spoke all these words, saying." (Exodus 20:1).

(6) Another explanation: Ex 20:1 "And God said all of these things, saying" - Rabbi Yitzchak said, What the prophets were to prophesy in the future in each generation, they received from Mount Sinai. As Moshe said to Israel (Deuteronomy 29:14), "But with those here with us standing today and with those not here with us today." ... these are the souls that will be created in the future... For even though they did not exist at that time, each one received that which was theirs. ...

And it was not only of the prophets who receive their prophecy from Sinai, but also the sages who arise in each generation - each of them received what was his from Sinai. And so [too] it states (Deuteronomy 5:19), "These things did the Lord speak to your entire congregation, [...] a great voice and it did not cease":

"A great voice and it did not cease":

Rabbi Yochanan said, "One voice was split into seven voices and they were divided into seventy languages"; Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said, "From it prophesied all of the prophets who arose."

The Torah says, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17) [or literally on the underside of the mountain].

Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama: Bar Ḥasa said: The Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub, and said to them:

"If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, this place will be your burial."

Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial caveat to the obligation to fulfill the Torah. The Jewish people can claim that they were coerced into accepting the Torah, and it is therefore not binding!

Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews ordained what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai.

...

Resh Lakish said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31)? Why do I require the superfluous letter heh, the definite article, which does not appear on any of the other days?

It teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, established a condition with the act of Creation, and said to them: If Israel accepts the Torah [on the sixth day of Sivan], you will exist; and if they do not accept it, I will return you to the primordial state of chaos and disorder.

[Therefore, the earth was afraid until the Torah was given to Israel, lest it be returned to a state of chaos. Once the Jewish people accepted the Torah, the earth was calmed.]

"And Moses ascended to God" (Ex 19:3) - as it is written, "You went up to the heights, and you took a captive..." (Psalm 68:19)...

Rabbi Berechya said:
The tablets were six tefachim (handbreadths) wide. So as it were, two tefachim were in the hand of the One Who Spoke the Universe into Being, and two tefachim were in Moses' hand, and there was a distance of two tefachim between them.

There is a kind of acquisition where the seller is acquired along with the goods.

The Holy One of Blessing said to Israel:
"I am 'selling' you my Torah, and I am as it were being bought along with Her, as it says:
"Take for me a portion" (or "you are taking ME as a portion"). וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה

A parable:

This is like a king who had an only daughter. A neighboring ruler came along and wanted to take her home with him and make her his wife.

The king said:

"My daughter whom I am giving you is my only child. I cannot be separated from her. But neither can I really tell you not to take her, since she's your wife. But - do this kindness for me: that everywhere that you go, you make for me a little apartment, so that I can live with you guys too, so that I don't have to give up my daughter."

Thus said the Holy One of Blessing to Israel:
"I am giving you the Torah. I cannot part from Her, but nor can I tell you not to take Her. Rather, wherever you travel, make me a home which I can dwell within, as it is said "Make me a sanctuary, and I shall dwell in your midst" (Ex 25:8)."

When God gave the Torah to Israel, the earth rejoiced and the heavens wept…

Why?

This is compared to a parable about a King who arranged a wedding for his daughter. The city residents did not come and did not offer praise.
The villagers came and offered praise, with harps and violins and all kinds of music.
The King proclaimed: It is customary that the city residents, who are familiar with the King’s honor, should come to praise his daughter!

Thus God, when he gave the Torah to Israel, the earth rejoiced but the heavens did not.
God said to the heavens:

You who reside above, you should be offering more praise to my honor and to my daughter than the earth!

They answered:

Master of the Universe, it is fitting that the earth should give praise for she received the Torah. We, who are parting from the Torah, should we sing praise and not be sad? As it is written, “Lord, when You went forth out of Seir, when You marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, yea, the clouds dropped water. The mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord.” (Judges 5:4-5)

(9) King Solomon made him a palanquin of wood from Lebanon. (10) He made its posts of silver, Its back of gold, Its seat of purple wool. Within, it was decked with love by the maidens of Jerusalem.

"Made himself a palanquin" (Song of Songs 3:9)

Rabbi Azarya taught in the name of Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Simon: "palanquin" (apirion) refers to the tabernacle (mishkan).

Yuda son of R. El’ai interpreted the verse suggesting that “canopy” (apirion) is the “ark” (aron)….
This is compared to a parable about the King’s only daughter, who was handsome, righteous and praiseworthy. When she was a child, they would converse openly, in the marketplace, in public. But when she reached maturity, the King said to his servants, My daughter is handsome, praiseworthy and righteous, and you would not make her a canopy? Make a canopy for her, for my daughter’s beauty should be seen from within the canopy.

Thus the Lord said: My Torah is handsome, righteous and praiseworthy, should you not construct for it an Ark? It is best that the beauty of My Torah be seen from within the Ark.

It is written in Deuteronomy "We heard His [God's] voice from the midst of the fire" (Deut 5:11) - and they didn't have the strength within them to be able to stand upright; for as soon as they came to Sinai and It was revealed to them, their souls flew out of their bodies when God spoke to them, as it is written "My soul flies out when he speaks!" (Song of Songs 5:6)

But then the Torah sought mercy for the people from the Holy One of Blessings [to bring them back to life]... as it is written: "God's Torah is pure; She restores the soul." (Psalm 19:8)