Exodus 19:9-17

God doesn’t hide what He does. He instructed Moses to bring the people so that there would be witnesses. While no one can see the essence of God, the people would see a manifestation of God in a cloud. God so organized the encounter that the people would trust in Moses as their leader to the promised land. I have heard one theory concerning this event, that Moses was using natural phenomena to manipulate people into following him, creating a sense of awe using the plumage from a volcano and an incoming storm to supposedly persuade Israel that their God, Yahweh, had chosen him. From this farce evolved the modern day belief in the Judeo-Christian God. Ancient civilization couldn’t possibly know what storms are or be able to deduce that the source of some plumage is natural, volcanic activity. Look at the text. If the modern accusation against Moses is true, he would have to be able to predict weather better than we can in the modern day. He would even have to predict oddities, like a storm producing trumpet sounds. This was different, irregular, and it was predicted beforehand such that it happened on the third day–doubtless a foreshadowing of the Resurrection of Christ and the establishment of the kingdom of Heaven (of which Israel was a living parable). The people tremble. The display and the sounds are awe inspiring.