Yitro - Moshe, the Mediator Between Man & God
The Torah portion of Yitro has a couple of connections to the Messiah. One significant connection is the entire story of God speaking to the nation of Israel at the base of mount Sinai, and how Israel was too scared to continue listening to God, so they appointed Moshe as a mediator. This points towards the revelation that the Talmidim (or disciples) had, and the end of times.
In Exodus 20:15 it says,
“And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off.”
The revelation at mount Sinai terrified the people of Israel. It says in Psalms 29:7-8 that, “The voice of the LORD heweth out flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; The LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.”
When you translate the Hebrew of Exodus 20:15 as literal as possible it says that the people of Israel saw the voices and the torches. But how does one see voices? And where did the torches come from? The sages explain that the words of God looked like fiery torches going forth from the mountain. The torches divided into seventy voices speaking seventy different tongues, all the languages of the world.
The Talmidim experienced a similar revelation on the day of pentecost, when the Spirit came over them like flames of fire, and they started speaking in languages they did not know. The Talmidim knew the legends about what had happened at mount Sinai. They knew that what was occurring to them was directly related to the previous revelation.
In Exodus 20 it says:
“And they said unto Moses: ‘Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’”
The people of Israel said, in Deuteronomy 5:24-26, “‘Behold, the LORD our God hath shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day that God doth speak with man, and he liveth. Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?” After this, Moshe agreed to play the role of mediator for the people of Israel and God. Paul says, in Galatians 3:19, that the Torah was, “ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.”
Yeshua fulfills the same role as Moshe today. It says in Hebrews 1:2, “In these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” It says in John 1:17, “For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Messiah Yeshua.” And in 1st Timothy 2:5 it says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Messiah Yeshua;”
In Exodus chapter 20:18-19 it says:
“And the people stood afar off; but Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And the LORD said unto Moses: Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel: Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.”
The entire people of Israel had clearly seen and experienced God’s wonder and glory. In the Messianic Age, the experience of God’s revelation flowing forth from Zion will exceed the experience that the people of Israel received at mount Sinai. As Levertoff said in Love and the Messianic Age:
“The Messianic revelation will be more perfect than the revelation at Sinai. Then it was but momentary, a glimpse; in the new ages it will be permanent and continuous. All we see now is the mirrored reflection; then it will be the reality we see. The least in those days shall be greater than the greatest of these.”
The book of Hebrews compares and contrasts the revelation at mount Sinai to the revelation that will happen in the Messianic Age. The command that if “even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned,” frightened the people, and in Hebrews 12:21 it even says that Moshe said, “I am full of fear and trembling.”
Hebrews then compares the revelation on earth, from mount Sinai, to the revelation from heaven, from mount Zion:
“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:”
Yeshua said that the least in the kingdom to come will have greater prophetic revelation than that of the greatest prophet in this era. At mount Sinai, God was cloaked in darkness and the people remained distant, as it says, “And the people stood afar off; but Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.” Isaiah 30:20 says that in the Messianic Era, “Yet shall not thy Teacher hide Himself any more, But thine eyes shall see thy Teacher;”, and in Isaiah 40:5, “And all flesh shall see [Him] together;” The revelation will never end in the Messianic Era, as it says in Revelations 21:24, “And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.”
Finally Hebrews connects a passage in Haggai 2:6 to the coming revelation. As it says in Hebrews 12:26:
“Whose voice then shook the earth [at mount Sinai]: but now he hath promised, saying [In Haggai 2:6], Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”
The revelation at Mount Sinai points towards the revelation that the disciples had, and the end of times.
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