Emmanuel Anati

The Book of Exodus tells us that when Moses went up Mt. Sinai to receive the second set of Ten Commandments, God told Moses that he would pass in front of him, but he would hide Moses in a cleft in the rock so that Moses would not see God’s face. Clefts or caves are often found in the sides of the region’s limestone and sandstone mountains, but they rarely occur on mountaintops. Here, on Har Karkom, however, is a small rock shelter that the author observes fits the description in Exodus 33:22 very well: “I will put thee in the cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by.”