Abstract
The concept of the witness is one of those legal terms that have a supposedly secure and culturally shaped pre-comprehension within everyday language. We know, for example, that anyone who witnesses anything and testifies to it (thereby fulfilling the function of witness) also takes on the obligation to tell the truth. The truth and nothing but the truth-The formula of this oath, meant to enforce the demand of truth, is familiar from courtroom-dramas. It is not necessary to be a jurist to know that deliberately making false statements under oath is punishable. even non-religious people can make sense of the eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. If we allow ourselves to be detained for a moment, however, by this example and read the biblical account of Moses' testimony more carefully, then the apparently simple situation quickly becomes more complicated. Divine law is announced to Moses (so the story goes) for the people of Israel; they are forbidden under penalty of death to climb Mount Sinai and view the Lord descending amidst thunder and lightning. God speaks to Moses alone: And the Lord spoke to Moses, 'Lo, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people will hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever.' Moses is God's direct witness, but his credibility as law-giver is founded by the
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