The Return to Mount Sinai

The composer of the Hebrew Bible now moves into a very long section in the story of the Israelites. The Israelites arrive at Mount Horeb=Sinai (Exodus 19:1), and they stay there until the Israelites depart from Mount Horeb=Sinai as they move toward the promised land of Canaan (Numbers 10:10). So, there is a huge amount of biblical material between Exodus 19:1 and Numbers 10:10.

In our little blogs, we will try to break these sections into smaller chunks. In the Book of Exodus, the next natural section is Exodus 19-24. This section has an "inclusio." It has "brackets" at the beginning and the end. Here is a very brief outline.
A. Yahweh appears to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. 19.
B. The Ten Commandments. 20:1-17.
C. The Book of the Covenant. 20:18-24:8.
D. Yahweh appears to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. 24:9-18.

In this first set of blogs, we will make some comments about the account in
Exodus 19.

After leaving the Red Sea, the Israelites moved south through the Wilderness of Shur to the Wilderness of Sin to Rephidim to a campsite at the foot of Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai was very familiar "stomping grounds" for Moses. Moses had spent 40 years in the land of Midian, which was in sight of Mount Sinai. He often took his flocks of sheep near or on Mount Sinai. Moses knew this region very well. It was on Mount Sinai that Moses saw the "burning bush," where Yahweh told him to return to Egypt and bring the Israelites out of bondage. When Moses uttered his "first excuse," "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?", God's response was: "I will be with you; and this shall be the SIGN for you that it is I who sent you: WHEN YOU HAVE BROUGHT THE PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, YOU SHALL WORSHIP GOD ON THIS MOUNTAIN." (Exodus 3:11-12).

NOW, as we enter into Exodus 19, this SIGN now comes to pass. Moses and the Israelites are NOW at Mount Sinai once again. And, according to Exodus 19, they WORSHIP Yahweh, as Yahweh promised Moses while he was still in the land of Midian.

Exodus 19 presents two scenes. Each is very significant.

1. Yahweh speaks to Moses and tell Moses to communicate some very important truths about Yahweh and his people. Moses does what Yahweh instructs. Exodus 19:1-9.
a. Yahweh declares: I bore the Israelites on eagles' wings, and brought them to myself. Verse 4. What a powerful metaphor! Yahweh portrays himself as a mother eagle, who cares for her young and teaches them how to fly by letting them fall and swoop under them and buoy them upon on her wings. Isaiah 31:5 and Luke 13:34 depict a very similar metaphor. Our God is like mother eagles and hens who have special concern and care for their young. Women have instincts and capabilities that males just do not have. And the Bible teaches that God is like women in some metaphors, just as in other metaphors God is like men. God is neither male nor female. God is spirit. Women are extremely important in God's kingdom--just like men.
b. Yahweh declares: I am making you "my treasured possession" out of all the peoples. Indeed the whole earth is mine. Verse 5. Two important truths exist here.
1. There is another metaphor here. God is like a husband; the people of God are like a bride or a wife. They are God's "treasured possession." God enters into human beings in a very intimate relationship, like a husband and a wife. This metaphor recurs consistently and regularly throughout the Bible--Old and New Testaments. A very few examples are: Hosea 2:2-15; Jeremiah 2:1-4:4; Ezekiel 16; Romans 7:1-6; 2 Corinthians 11:2-3; Ephesians 5:22-33. What an incredible honor to be a part of God's spiritual wife.
2. Yahweh declares: THE WHOLE EARTH IS MINE. It would very easy for God's chosen people to become arrogant or elite or self-important. John 3:16 says: "God so LOVED THE WORLD that he gave his only Son, so that EVERYONE who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life." God chose a special people, the Israelites, and in New Testament times, the church, as an instrument to reach the rest of humankind BECAUSE "the whole earth is God's," and God loves and cares for and desires to save every person throughout the whole world.
c. Yahweh declares through Moses to the people of Israel: "You shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation." Verse 6. God chose Aaron and his sons and their descendants from the tribe of Levi to be "priests" throughout the territories of Israel. Priests have two essential tasks: to bring God to the people, and to bring the people to God. SO, Yahweh is proclaming in Exodus 19:6 that the chosen people of God TOGETHER AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD have two tasks for the whole world: to bring God to the nations, and to bring the nations to God. One term people often use to describe this is "mission." God has a great "mission." And a major way God does this is by choosing a people to carry out his "mission." That mission is to bring God to all peoples, and to bring all peoples to God.

2. At the foot of Mount Sinai, Yahweh tells Moses and Aaron to go up into the mountain, and instruct all the people to remain at he foot of the mountain and not touch the mountain. Exodus 19:10-25. There are two important thoughts here.
a. Yahweh instructs the people to prepare themselves to worship him. They are to "consecrate" themselves, "wash their clothes," and "prepare" for the "third day," the day when they will actually meet God in worship. Verses 10-11, 14-15. In order to worship God, we must spend time "preparing" for engaging in worship with him. We must search our hearts and our lives, and be in a proper attitude for communing with God.
b. Worship is a "two way" involvement and communion. "A loud blast of a trumpet" signals that the time of worship has arrived, and the people must move forward. NOW, human beings present themselves before God. AT THE SAME TIME, God "descends," God "comes down" from heaven to meet human beings for worship. Verses 18, 20. Human beings are in the presence of our "holy" God. We cannot comprehend him--his nature, his thoughts, his ways. But we know that he is God, and we stand in awe of him, and we worship.

How does Exodus 19 strike YOU? Share this with your friends, your community, your church. Let me know what you think.

John Willis