A spectacular sound and light show greeted the Israelites when the new nation encountered God for the first time at Mt. Sinai.1 The awesome display of divine presence and power so terrified the Children of Israel that they begged God not to appear to them again in person (Exodus 20:15). God’s initial appearance—a theophany—was certainly the most significant and dramatic event of the year following Israel’s liberation from Egypt. But what, according to the biblical authors, did the people actually experience?
The Bible records two different accounts, one in Exodus 19–24 and the other scattered throughout the Book of Deuteronomy.2 A careful reading of these texts may explain how—and why—this momentous occurrence was preserved for posterity twice.3
Israel’s sojourn at Mt. Sinai lasted several days less than a year.4 The Pentateuchal account of this event is spread out over 59 chapters of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.5 If the length of the treatment in the Pentateuch determines importance, this was by far the most significant single year in the history of mankind. Throughout the year, Israel is encamped at the foot of the mountain and God is present, first on the mountain and eventually within the Tabernacle, with his cloud resting above it (Exodus 40:34–38). Most of Israel’s laws are given to her at this time, and her basic religious and civil institutions come into being.
The theophany that concerns us here lasted several days, as described 042in Exodus 19 through 24. These chapters recount God’s appearance to the people, along with the negotiations and rituals related to making the covenant between God and Israel. In the course of the narrative, two compendiums of religious and civil laws are introduced: (1) the Ten Commandments, spoken directly by God to the people (Exodus 20:1–17), and (2) the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:18–23, 33), spoken by God to Moses.6 After the Covenant has been agreed to (Exodus 24:1–11), Moses ascends the mountain, where after 40 days he is given the Tablets of the Covenant and commanded to build the Tabernacle (Exodus 24:12–31:18).
Three parties are involved in the theophany: God, the people of Israel, and Moses. Heaven and earth, God and man, come into contact at Mt. Sinai. But precisely where are all the parties located at the time of God’s appearance?
Numerous legends in postbiblical Jewish sources describe Moses ascending to heaven and remaining with the angels and other celestial beings as he learns the entire Written and Oral Torah as well as other esoteric lore revealed by God and his retinue.a In this role, Moses resembles such characters as Enoch (from the apocryphal Book of Enoch), Enmeduranki, Adapa and Etana (from Mesopotamian tradition), who ascended to heaven and learned cosmic secrets that they then brought back to earth and revealed to mankind. Moses’ ascent also has parallels to the ascents to heaven described in elaborate detail in Jewish mystical writings of the Kabbalah.b This, however, is not the simple meaning of the description of Moses’ ascent in Exodus. Nowhere does the text say, or even hint, that Moses actually left the surface of the earth and ascended into some heavenly realm. Similarly, in Deuteronomy 9:9 Moses says, “When I went up the mountain to take the stone tablets…I sat on the mountain forty days and forty nights, eating no bread and drinking no water.” It is clear that Moses remains on the mountaintop and does not rise any higher.
If Moses was on earth, where was God? In Exodus 19:11, God tells Moses that the people should get ready for the theophany: “They shall prepare themselves for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will descend in the sight of the entire people onto Mt. Sinai.” This idea is repeated at least three times in the ensuing description:
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 horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain. Mt. Sinai was smoking completely, because God had descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. The blare of the horn grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder. The Lord descended upon Mt. Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called to Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Exodus 19:16–20
These descriptions clearly locate Moses’ encounter with God on the mountaintop. Not only has Moses gone up, but God has come down: They meet on Mt. Sinai.
This seems to contradict Exodus 20:19, in which God announces, “You have seen that from the heavens I have spoken to you.” Nonetheless, this verse is exceptional, because in the rest of the Exodus version of the theophany God descends and speaks from atop the mountain, not from heaven. This verse 043may be a bit of divine bravado and hyperbole, but it is more likely to have been added by a later editor so that the account in Exodus would accord with the description in Deuteronomy, which portrays the event somewhat differently.
Deuteronomy calls the place of the theophany Horeb rather than Sinai; the two names are never explicitly identified with each other.c This difference in nomenclature is trivial, however, with no apparent bearing on the nature of the theophany. More important is the positioning of the participants at the scene.
Deuteronomy makes no mention of a divine descent. If God has not come down to the mountain, he must still be in heaven. Deuteronomy 4:36 states this explicitly: “From the heavens he made you hear his voice in order to chastise/teach you, and on the earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his voice from out of the fire.” As in Exodus, the mountain is burning, but there is no indication that it was kindled by the divine descent from heaven. Rather, the fire ascends from the earth as the voice emanates from heaven. Deuteronomy 4:11 tells us: “You approached and stood under (at the bottom of) the mountain, and the mountain was burning in fire up to the heart of the heavens, darkness, cloud, and pitch blackness.” The expression “the heart of heaven” (leb ha-shamayim) occurs nowhere else in the entire Bible; it must refer either to the innermost part of heaven or to its zenith. In fact, these are two of the meanings of the Akkadian cognate libbi sûameÆ. In any case, the fire in Deuteronomy ascends from the top of the mountain to the highest heights, where God is and from whence he speaks.
One verse in Deuteronomy might be understood as indicating that God descends to the mountain. In Deuteronomy 5:28 God says to Moses, “And you, stand here with me (‘amod ‘immadi) and I will speak to you all the commandments and laws and statutes that you will teach them.” This could suggest that God and Moses were actually together. However, this emphasis on the proximity of Moses with God 044is simply mentioned as a contrast with the distance between God and the people, as they are being dismissed: God tells Moses, “Go, say to them, ‘Return to your tents.’ And you, stand here with me” (Deuteronomy 5:27–28a).
Exodus and Deuteronomy appear to view the action from different directions and perspectives. In Exodus God descends, bringing with him a cloud cover that shields the mountain from above. In Deuteronomy God remains in heaven but draws up fire from the mountain to cover himself from below.
Other, less direct indications confirm that in Exodus God actually descends to the mountain while in Deuteronomy he remains in heaven:
Only in Exodus does God demand that the men purify themselves and abstain from contact with women for three days. This is necessary because God’s immediate, physical presence on Mt. Sinai demands that the people be ritually pure. Deuteronomy, viewing events in retrospect, recalls no such requirement.
Only in Exodus is the mountain cordoned off so that the people do not push forward to see God, thus putting their lives in jeopardy (Exodus 19:12–21). 045Further, only Exodus mentions the increasingly loud blast of the rams’ horn (shofar or yovel), which is intended to warn the people lest they approach the mountain while God is upon it (Exodus 19:13, 16, 19). In contrast, Deuteronomy 5:5 describes the people as too afraid to approach the mountain (suggesting that they could have ascended the mountain had they wanted to), and the horn is not heard at all. In Deuteronomy the people need not be warned against rushing up the mountain because God does not physically alight upon the place of revelation.
The different locations of God in the theophany accounts is important because it reflects different views of God in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy views God as transcendent and abstract; thus, God remains in heaven. Exodus presents an intimate, immediate view of God, who has a physical presence on earth.
Indeed, in Exodus Mt. Sinai is a sort of temple precinct in which God is physically present. The temple was originally conceived throughout the ancient Near East as literally the “house of god.” The deity, represented by a cult statue, was thought to reside in the temple, and the cult that practiced there provided for his daily needs. In Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, for example, the ancient symbol of divine presence, the Ark, was placed in the Holy of Holies under the outstretched wings of two giant cherubim representing God’s throne (1 Kings 6:23–28).d Worshipers visited the Temple to pray or pay homage because God was actually on the premises and could be visited just like an earthly king. As a result, the Temple had to be ritually protected: Only priests had access to its inner parts. Ordinary Israelites had to stay in the courtyards. The same holds true for Mt. Sinai in Exodus. The people must be kept away.
As Israelite religion became more refined, this view of God and the Temple became unacceptable. In the mid-seventh century B.C.E., as Judean theologians redefined the essence of the Temple, God was transferred upstairs, so to speak, and situated in the highest heavens. The Temple on earth became an immense “switchboard,” towards which prayers could be addressed and then forwarded to the ever-attentive God, who dwelled in heaven. The Temple was no longer God’s earthly residence, but the locus where his name was placed. This understanding of the Temple is reflected throughout the Book of Deuteronomy. Unlike Exodus, Deuteronomy never refers to the Temple as “the House of God,” but repeatedly calls it “the place where Yahweh chose to cause his name to dwell” (Deuteronomy 12:11, 21, 14:23, 24, 16:2, 6, 11, 26:2).e God was resident in heaven and not in the Temple.
The Book of Deuteronomy applies this innovative view of the Temple to Horeb. The people may ascend Horeb because God is not there, but in heaven.
This shift toward a more abstract, transcendent deity is reflected in another aspect of the text: the varying descriptions of the special effects—the sound and light show—that accompany the theophany. Just as God’s dwelling is shifted to heaven in Deuteronomy, the theophany loses some of the more physical, earthbound elements found in Exodus—especially those associated with anthropomorphic Canaanite deities.
Exodus 19 describes what can be called a meteorological aspect of the theophany. Thunder and lightning and a thick cloud descend on the mountain (Exodus 19:16). No rain or wind is mentioned, but nevertheless, this particular combination of natural phenomena is most reminiscent of an impending storm.7 Second, there is a geological or seismological event: Mt. Sinai resembles a volcano, spewing smoke like a furnace and quaking all over (Exodus 19:18).
The two aspects are connected: The mountain does not go up in smoke spontaneously, but is ignited by fire from above. According to Exodus 19:18, “Mt. Sinai was smoking completely because God had descended upon it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace.” It seems, therefore, that the thunder, lightning and clouds of Exodus 19:16 were part of a cloud cover enveloping God in his fiery descent. Once God alighted upon Mt. Sinai, the mountain itself started to smoke and quake from the impact of the landing. In fact, the meteorological occurrence is perceived as the cause of the seismic upheaval. We should remember that there are no active volcanoes near the Land of Israel, so it is unlikely that the experience of a volcano is in the author’s mind. Tellingly, there is no mention of lava, the hallmark of volcanic activity.
Deuteronomy, however, has removed the meteorological element from the theophany: There is no storm on Horeb.
Even though Deuteronomy and Exodus use some of the same climatic terms, the vocabulary is applied differently, so that the same words bear very different meanings. For example, both accounts speak of clouds by using the Hebrew terms ‘anan, “cloud,” and ‘arafel, “cloud, fog, thick darkness.”8 In Exodus the ‘arafel can be approached by Moses, and God is found within it (Exodus 20:21); the ‘anan covers the 046mountain (Exodus 24:15, 16, 18). (This ‘anan seems to be related to the pillar of cloud that accompanied the Israelites in their wanderings.) In Deuteronomy, however, ‘anan and ‘arafel mean “darkness.” They seem to have no substance and are never described in physical terms as descending or covering, or as being approached or entered.f The absence of a cloud signifying a divine physical presence below the heavens is in keeping with Deuteronomy’s overriding theological view.
Further, Exodus speaks of God coming in an ‘ab he’anan (Exodus 19:9). This term is often translated (following Rashi)g as “thick cloud,” relating ‘ab, in this case, to ‘abeh, “thick.” However, it is preferable to relate it to the images of God riding a cloud (‘ab) in Isaiah 19:1 and Psalms 104:3 (also Isaiah 14:14). A better interpretation is “an individual, mobile cloud from the cloud bank” (1 Kings 18:44). This is the only place in the theophany traditions where the word ‘ab is used; Deuteronomy makes no mention of such a cloud.
Finally, in both Exodus and Deuteronomy the word qol, which can mean “voice,” “sound” or “thunder,” appears several times. However, Exodus alone mentions qolot uvraqim and ‘et haqqolot we-’et hallappidim, both of which can only be translated “(the) thunder and (the) lightning.” This indicates that Exodus 19:20 (Moshe yedabber we-ha-’elohim ya’anenu beqol) should be translated “Moses would speak, and God would answer him with thunder” (as in the New Jewish Publication Society translation). Although Deuteronomy mentions the word qol as many as seven times, it is qualified upon its very first appearance by the term devarim, “words” (“the sound of words” or “a voice…speaking”; Deuteronomy 4:12; cf. 4:36, 5:18, 19, 20, 21, 22) indicating that it refers to coherent divine speech and not a noisy, incomprehensible rumbling of thunder. This holds true for all the appearances of the term qol in Deuteronomy. In fact, if the Deuteronomic account were read on its own, there would be no reason to suspect that qol means anything but “voice.” Deuteronomy’s apparent disinterest in thunder is emphasized further by the absence of any reference to lightning.
By avoiding references to meteorological effects, Deuteronomy is quietly trying to disassociate the God of Israel from the many storm gods, such as Baal or Hadad, worshiped by neighboring peoples. These gods were characterized by their use of thunder and lightning. Baal, for example, is regularly called rkb‘rpt, “Rider of the Storm Cloud.” Of particular interest for the mountain theophany is this hymn to Baal:
Baal sits enthroned, (his) mountain like a dais;
Haddu the shepherd, like the Flood Dragon.
In the midst of his mount, Divine Saphon, on the mount of his victory.
Seven lightning bolts he casts, eight magazines of thunder; He brandishes a spear of lightning.9
Baal’s mastery of the weather, typified by thunder, is expressed in the Ugaritic Baal epic, where the deity, upon completing the construction of his new palace, is described:
For now Baal can send his rain in due season,
send the season of the driving showers
Baal can shout aloud in the clouds (wtn.qlh. b’rpt)
To be sure, the God of Israel is regarded by the Book of Deuteronomy as the provider or withholder of rain and its blessings (Deuteronomy 11:10–17, 28:12, 23–24), but the rain is not associated with thunder and lightning and certainly not with the earth shaking.
Eliminating imagery that might be 047construed as Canaanite is the theological parallel to cultic regulations in Deuteronomy requiring the destruction of indigenous cult sites (Deuteronomy 12:2–4) or the abstention from aboriginal divinatory and magical practices (Deuteronomy 18:9–14).
Comparing the thunderstorm theophany in Exodus with the revelation in Deuteronomy, we find that Exodus’s somewhat corporeal image, with possible Canaanite overtones, has been replaced by a more abstract image, without obvious associations with the local pantheon.
In the Deuteronomic account, fire—which is not a primary symbol of any major Canaanite deity—replaces thunder as the most prominent motif.12 The association of fire with divine revelation is neither new nor unique in the Book of Deuteronomy.13 Indeed, God first appeared to Moses out of the burning bush (Exodus 3:4–4:17). And in Moses’ final blessing of the people, he says: “The Lord came from Sinai, and shined forth from Seir to them, He shined from Mount Paran and came from Merivat Qadesh, from his right hand, fire flew out to them.”14
Deuteronomy, however, seems to be obsessed with the idea of fire as the context of the theophany. We read that “the mountain was burning with fire until the heart of heaven” (Deuteronomy 4:11); and that “these words the Lord spoke to your entire congregation on the mountain from out of the fire…and the mountain was burning with fire” (Deuteronomy 5:18). During the golden calf incident, the mountain is “burning with fire” (Deuteronomy 9:15); and many times God speaks from the fire (Deuteronomy 4:15, 33, 36; 5:4, 5, 20, 21, 22; 10:4). This pyromania contrasts markedly with Exodus, which mentions fire in only three passages (Exodus 19:18, 24:17, 40:38), none of which describes God speaking from the fire.
If it’s true that where there is smoke, there is fire, then where there is fire, we can expect smoke.15 It is remarkable, therefore, that Deuteronomy, with its emphasis on fire, never mentions smoke. This contrasts sharply with Exodus, in which Mt. Sinai smokes like a furnace (Exodus 19:18; cf. 20:14). The elimination of smoke from Deuteronomy may be an attempt to eliminate a natural element from the theophany (compare with Psalms 104:32, 144:5).
Deuteronomy’s obsession with fire must be related to Deuteronomy 4:24, which metaphorically describes the jealous Lord as a “devouring fire.” The huge conflagration ascending from the mountain is therefore emblematic of the passionate, almighty and abstract God whose voice emanates from the top of the fire to the highest heavens.
The accounts of the theophany in Exodus and Deuteronomy thus differ significantly from one another both in specific details and in underlying theological outlook. Exodus portrays Mt. Sinai as if it were a temple precinct where God and man come into immediate and intimate contact. Deuteronomy, in keeping with its own innovative conception of the Temple and the transcendent deity, confines God to the highest heaven even when he is revealing himself to his people at Horeb. Exodus depicts God’s descent to the mountain in ways that make him resemble a Canaanite storm deity riding on a cloud. Deuteronomy, in keeping with its program to purge Israelite religion of Canaanite vestiges, eliminates any such associations. Rather, it emphasizes God’s might, jealousness and exclusivity by enveloping him in fire.
In both accounts, the conditions prevailing at the covenant ceremony become paradigmatic for the ensuing relationship between God and his people. The basic tenets of Israelite belief and practice are acted out for the people by God himself.
A spectacular sound and light show greeted the Israelites when the new nation encountered God for the first time at Mt. Sinai.1 The awesome display of divine presence and power so terrified the Children of Israel that they begged God not to appear to them again in person (Exodus 20:15). God’s initial appearance—a theophany—was certainly the most significant and dramatic event of the year following Israel’s liberation from Egypt. But what, according to the biblical authors, did the people actually experience? The Bible records two different accounts, one in Exodus 19–24 and the other scattered throughout the Book of […]
You have already read your free article for this month. Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.
Written Torah refers to the Hebrew Bible. Oral Torah is Jewish nomenclature for the entire body of authoritative rabbinic law and lore. Some of this was eventually committed to writing in works such as the midrashim, which expound on books of the Bible; the Mishnah, a law corpus compiled by Rabbi Judah the Prince in about 200 C.E.; and the Gemara, a running commentary on the Mishnah from the fifth century C.E.
2.
Kabbalah, meaning “that which is received,” is a term for Jewish mystical lore that originated orally and was eventually written down in numerous compositions, the most prominent of which is the Zohar (Book of Splendor), a medieval work traditionally attributed to the much earlier sage Rabbi Shimeon bar Yochai.
3.
The name Horeb is also used to designate the place where Moses came upon the burning bush (Exodus 3:1) and where Elijah experienced his own personal theophany when fleeing Jezebel (1 Kings 19:8). Horeb is also mentioned in 1 Kings 8:9 and Malachi 3:22 as the site of revelation and law giving. Psalms 106:19 recalls Horeb as the site of the golden calf incident.
Interestingly, the part of Deuteronomy that stems from the so-called Deuteronomic source (D) makes no reference to the pillar of cloud that guided Israel in the desert.
7.
Rashi, a French Jew who lived from 1040 to 1105, wrote commentaries on almost every book of the Hebrew Bible and the Babylonian Talmud.
Endnotes
1.
This article was written while on sabbatical leave at the Center for Judaic Studies of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. It is based on a lecture I delivered at Camp Louise, in Maryland, for the Conservative Mens’ Clubs of the Washington, D.C., Area. I am grateful to the center for its hospitality and generous financial support of my scholarly activities.
2.
The main description of the theophany is in Deuteronomy 5:2–24, although it is referred to obliquely in 4:9–20, 32–36. It is also mentioned in 9:8–21 and 25–10:1–5 in relationship to the golden calf incident, and in 18:16 in the context of a law concerning divination and prophecy.
3.
The account of the Sinai sojourn in Exodus and Numbers is of a composite literary nature, containing material from the so-called Jahwist (J), Elohist (E) and Priestly (P) sources, and has been the topic of much critical investigation (see Baruch J. Schwartz, “What Really Happened at Mt. Sinai?”BR 13:05). This article does not delve into these complex issues but considers the non-Deuteronomic material as a whole. This approach should not compromise the basic conclusions of the study. For a recent, detailed discussion of the Sinai theophany, see Thomas B. Dozeman, God on the Mountain: A Study of Redaction, Theology and Canon in Exodus 19–24, Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series 37 (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1989) esp., pp. 37–86.
4.
Exodus 19 informs us of Israel’s arrival at the desert around Mt. Sinai; Numbers 10 tells how the people packed up and started on their march to the Promised Land. Exodus 19:1 probably refers to the first day of the third month of the first year as the date the Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai. Numbers 10:11 gives the 20th day of the second month of the second year as the date when the desert trek began. Even with these data, we cannot calculate the precise number of days spent at Sinai because we don’t know whether the months referred to in the Torah were lunar months, with 28–29 days, or luni-solar months, with 30–31 days. If we assume a solar calendar with 30 or 31 days per month, the total stay would have been 355 or 354 days (10 or 11 days fewer than a solar year), or precisely a lunar year.
5.
The incident recorded in Exodus 18 is out of chronological sequence and should be included in the events of the stay at Mt. Sinai.
6.
The term Book of the Covenant, used by scholars to designate the law collection in Exodus 20:18–23:33, is taken from Exodus 24:7: “And Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the ears of the people, and they said all that God has spoken we will do and obey.” It is not clear, however, whether the biblical author refers specifically to this law corpus. Exodus 24:3 mentions “all the words of the Lord, and all the laws,” and these two designations may respectively refer to the Decalogue and the subsequent collection of laws.
7.
The Sinai theophany is surprisingly calm and simple given its historical significance. The absence of wind is peculiar in light of the presence of this element in private theophanies in Ezekiel 1:4, Job 38:1, 40:6 (and cf. 2 Samuel 22:16; 1 Kings 19:11–12). However, when comparing theophanies, we should bear in mind that appearances of God may serve various purposes and that the components of the theophany will vary accordingly. The makeup of the theophany may also be determined by the location and the audience. Rain and water are part of the theophanies in Judges 5:4 and 2 Samuel 22:12, but these would be out of place in a desert context. One should not expect all theophanies to be identical, even though they may contain some common elements, such as wind, rain, thunder, lightning, fire, earthquake and divine speech.
8.
See Chaim Cohen, “The Basic Meaning of the Term ‘arafel, ‘Darkness,’” Hebrew Studies 36 (1995),pp. 7–12.
9.
Keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit (KTU), vol. 1, ed. M. Dietrich, O. Loretz and J. Sanmartín, Alter Orient und Altes Testament 24 (Kevelaer: Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1976), 1.101.
10.
Dietrich, Loretz and Samartín, KTU, 1.4 v 6–9.
11.
Dietrich, Loretz and Samartín, KTU, 1.4 vii 29.
12.
Patrick D. Miller, “Fire in the Mythology of Canaan and Israel,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 27 (1965), pp. 256–261, discusses the use of fire by YHWH and Canaanite deities, especially as an instrument of war. It remains true, however, that no Canaanite god of major significance is associated primarily with fire. In Mesopotamia, however, we find GIBIL/Girra and Nusku. Cf. Wilfred G.E. Watson, “Fire,” in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, ed. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking and Pieter W. van der Horst (Leiden: Brill, 1995), cols. 626–627.
13.
Fire also appeared when God made a covenant with Abraham: “And when the sun set there was darkness, and behold a smoking furnace and a torch of fire that was passing between these pieces (of the animals split up by Abraham)” (Genesis 14:17). This covenant is actually a harbinger of the Sinai covenant both in this detail of fire and in God’s words to Abram “I am the Lord who took you out of Ur of the Chaldeans” (Genesis 15:7). These words reverberate with the first line of the Decalogue “I, the Lord your God, who took you out of the Land of Egypt, the house of bondage…” (Genesis 15:7; Exodus 20:2).
14.
I follow Richard Steiner’s suggestion that dat is a feminine singular participial form of da’ah, designating some type of flight.
15.
In Isaiah 6:4 (“and the Temple filled up with smoke”), where no source of the smoke is specified, some exegetes have related it to God’s wrath, which is described as “smoking” (e.g., 2 Samuel 22:9; Deuteronomy 29:19). Others have suggested that the smoke emanates from the breath of the Seraphim. Shmuel D. Luzzato, a 19th-century Jewish commentator from Italy, suggests, however, that the Seraphim were offering incense while reciting the Trisagion (“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts”). Whatever the source of the smoke, it is certainly reminiscent of the smoke of the Sinai theophany, as is the smoking furnace of Genesis 15:17.
