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From: rhendel@king.mcs.drexel.edu (Russell Hendel)
Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 19:29:50 -0400
Subject: A Thought On Matan Torah

As Shavuoth comes along I am reminded of the following question asked me
several times over the past few years.

SOURCE 1: States that God had to place Har Sinai over us and threaten to kill
us before we accepted the Torah.

SOURCE 2: States that God went to all the nations and offered them the Torah.
One nation refused because of the murder laws, one nation refused because of
the adultery laws etc.  However we accepted the Torah.

It appears that these sources contradict each other.

I suggested a (traditional) resolution approach to the two sources just
quoted:

Apparently God went to each nation and offered them the Torah. There
were several refusals (e.g. because of murder, adultery etc). So God
then threatened each nation by holding a mountain over them unless they
accepted it The nations still refused because e.g. there way of life
depended on murder incest etc.  Finally when God came to the Jews, they
also refused, but when threatened with the mountain they gave in.

Note that the above resolution is consistent with BOTH source 1 and source 2.

I have two questions: (a) Does anyone know of a source that addresses
the issue of the contradiction between source 1 and source 2.  (b) I
have a question of attitude? Should we be content with asserting that
the sources contradict each other and represent different points of view
or is it better to attempt to resolve them (in the manner shown above).
What is the true attitude we should have between contradictory haggadic
texts.

Any discussion would be welcome.

Russell Hendel, PH.d ASA  rhendel @ mcs . drexel .edu