Glory of the Lord

 Further on in the Old Testament, I read in Exodus, Chapter 19, Verses 16-21:

 

             “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.  And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.  And the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed loud and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.  And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount, and Moses went up.  And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.”

 

 I couldn’t help but think of ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ when they’re at Devil’s Tower and the spaceship sends out this blast, much like a very loud trumpet. 

 

 I continued to read as God gave Moses a verbal summary of the Ten Commandments.  Then in Chapter 24, Verses 15-18, I read:

 

             “And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.  And the glory of the Lord abode on mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.  And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the people of Israel.  And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was on the mount forty days and forty nights.”

 “The glory of the Lord” abode on Mountain Sinai.  And “the glory of the Lord” was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain.  It sure sounded to me that “the glory of the Lord” was a spaceship.     

             “And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.  And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live.  And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by; and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”

 I put the bible down on my lap and laid my head back on the chair and thought about what I had just read.  I could envision Moses perched in a cleft in the stony face of a mountain, with the Lord in his UFO, partly enveloped in a cloud, flying by.