After the giving of the Ten Words, the narratives contained in Exodus and Deuteronomy inform us that the witnesses to this event were terrified. They were so fearful that they suggested an alternative to hearing the voice of God directly. They suggested that Moses go to God and hear the message, and then he (Moses) would pass the message to them so they wouldn’t die. The narratives of Exodus and Deuteronomy agree up to this point. But from this point forward, the stories depart. Exodus, written in the third person, reports what the author knows (Exodus 20:21). Moses “drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.” The story in Exodus ends there because the writer does not know what exchange took place in that thick darkness. Only Moses would know and be able to report on that. And so, the first-person account in Deuteronomy, presented as the words of Moses, fills in the details. It has to be this way. Watch this class to see why and to learn what happened in the Thick Darkness.
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