Exodus - Part 22 - Exodus 19:1-25

We touched on the first few verses of Chapter 19 last week, so to quickly sum up, the Israelites are at Mount Sinai after being delivered and brought through the wilderness. God calls Moses up the mountain and tells him things to say to the Israelites.

Their arrival at Mount Sinai fulfills the promise God spoke to Moses back in Exodus 3:12, where God tells Moses that he will serve God on this mountain. There is evidence throughout scripture that God is a promise keeper. This was the beginning of God setting the Israelites apart as His chosen and holy people.

Continuing on, so Moses called the elders and told them everything God said. They responded and said that they would do everything the Lord commanded. So Moses went back to the Lord with their response.

Here, the Israelites show some spiritual immaturity. Their response was genuine. Their relationship with God was new and they had seen many miracles that showed this was a powerful God. However, as we will see later, their hearts weren’t truly committed yet.

Then God told Moses to consecrate or prepare the people because God would descend on Mount Sinai in front of all the people. God told Moses to set up boundaries so that no person or animal would touch the mountain. Any person or animal that disobeyed was to be killed.

This preparation that the people needed to do, like washing their clothes was a physical purification that allowed the people to be in the presence of God. It was an outward demonstration of a new beginning and a repentant heart. Nothing impure could be in the presence of God without being destroyed. This is a standard that is far beyond human capability and can’t be achieved without God’s presence. This showed how holy God was and is.

So God came down on the mountain. The mountain smoked the ground shook and there was a loud sound of trumpets. God warned Moses again not to let the people come up to the mountain. Moses replied that the people couldn’t because of the boundaries God commanded him to set up. Then God told Moses to go down, warn the people again and bring Aaron with him back up the mountain. So, Moses went down and spoke to the people.