Exodus 19: 1 - 25
How to say, ‘I love you’
19 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain. 3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8 Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” So Moses told the words of the people to the LORD. 10 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11 And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13 Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.” 14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.” 16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. 20 Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.” 23 But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’” 24 Then the LORD said to him, “Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
How do you say ‘I love you’? How does our Holy God say to us, ‘I love you?’ I want to say right up front that there is something I want you to ponder for the rest of this week. It is this. God loves us so much is that He wants to be with us.
How does our Great and Mighty, Pure and Holy Creator God show that He desires to spend time with us? I really mean stop and think that our Mighty Righteous God Who Is so ‘Righteous’ go about physically being with us. He Is so much light and Holy that we sinful humans could not live with his pure light. Yet, Being such a Loving Holy One He still desires to live amongst us. Amazing.
We are getting into spring when love begins to blossom. So, I want to start out with a few things that you can do to express your love to one another. Then I want you to see how our Great and Wonderful God does the same with and for us.
When you love someone, you want them to know it. But sometimes it's not that easy to say those three little words. Sometimes it's easier to show people how you feel. When you say, 'I love you', many people take it as a cliché, but if you really want to show that someone you love them, you'll sacrifice life and limb for them,
To start I would give you the advice is to make small gestures to the one you love. Sometimes love isn't about making grand statements or over-the-top gestures, it's about the little, everyday things that define a relationship. Try doing things like opening a door for your loved one, bringing them their morning cup of coffee in bed or sending a quick text to let them know you're thinking about them throughout the day.
Throughout our studies of the book of Exodus stop and think about the gestures our Loving God has done for His people. You might say, ‘They are not really small gestures.’ Yet, what can’t our Lord do. All His works for us are mighty and generous. I find out some times He does for me truly what some people might think are nothing, but for me they are really appreciated. Has He ever gave you some insight about certain conditions or things that your really enjoy. Women complain about us guys never stopping to ask for directions. Yet, many times He has guided us to turn in the right direction and find our destination? If I go through a whole bunch of green lights it is a pleasurable reaction since living in a city it is one red light after another.
Many lovers like to be surprised. No matter how much you love someone, relationships can become boring if you allow yourselves to fall into a routine. Rekindle the spark by doing something spontaneous. Surprise your loved one by sending them flowers, calling them unexpectedly or planning a romantic getaway for the two of you.
Over and over our Great God has displayed awesome surprises for those He loves. Have you ever experienced our Majestic El Shaddai d surprised you with a great blessing such as answering your prayers?
Trust is the key to a healthy relationship, and there can be no trust without honesty. You should tell your partner the truth about everything. I have stated over and over that I think the biggest problem facing us is that we do not trust our Holy Lord God. Oh, we can mouth it but when the heat is turned up we tend to falter in our beliefs that God will come to our rescue. Our Holy Maker led His people into the Wilderness to test them to see if they really trust Him to take care of them? Sadly, we read through the scripture that they failed their tests.
To show someone you love them then you need to encourage them to pursue their dreams. If you truly love someone, you'll want them to be the best that they can be and to pursue their dreams no matter the consequences. Don't hold them back for your own selfish reasons - they'll only end up resenting you for it.
I want you to reflect on all the past scripture in this book on how our Great and Mighty God has promised and encouraged His people to overcome all the roadblocks that have come against them. Our Master and King Lord Jesus confirmed this point by say in chapter 19 of Matthews Gospel, ‘But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ When we trust Him and lean on Him then we can accomplish all things.
If you are shy to tell someone that you love him or her then send a letter. If you can't say the words out loud, try putting your feelings in a letter. Some people find that they can express themselves much better in writing than they can in person. Pour your heart into a letter, mail it and have them read it when you're not around.
• Include details like why you were attracted to them in the first place, how you feel when you're around them, and how you envision your future together.
• An email would also work, but there's something old-fashioned and romantic about a letter. I would like to say that you should send our Gracious and Kind God a ‘knee mail’. Get on your knees and let Him know that you love and appreciate Him.
Moses has be recording down all the information our Holy Lord has instructed him to write down. We see it referenced as ‘The Testimony’ We can see that our Loving God does not want us to stagger and trip through life here on earth. He has written down for us a guide book, the Bible, to give us the facts of proper conduct and behavior that we need to love our Holy God and our neighbors.
If you love someone you also need to be there for them. To really show someone you love them, be there for them through thick and thin. Share their joy and their pain. Celebrate with them when they get a promotion at work or help them through the death of a beloved family member.
Here is the most important point of what I want you to meditate on this week. I want you to think about the question, ‘Is our Holy God there for you? Has He been there for you in the past? Can you state without hesitation that you know that He will also be there for you in the future?
Let’s look into today’s scripture to glean some of the things we said about letting how our Holy Lord God shows the Israelites and us how He proves His Love.
19 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.
About seventy to ninety days have thus passed since they began their journey. The ‘wilderness of Sinai’ refers to that part of the Sinai Peninsula which is immediately around the Mount. It was here that they pitched their camp ‘in the wilderness’, and where the rock was to be found from which water gushed (17.6). This brief summary connects back to the previous chapters.
This is the mountain where Moses met with God in the theophany at the burning bush (3.1), the place where God had chosen to reveal Himself. The place of which Yahweh had said, ‘You shall serve God on this mountain’ (3.12). Now Moses has come to meet with Him there again for one of the greatest events in history.
The traditional Mount Sinai is Jebel Musa (the mount of Moses), part of the granite range of mountains in the south-central part of the peninsula of Sinai. It is one of three large peaks in that area.
Tradition has pointed to this mountain as Mount Sinai, although the tradition is rather late only going back sixteen hundred years. It has a plain at its base which ties in with the Biblical description. “That such a plain should exist at all in front of such a cliff is so remarkable a coincidence with the sacred narrative as to furnish a strong internal argument, not merely of its identity with the scene, but of the scene itself having been described by an eyewitness. -- The awful and lengthened approach, as to some natural sanctuary, would have been the fittest preparation for the coming scene. The low line of alluvial mounds at the foot of the cliff exactly answers to the ‘bounds’ which were to keep the people off from touching the mount. The plain itself is not broken and uneven and narrowly shut in, like almost all others in the range, but presents a long, retiring sweep, against which the people could ‘remove and stand afar off’. The cliff, arising like a huge altar in front of the whole congregation, and visible against the sky in lonely grandeur from end to end of the whole plain is the very image of ‘the mountain that might be touched’, and from which the voice of God might be heard far and wide over the plain below, widened at that point to its utmost extent by the confluence of all the contiguous valleys.”
3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
Having arrived at the mount and encamped Moses went up into the mountain to meet with God (it is the mountain of God), as 3.12 had promised he would. And as he ascended Yahweh spoke to him from the mountain above.
The words that follow are in the form of a covenant. They are addressed to the people, they declare what Yahweh has done for them and how He has cared for them, they further declare what privileges will be theirs if they hear and obey Him. And Moses is then called on to report His words to the people, to which they make a specific covenant response. This is preparing them for the greater experience that they will shortly have, a kind of preparation before the main event.
The reference back to the wonders He wrought in Egypt and the way He had brought them through the wilderness is preparatory to this covenant but is also preparing for the great covenant that is coming. These events are the basis of the covenant, the reason why He demands that they accept it.
Our Lord description is inspiring not only to the Israelites but for us also when He said to them that He ‘Bore you on eagles’ wings.’ The eagle flew swiftly (Deuteronomy 28.49; 2 Samuel 1.23) and bore its young on its wings (Deuteronomy 32.11). So has Yahweh borne His people through the wilderness? They are His ‘young’.
They have been brought to Him as His own chosen people. And now, as a result of His sovereign choice, revealed by His actions on their behalf, He will have dealings with them.
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
Having first stated why they should be grateful to Him, He now declares that if they will obey Him and observe the requirements of His covenant, then He will treat them in turn as special and unique. As we shall see, this gratitude for what He has done for them, and the subsequent demand for obedience to His terms, is the basis of the covenant in chapter 20 that we call the Ten Commandments. We stress the commandments as permanent principles and tend to ignore the covenant.
All the earth is Yahweh’s but they will be specially His own. There for His joy and delight and cared for as none other.
He Is God of the whole earth and can do with it as He will. That is why what He Is doing will affect all peoples.
6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
While certainly forward looking this promise is intrinsic in the covenants made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If the whole world was to be blessed through them, and through His covenant with them, there had to be some means of it reaching to the world and in those days this would be accomplished through teaching priests. Thus God’s destiny for Israel was that they should be priests to the nations. They were to be holy to Yahweh, separated and true to Him, and finally to minister to the nations.
As Yahweh’s subjects they were later to have priestly responsibility towards the nations. No other description of a whole people who were to evangelize the world would have been conceivable at that time. In the terms of the day it would include sacrificial responsibilities, including the ministering of the benefits of those sacrifices, and teaching responsibilities so that men may know and understand Yahweh’s covenant.
Israel was picked by our Holy Lord God to be a nation set apart to Yahweh for a holy purpose, sharing His sanctity and uniquely in a position to dispense His mercy to the world. This, as the covenant makes clear, includes purity of living, something unique in regard to the concept of ‘holiness’ in the ancient world. They were ideally to present to the world the essence of what Yahweh was in visible form, and were separated off for this purpose which would be accomplished by their obedience to the covenant, which in itself would reveal Yahweh’s uniqueness and purity to the world.
Our Great God Yahweh begins preparations for what is about to happen by outlining His final purposes for them. From the beginning they are shown the distant objective and their glorious destiny. Before the detail they are shown the final overall plan.
7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8 Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.
Moses reported back to the elders all that Yahweh had said, and his requirement that the people should see themselves as priests to the nations, with their lives dedicated to this responsibility. The people themselves were then informed and brought together en masse. And there they declared their intent to do what Yahweh had said.
Then Moses returned into the mountain and told Yahweh what the response the people had made. There was an offer, and an acceptance, and the acceptance of the covenant was now communicated to the offerer.
9 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” So Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.
The cloud was already the visible sign of Yahweh’s presence with His people. Perhaps it had already gone to the top of the mountain when Moses went there. Now Yahweh promises that when He speaks the words of His great covenant the cloud will appear so that all the people will see that He is speaking to Moses and will hear His words. Then their faith will not just rest on what Moses tells them but also on what they themselves have heard and seen.
These words are very important for the world, ‘And may also believe you forever.’ This was one thing on which future generations of Israel would never be in doubt, that Yahweh had given His covenant on the Mount and had revealed His demands through Moses.
‘And Moses told the words of the people to Yahweh.’ This may well have been for a second time. Possibly it was like the responses in a consecration service, with the replies often repeated. If so, to this new approach from Yahweh he repeats the words of the people, - “All that Yahweh has said, we will do.” It was important that they should voluntarily indicate their willingness to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation as Yahweh desired, and a thing repeated twice was especially binding.
10 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11 And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13 Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.”
The conditions God lays down stress the sacredness of this experience. He Himself is going to descend in the full reality of His presence, although hidden by a cloud. So intense will be His presence that the mountain will be so holy that nothing earthly must touch it while He is there manifested to such an extent. Only Moses, and then Aaron, the men whom He has set apart to Himself, will be able to enter it.
So Moses is to set a boundary, some kind of physical indicator, beyond which the people may not come. That boundary and all above it will be sacred and must not be touched from the border upwards.
‘Whoever touches the mount shall surely be put to death.’ This is because they will have come in contact with the mount where God Is, in direct defiance of His commands, and will have defiled it. They must learn the holiness and ‘otherness’ of God.
‘No hand shall touch him.’ That is, shall touch any transgressor. This is because something of the ‘holiness’ of the Mount is seen as imparted to him which none must come in contact with. Nothing that touches the mount at that time shall be allowed to live, even if it be a stray animal. Thus his death must be by stoning or by arrow shot, not by contact. Thus the holiness and total ‘otherness’ (unlike anything known) of God is emphasized.
The purpose of all these restrictions is to bring home the supreme holiness and otherness of God and to prevent the people from treating His approach too lightly. God is not to be treated lightly, something we need to be more aware of in the present day.
14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.” 16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
On the morning of the third day what appeared to be a terrible electrical storm came on the mountain top. There was thunder and lightning and thick cloud. And from it came the sound of what seemed like an exceedingly loud trumpet. What caused this latter naturally speaking, if it was a natural manifestation, we do not know. It may well have been a deliberate representation of a trumpet blast announcing the arrival of the King. But through it all God was preparing to manifest Himself.
17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
At the coming of the storm Moses obediently brought all the people up to the bounds that he had set at ‘the lowest part of the mountain’, the mounds leading up to the mountain.
Fire and smoke were both symbols of God in Genesis 15.17 where He appeared in a smoking furnace and a flaming torch. This manifestation at Sinai reproduced the same on a grander scale. It would remind the people of that covenant with Abram, confirmed by smoke and fire, and the great deliverance from Egypt He then promised (Genesis 15.13-14). Fire was the most awe-inspiring thing known to ancient man, and fire swirling with smoke the most destructive. Man had experienced its effects often, he had seen it consume great areas of land, and he knew himself how to use it for destructive purposes. And he had learned to fear it. And God was the untouchable and unapproachable fire.
19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. 20 Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish.
As God looked down He knew the hearts of the people, and He had mercy on them. He knew that their trembling fear (verse 16) was slowly turning into awed curiosity (‘to gaze’ - verse 21), and that in such a state some might become careless and thus perish. So He sent for Moses to come up to Him on the mountain peak, and from there He sent him down to prevent it happening. He did not want His gracious appearance to turn into tragedy. The people would be filled with awe to think that Moses had been allowed into the holy mount while God was resident.
‘Charge the people.’ They were to be given a strict charge not a mild admonishment. The matter was deadly serious.
22 Also let the priests who come near the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.”
This refers to Moses and Aaron. They are the priests who approach Yahweh at this time (verse 24). Moses especially (17.15), and Aaron with him, are the ones who at this stage mainly act as priests on behalf of the people. There were secondary priests, heads of their fathers’ houses, but they were not to be allowed to approach on this holy mountain (19.24). Yahweh is reminding the people of the exalted position of Moses and Aaron.
But before they do so even they must sanctify themselves for they cannot come without that. So once he has gone down the mountain and been with the people Moses, before returning, must again wash his clothes, to remove the earthiness of being with the people, as must Aaron. Then they may again approach Yahweh.
The remark of ‘Let the priests who approach Yahweh’ is emphasizing that Moses and Aaron, as those who are to approach Yahweh, have their privileged access as priests to the people. This is the reason that they come before Him, because they are mediators for the people. Yet in this case they alone of all the priests are to be allowed this access. This brings out the unique holiness of this situation. But because of this very fact they must re-sanctify themselves.
But behind the specific situation is a general situation. All priests who approach Yahweh at any time must sanctify themselves. Indeed the words may be a quotation of words already given to Moses and written down in the statutes previously laid down (15.25). The simple approach confirms their primitive form. They will soon be replaced by a more complex situation.
They too will be destroyed if they do not obey Yahweh’s requirements -‘Lest Yahweh break forth on them’ or if they seek to approach him covered in earthiness.
23 But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’”
Moses is still a little naive. He cannot conceive that the people would disobey Yahweh and break through the bounds and enter the sanctified area of the mountain, for Yahweh has forbidden it, and to him that is final, and besides there is the threat of instant death. But Yahweh knows His people better than he.
24 Then the LORD said to him, “Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them.”
Again Yahweh issues His warning through Moses. Whether priest or people none may approach Yahweh in the Mount except His two priests, Moses and Aaron. Otherwise they will face the dire consequences of which they have been warned. He is aware how easily someone might feel he was the equal of Moses and Aaron, especially among the priests, and might feel he could brave the ban. God did not want this to happen. He had no delight in the death of His people.
We are not told that Aaron goes into the mount with Moses until 24.1 where he is one of a group. But this need not mean that Aaron did not go up with Moses. We have regularly seen in the past that Yahweh has said something will happen and then it is assumed that it happened. The word of Yahweh was sufficient to establish the happening. Thus we may assume that often when Moses goes up, Aaron goes up. Compare how later Joshua seemingly accompanies Moses but nothing is said of his presence after the initial statement (24.13).
In 24.7 we read of a ‘book of the covenant’ written by Moses (see 24.4). Logically this must include the Sinai covenant and what follows, for the Sinai covenant was not made known to the people (they heard it as though it were thunder and the sound of a trumpet) until revealed to them by Moses. Some, however, see the book of the covenant as starting at 20.22 commencing with the words, ‘and Yahweh said to Moses’, but as these are provisions extending the Sinai covenant and gain their validity through it we would argue that The Book of the Covenant commences here, although not denying that it is in two sections. This is confirmed by 24.3 where Moses speaks to the people ‘all the words of Yahweh and all the judgments’. The ‘judgments’ are in 21 onwards. ‘
As we look at this chapter, we can recognize in it our future calling to be a kingdom of priests and rejoice in the fact that we are a people for His special possession. Hearing of the splendor of the revelation of our Father God Yahweh at Sinai, we can recognize afresh that we deal with a holy and powerful God, Who has not changed. He Is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
