Forty Days

Exodus 24:15-18

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

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On the road for forty days,
Last night in Little Rock
Put me in a haze.

"We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad

There's an interesting thing about the number forty in the bible. When talking about a length of time like forty days or forty years. Saying "forty days" didn't necessarily mean 960 hours. It didn't necessarily mean 57,600 seconds. Sometimes it was just an expression meaning "a long time."

This isn't a heresy or a reason to doubt scripture, we have expressions like this in English too. When we talk about a "month of Sundays" we aren't talking about 30 Sundays. It would take seven-and-a-half months to get that many Sundays, so we don't mean it literally. I once heard the expression "a handful of months." The guy who used it meant "four or five." How many fingers are there in a full hand? Four, five with the thumb. That's also what he meant by "a handful of months," four or five.

In all of these examples, the number spoke to the people who said it originally. While forty days could mean forty truly calendar days, it could also mean a long, long time.

On the road for forty days... You gotta imagine that to a band that was making its musical bones in the late 60's and early 70's, forty days seemed like a sex and drug razed eternity on the road. If you've ever been to Little Rock in the midst of a huge tour, it would put you in a haze too.

Moses spent forty days on the mountain in the midst of the glory of the Lord. To the people in the valley, those Moses left behind, it appeared like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain. How glorious is that? Your representative, the man who stood between you and Pharaoh is now in the glory of the fire of the Lord.

Here's the problem... It appeared to them like a devouring fire, so how did they know Moses was not devoured. The voice of the Lord did not cry out to the people "No sweat, everything's fine in here." There was no reassurance. While they were blamed for not waiting upon the Lord, their fears were understandable. Misplaced, but understandable.

Moses entered the cloud. GFR went to Omaha. The nation went to the land of milk and honey. The band went home. While there is a lot of history for both Israel and Three Dog Night, let's leave it at this: after a long forty days, they finally went home. Isn't that what all of us really want?