Exodus 19:1-25
Q.1. What was special about the wilderness of Sinai? Where did God speak to Moses? How significant was God’s deliverance of Israel? What was the basis of the Covenant offered? – (Exo.19:1-6)
Three months after Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Sinai (Exo.19:1). It was a special place, because it was on Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the Law (Exo.19:3, 20). In Deuteronomy, Moses identified Mount Sinai as Horeb (Dt.5:2; 10:1-5). Horeb was the mount where God called Moses to be Israel’s deliverer. It was known as ‘the mountain of God’ (Exo.3:1). We learn that God led Israel through the wilderness of Shur, where they – found no water (Exo.15:22). From Elim, Israel – came to the wilderness of Sin (Zin), which is between Elim and Sinai (Exo.16:1). The wilderness of Sinai is directly beside the wilderness of Zin which is separated by a mountain range. The time which God had promised Moses at the time of his call, had come. – Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, YOU SHALL WORSHIP GOD AT THIS MOUNTAIN (Exo.3:12). He told Moses to remind Israel that He brought them out of Egypt, because they were special to Him (Exo.19:3-4). He promised them – 5 … if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation … (Exo.19:5-6). God chose them out of all the nations on earth. However, it was a CONDITIONAL COVENANT, in which God’s blessing depended on Israel’s obedience. This Covenant identified the need for a more perfect way in which sinners could be restored to a perfect God (c.f. Heb.8:6-7).
Q.2. How did the nation respond? Why did God speak in a thick cloud? How was Israel to prepare for the meeting? How did God underscore the uniqueness of the day? – (Exo.19:7-18 c.f. Heb.12:18-21)
Moses would recall toward the end of his life – He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them (Dt.4:13). The people responded in fear – All that the Lord has spoken we will do! (Exo.19:8). The day Israel entered into the covenant was unique in the annals of history. God hid His glory, shrouded in fearsome darkness (Exo19:9). The people had to consecrate themselves for two days. Then – 11 … on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people (Exo.19:11). Boundaries were placed on the mountain, and anyone or anything, touching the mountain would be stoned to death (Exo.19:12-13). The giving of the Law was awesome, when – 18 … the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently (Exo.19:18). It was so terrifying that the people – begged that no further word be spoken to them (Heb.12:19 c.f. Exo.20:18-21)).
Q.3. How did God speak to Moses? What accompanied the event? Did the people discern God’s voice? What was the significance of God’s warning? Who was invited up the mountain? – (Exo.19:16-25)
A ram’s horn was to be blown to direct the people to Mount Sinai (Exo.19:13). Then when God met with the people – … there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled (Exo.19:16). The voice of God was only discerned by God’s servant, Moses – When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder (Exo.19:19 c.f. Exo.20:18; Jn.12:28-30; Acts 22:9). The warning to the people was to prevent death, lest – the priest and the people break through to come up to the Lord, or He will break forth upon them (Exo.19:24 c.f. Exo.19:21-24; 1 Sam.6:19). Moses alone spoke with the Lord, when he received the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God (Exo.31:18).