CHAPTER 19

(1491 B.C.)

SINAI

¹In the third month, when the Children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

²For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai (this desert, immediately before Mount Sinai, is approximately two miles long and a half mile wide; it is nearly flat, and could easily accommodate the nearly 3 million Israelites who would gather here), and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the Mount (the Feast of the Passover witnessed Israels departure from Egypt, and now they are soon to come to the Feast of Pentecost, which would occasion the giving of the Law, 50 days after Passover).

THE COVENANT

³And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Children of Israel (this is Mount Sinai, where the Law was given);

⁴You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings, and brought you unto Myself (this speaks of a Salvation wholly of God).

⁵Now therefore, if you will obey My Voice indeed, and keep My Covenant, then you shall be a Peculiar Treasure unto Me above all people: for all the Earth is Mine (now, in Christ, spiritual Israel, which is the Church, is a part of this Peculiar Treasure):

⁶And you shall be unto Me a Kingdom of Priests, and an Holy Nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the Children of Israel (these were Gods people, in fact, the only people on the face of the Earth who fell into this category; even though all the Earth was His, still, these were the only people who knew Him).

⁷And Moses came and called for the Elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

⁸And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD. (Man has ever proclaimed his ability to obey God, and has ever portrayed his constant failure. Had they known their own hearts, they would have replied that such a condition was impossible to them; and they would have cast themselves upon God that He would give them new hearts capable of such an obedience. This would have been granted, and the Feast promised in Chapter 5 enjoyed. Instead of the Feast, there was fear and judgment.)

THE PEOPLE

⁹And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. (God is thrice-Holy. As such, He has to veil Himself when He speaks to sinful man.)

¹⁰And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes (the word sanctify actually means set apart and, in this case, set apart exclusively to the Lord),

¹¹And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai (three days were to be spent in preparation of the people).

¹²And you shall set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that you go not up into the Mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever touches the Mount shall be surely put to death (as is obvious, before the Cross, man was very limited as to how he could approach God; since the Cross, whosoever will may come [Rev. 22:17]):

¹³There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the Mount.

¹⁴And Moses went down from the Mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes (sanctification then was mostly external, meaning symbolic; however, since the Cross, Sanctification is a spiritual work).

¹⁵And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives (once again, this had to do with the sanctification process).

¹⁶And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. (And rightly so! The Cross alone has opened up the way.)

¹⁷And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the Mount. (It is not that God is unapproachable. In fact, He wanted man to approach, but, due to the sinfulness of man, this, at the time, was the best that could be done.)

¹⁸And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly. (All of this proclaims the awful Holiness of God Almighty. What a mighty God we serve!)

MOSES

¹⁹And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice (may be translated, And God kept answering him by a voice; this explains how the following Chapters were given to Moses).

²⁰And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the Mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the Mount; and Moses went up (it is believed that Aaron at this time may have been with Moses).

²¹And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish (no sooner had Moses arrived at the appointed place that the Lord told him to go back down; once again, the people must be warned).

²²And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them (none were excluded, concerning the warning).

²³And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai: for you charged us, saying, Set bounds about the Mount, and sanctify it (if men presently attempt to come into the Presence of God by any means other than the Cross, spiritual death is the result, and sometimes physical death [Eph. 2:13-18]).

²⁴And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and you shall come up, you, and Aaron with you: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest He (the Lord) break forth upon them.

²⁵So Moses went down unto the people, and spoke unto them.