I was at the Harding Lectures last week. Besides the class on reaching out to our Hispanic neighbors (which I mentioned before), I also gave 3 lectures on the Ten Commandments.

In preparing for these lectures, I spent a lot of time reading articles written by Jewish writers. One thing that really stood out to me was how much emphasis they put on God speaking to His people. In fact, when I googled “God spoke at Sinai,” all of the top hits were Jewish sites.

Maybe we’re too influenced by having seen Charlton Heston on the mountain; we forget the importance of two million people hearing God’s voice, all at the same time! It wasn’t just God giving the law to Moses; it was God leaving an indelible imprint on His people by the sound of His voice.

There are lots of traditions around what happened that day. One interesting one says that when God spoke, there was no echo. I laughed at that until I read the explanation. An echo occurs when a sound encounters something it can’t penetrate; an echo results from the ensuing bounce.

God’s voice penetrates anything and everything. There would be no echo.

God spoke. Millions heard. God still speaks. I want to hear.