20131001 Tuesday, October 1 2013
Exodus 19: Arrival At Mount Sinai

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"They came into the Wilderness of Sinai ... and there Israel camped before the Mount"

When the Israelites came out of Egypt (see Exodus 12: The First Passover), with their Christian baptism (see Exodus 14: Crossing The Sea), the LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ; see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) had two destinations for them - first, Mount Sinai, where they would receive the Law that was to serve as the basis of their nation, and then to establish that nation in the place that had been promised to righteous Abraham (who was not an Israelite or a Jew, but a prefigure of all righteous people; see The LORD's Seed Covenants With The Two Men Of Iraq). Their physical journey, and their physical nation, was a spiritual prophetic object lesson for all of humanity - true obedience to God's Law is a condition of salvation (see Who Can Be Saved?). Grace is a free gift to those who repent and truly obey God (see Christ Died For Repentant Sinners, Exodus 13: Liberation, Not Liberal-ation).

"19:1 In 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. 19:2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount." (Exodus 19:1-2 KJV)

As he would do numerous times, Moses met directly with the LORD - Who said then exactly what He said when He was born as a man centuries later: "if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine." (see Why Call Me, Lord, Lord, and Do Not The Things Which I Say?).

"19:3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." (Exodus 19:3-6 KJV)

The Levite priesthood had at that point not yet been established (see The Origin Of The Levite Priesthood). The elders of Israel were still carrying out those duties (the elders had done the first Passover sacrifice; see What Did The Elders Of Israel Do?).

"19:7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. 19:8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD." (Exodus 19:7-8 KJV)

The deliverance of the Ten Commandments (the duality of "deliverance" is obvious) would be accomplished amidst a great display of power by the LORD. The people were warned of its coming.

"19:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

19:10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, 19:11 And 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.

19:12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: 19:13 There 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 soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount." (Exodus 19:9-13 KJV)

The LORD's coming down, at the sound of a great trumpet, to deliver His Law to His people was in itself a prophecy of the return of the Messiah (see The Feast Of Trumpets Prophecy).

"19:14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. 19:15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

19:16 And 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.

19:17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

19:18 And 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. 19:19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

19:20 And 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.

19:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. 19:22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them." (Exodus 19:14-22 KJV)

With all made ready, the Law of God was about to be delivered.

"19:23 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 19:24 And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

19:25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them." (Exodus 19:23-25 KJV)

Fact Finder: A statement by the apostle Paul: "4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children." (Galatians 4:24-25 KJV). The "Agar," as it is rendered in the New Testament in the King James Version, refers to Hagar, the mother of Abraham's son Ishmael (see Genesis 21: The Birth of Isaac and The Expulsion Of Hagar), who after leaving Abraham journeyed into the Sinai Peninsula (not into what is today Saudi Arabia), where Mount Sinai is located, on her way back to her native country, Egypt. Why did Paul say that Mount Sinai is in "Arabia"? How do we know that the Sinai Peninsula, where Mount Sinai is located, is itself in Arabia?
See Paul's Geography Lesson