Can you imagine receiving new laws every single day for eleven days straight? Exhausting, right? So, when God finally told them to move on from Sinai, they were, let's just say, enthusiastic. Maybe a little too enthusiastic.
Instead of taking a normal day's march, they marched for three days non-stop! Ginzberg compares them to a kid bolting from school, desperate to get away before the teacher calls him back. They were so eager to distance themselves from the holy mountain, hoping to escape any more commandments.
Now, you might think God would be furious. And, honestly, He probably wasn't thrilled. But, as Legends of the Jews tells us, God didn’t abandon them. He allowed the Aron (Ark) to lead the way, showing them that the Shekhinah (Divine Presence) was still with them.
But here's where it gets interesting. The Israelites, it seems, were a skeptical bunch. They wouldn’t believe Moses that the Shekhinah was among them unless he recited a specific verse: "Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee." Only then, when the Aron started moving, were they convinced.
And the Aron's role didn't stop there. It also signaled when to break camp. According to Legends of the Jews, the Aron would soar high into the air and then zoom ahead, covering a distance of three days' march, until it found the perfect place for Israel to set up camp. It was like having a divine GPS, always guiding them to the right destination.
It makes you wonder, doesn't it? About our own relationship with rules, with guidance, with the divine. Do we sometimes run from what we think is "good" for us, like those Israelites sprinting from Sinai? And what are the signs, the "Aron soaring," that tell us we're on the right path? Maybe it's worth pausing, even when we're eager to move on, to look for those signs and listen to the guidance that's always available to us.