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God Gives His Law on Mount Sinai
This chapter is based on Exodus 19 to 24.
Soon after setting up camp at Sinai, Moses was called up into
the mountain to meet with God. Israel was now to be taken into a
close and special relationship to the Most High—to be organized as
a church and a nation under the government of God. “You have seen
what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings
and brought you to Myself. 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. And you shall be
to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Moses returned to the camp, and he repeated the divine message
to the elders of Israel. Their answer was, “All that the Lord has spo-
ken we will do.” In this way they entered into a solemn covenant with
God, pledging themselves to accept Him as their ruler, becoming in
a special sense the subjects of His authority.
God intended to make the event of speaking His law a scene
of awe-inspiring grandeur. Everything connected with the service
of God must be thought of with the greatest reverence. The Lord
said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and
tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. ... For on the third day
the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the
people.” Everyone was to spend the time in solemn preparation to
appear before God. Their bodies and their clothing must be free
from impurity. They were to devote themselves to searching their
hearts for any wrong, fasting, and prayer, that their hearts might be
cleansed from iniquity.
On the morning of the third day, Sinai’s summit was covered
with a thick cloud, black and dense, sweeping downward until the
entire mountain was shrouded in darkness and mystery. Then a
sound like a trumpet was heard, calling the people to meet with God.
From the thick darkness lightnings flashed, while peals of thunder
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