Shabbat 87: Which Do You Want First -- Good News or Bad News?

When did the giving of the Torah actually take place? Figuring the precise date of the first year. Also: preperatory separation between husbands and wives. And his personal kal vachomer, to separate from his own wife,in perpetuity. Breaking the tablets. Moshe's own sense of the right thing to do. Also: an interplay between God, Moshe, Bnei Yisrael, in the context of getting the chronology of events right. Plus: the relay conversation from God to Moshe to Bnei Yisrael, and back again. What was the substance of that conversation? The mitzvah of setting boundaries, or the punishment and reward system of mitzvot (or the reward and punishment system, if you will).