Meeting Yahweh

* I've been reading and Bible Journaling through the book of Exodus recently, and during this reading a section from Exodus 24 stuck out to me in a way it never had before -- the story of Moses and the elders of Israel meeting with God on Mount Sinai. I could imagine that scene so vividly in my mind for some reason, and it has stuck with me for a few days now to the point where it inspired me to write this story of that meeting from the point of view of Joshua. 

Joshua gazed at the mountain in front of him. He still didn't know why Moses had instructed them to climb the mountain with him today. Moses had shared no detailed plans with them other than God had commanded Moses to go up the mountain and a group including Aaron and the elders of Israel were to accompany him. Joshua had heard some of the other men whispering before they set out this morning, questioning the reason for the hike. Yahweh had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, but now they were camping in the desert? What about this promised land they had been told about, and how was a hike up the mountain supposed to help them get there?

To Joshua such grumbling made no sense. Questioning and complaining wouldn't help them move forward to the promised land. It was a waste of energy that could better be spent training to face the enemies they would come across in their journey, enemies like the Amalekites they had already battled and defeated.

Joshua considered himself a man of logic and reason. Growing up as an Egyptian slave, he had found little use for emotion. Acting out of emotion did nothing to alleviate your circumstances and could even make them worse; it could get you saddled with an even heavier work load or, worse, beaten. Keeping a cool head along with a natural aptitude for strategy and an innate sense of responsibility and leadership had garnered the attention of Moses and resulted in Joshua being named the de facto general of the fledgling army of Israel.

Joshua knew to their enemies the Hebrew soldiers would appear like easy pickings, but Joshua saw strengths in his soldiers that they didn't see themselves. Years of hard labor as slaves had given them bodies that were lean and corded with strong, hard muscle. Having to work together for long hours in the hot Egyptian sun had given them the ability to easily work in one accord, when they didn't allow themselves to get caught up in their own selfish thoughts, that is. What they lacked as soldiers was not strength or ability; it was confidence -- in themselves and in Yahweh. Joshua wished instilling them with such confidence was an easier task.

Yahweh had done so much for them! Even Joshua's logical mind could see the miraculous wonders Yahweh had accomplished. He had brought plague after plague against Egypt and yet had protected the people of Israel from every single one. When the Egyptian soldiers pursued them on their flight, God opened a way for the Hebrews through the Red Sea. He had spread wide the waters giving them a path to walk through on dry ground and then brought the raging waters down on their pursuers! He had given them manna from heaven and more quail than they could count to eat when their bellies became empty and they grumbled that they would starve to death. He had given them water from a rock in the middle of the dry desert and led them day by day as a pillar of cloud and night by night as a pillar of fire. He had given them victory over the Amalekites and had revealed His glory in thunder, lightening, fire, smoke and earthquake on the very mountain they were now climbing! Yet still, the people doubted Him. At best they feared Him, drawing back from the pillar of cloud or fire as though it might rage out of control at any moment and devour them.

Joshua understood their fear to a point. This Yahweh was not anything like the gods of Egypt they had heard about their whole lives. Yahweh could not be contained in a statue or a temple. Joshua had a suspicion that not even the pillar, as large it was, truly contained His vast magnitude or glory. This was truly a God to treat with reverence, and yet...

When Joshua met with Moses, the older man often talked of a different side of Yahweh. Moses talked of a God who didn't just want to be known and respected by His people, He wanted to know and commune with them. The God Moses spoke of desired relationship with His people. Moses told stories of a God who spoke to him like a father speaking to His child, a God who cared about Moses's thoughts and feelings. Joshua had heard stories of Yahweh as a child, of a God who visited and dined with Father Abraham, a God who had wrestled with Israel and blessed him. If he was honest, though, Joshua had long considered these stories to be nothing more than fantasy tales told to children before bed, and yet this was the same Yahweh Moses spoke of with love, as though talking of the most special of friends.

Joshua wiped the sweat from his brow. They were nearly halfway up the mountain now, Mount Sinai; Moses had told him this mountain was a special one to their people. Joshua wondered how much further they would climb. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, his curiosity was peaked.

Suddenly a radiant light seemed to appear before them. It was as though the sun itself had descended from the heavens to rest in front of them on the mountain. Joshua had never seen such brilliance before, and yet it did not hurt his eyes to gaze upon it, though logic told him the light should be blinding him. In the midst of the light he saw what appeared to be a man. The figure had the shape of a man at least, and yet He was somehow wholly different and other from any man Joshua had ever laid eyes upon. The light seemed to somehow radiate from the man Himself, if that were possible. His very robes seemed to be made of the light. Beneath his feet where the rock of the mountain should have been there appeared instead a surface of the most beautiful blue gemstone one could ever hope to imagine, as blue and clear as the sky itself. Never had Joshua seen anything so breathtaking. Could this be Yahweh?

Some of the men behind him gasped. Others gaped in awe or fear. Still others fell to the ground, pressing their faces to the earth. No one seemed quite sure what to say or do... except for Moses, who smiled and bowed toward the figure.

"Lord," he said simply.

The Man returned Moses's smile. "Rise, Moses. You and your companions must be hungry. Let us sit and share a meal together."

The beauty of the Man's voice was indescribable. His voice was thundering and commanding and yet somehow at the same time as gentle as a whisper and as harmonious as the most beautiful of songs. It inspired a sense of honor in Joshua while also putting him at ease. By the look of the men around him, they appeared to be feeling the same effect.

When asked later about the meal they had shared with Yahweh, Joshua could never recall any great detail. He remembered how Yahweh had looked and the feelings that seemed to envelope him while in Yahweh's presence -- reverence, joy, awe, contentment, wonder, and above all a great sense of total peace he had never felt before. He knew others wondered that the men could eat and drink in Yahweh's presence as though it were an ordinary occurrence, but the truth was at the time it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world and as though they had done it many times before. Joshua supposed that was because in a way they had, for he had begun to understand that day that Yahweh was truly always with them.

After their meal, the Lord had stood and addressed Moses, "Moses, come up to meet Me on the mountain top. Stay and I will give you the tablets upon which I have inscribed My instructions so that you may teach them to the people."

After those words He had simply disappeared. There was no other way to explain it. One moment He was there and the next He was gone. Many of the men looked at each other with a dazed expression on their faces as though they had suddenly awoken from a dream. What were they to do now?

"Stay here," Moses told them. "Joshua will accompany me the rest of the way. Wait here for us until we return. Aaron and Hur will remain with you and will settle any disputes among you if they should arise."

Moses turned to continue his climb, beckoning to Joshua to come with him. Joshua stepped forward with resolution. He still wasn't sure that he understood the journey he was embarking on with this man who had become like a second father to him. Joshua did comprehend somehow though that the Yahweh he had just communed with was only a small glimpse of the Lord, that there were more aspects to this God than he could ever hope to truly know or understand, and he guessed that he would be seeing yet another side or two or more to the Lord on the mountaintop.

Did it make sense to knowingly be walking towards a meeting with a God who could be cloud and light and fire, who could move the very earth beneath  his feet? Maybe, maybe not...but Joshua felt eager to get to know Yahweh and to be known by Him, and it was this eagerness and curiosity along with a lingering sense of that peace he had felt while communing with Yahweh that moved his feet forward on the path ahead.

*** Thanks to  my husband for the beautiful photos!