In 3 Nephi 25:4, we find the following words of Malachi: “Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” According to Matthew Brown, Abraham might have also been familiar with Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai). An apocryphal work known as the Apocalypse of Abraham depicts Abraham on Mount Horeb, the holy mountain of God, where he offers sacrifice and is informed by an angel that he will be shown “the garden of Eden.” Satan appears on the scene in disguise and tries to convince Abraham to cease his worshipful activities but an angel of God, who is with Abraham, identifies Satan and commands him to “depart.”. This same source also depicts Abraham offering prayer upon his knees and requesting that the Lord “teach” him information he had been “promised” he would receive. During this prayer the patriarch employed the curious threefold petition “El, El, El.”. [Matthew B. Brown, The Gate of Heaven, p. 40]
“Horeb”
We find in the words of Malachi, which the Savior gave to the Nephites, a charge to “remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel” (3 Nephi 25:4). The reader should note that Mt Sinai is also called Horeb in the Old Testament. The Israelites reached Sinai in the 3rd month after their departure from Egypt (Exodus 19:1), and camped at its foot on a plain from which the top was visible (Exodus 19:16,18,20). The Lord revealed himself to Moses on this mountain … The covenant made here between God and the people played a major role in binding the tribes together and molding them into one nation serving one God.
The location of this mountain is uncertain… . Tradition and most of the modern scholars accept Jebel Musa as Mt Sinai. [Tyndale House, The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Vol. 3, pp. 1460-61] [However, see the commentary on 1 Nephi 4:2]
3 Nephi 25:4 Horeb ([Illustration] (1) The Sinai Peninsula (2) The granite summit of Jebel Musa, the most probable location of Mt. Sinai. [Tyndale House, The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Vol. 3, p. 1460]
“Remember Ye the Law of Moses Which I Commanded Unto Him in Horeb”
In addressing the Nephites in the Americas, the Savior quoted to them the third and fourth chapters of Malachi (3 Nephi 24-25) concerning the second coming of the Lord. In this context it is interesting that just before mention is made of the work of Elijah (3 Nephi 25:5-6) which work is associated with covenant temple sealings, an exhortation is given to “remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel” (2 Nephi 25:4). One might wonder, How is obedience to the law of Moses associated not only with the coming of Elijah, but with the second coming of the Lord?
According to Matthew Brown, in order to gain a more complete understanding of these verses, it is important to understand that the Israelites who lived during the time of Moses were aware of the gospel of Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 4:2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-4). After Moses had led the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, he took them to the foot of Mount Sinai, which was also known as “the mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1; 4:27; 18:5). There the Lord promised them that if they would obey His voice and keep His covenant He would make them “a kingdom of priests” and a holy nation (Exodus 19:1-6).
The Israelites agreed to these stipulations and proceeded to build an altar at which they entered into a covenant to be obedient to divine laws (see Exodus 24:1-8). Following this solemn ceremony, the Lord allowed several Israelite leaders, including “seventy of the elders of Israel,” to ascend the mountain and see him from a distance (Exodus 24:1-2, 9-10). After this experience, the Lord revealed the pattern for the tabernacle to Moses (see Exodus 25-31) and directed that it be erected in the camp of the Israelites so that He could “dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8-9; 29:45-46).
But the tabernacle was also built for another purpose. In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord tells us that He commanded Moses to build the tabernacle so that He could reveal certain ordinances unto His people (see D&C 124:37-41). Moses “plainly taught” the children of Israel about the need for these ordinances and “sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God” as he had. But unfortunately the Lord’s covenant people “hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence” (D&C 84:19-25). They became so hardened and rebellious, in fact, that they fashioned and worshipped a golden calf. This act of idolatry was all the more atrocious because it took place right before the holy mountain of God (see Exodus 32:1-8).
Because of their extremely wicked behavior, Moses took the stone tablets, whereon God himself had written the laws of the covenant, and destroyed them(see Exodus 24:12; 32:15-16, 19). Some biblical interpreters feel that this action signified that the covenant had been broken. These tablets had contained “the words of the everlasting covenant of the holy priesthood” that would have made it possible for the children of Israel to enter into the Lord’s presence (JST Deuteronomy 10:2). It is from the Joseph Smith Translation that we learn what happened next.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two other tables of stone, like unto the first, and I will write upon them also, the words of the law, according as they were written at the first on the tables which thou brakest; but it shall not be according to the first, for I will take away the priesthood out of their midst; therefore my holy order, and the ordinances thereof, shall not go before them; for my presence shall not go up in their midst, lest I destroy them.
But I will give unto them the law as at the first, but it shall be after the law of a carnal commandment; for I have sworn in my wrath, that they shall not enter into my presence, into my rest, in the days of their pilgrimage. Therefore do as I have commanded thee, and be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai. (JST Exodus 34:1-2; emphasis added)
This remarkable restoration of scripture, and the Prophet’s assertion that the “law revealed to Moses in Horeb never was revealed to the children of Israel,” finds support in ancient Jewish tradition. In the Zohar, for instance, we read that the first set of stone tablets given to Moses “emanated from the tree of life” but the second set “came from the side of the tree of good and evil.” And according to Jewish kabalah, the first tablets “were the light and doctrine of the Messiah, the outpouring of universal deliverance, the source of eternal life on earth” while the second pair “represented the indirect or ‘fragmented’ manifestation of this light.”
Because the children of Israel chose to be “lawless and disobedient” and to believe in precepts that were “contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:9-10), the Lord “added” the Law of Moses unto the gospel as a strict “schoolmaster” to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah (JST Galatians 3:19-20, 24). At that time the Savior would once again invite all Israel to participate in the ordinances of the temple and thereby qualify to enter into the presence of the Lord. [Matthew B. Brown, The Gate of Heaven, pp. 58-59] [See the commentary on Jacob 4:4-5]