Sunday: At Mount Sinai
Daily Lesson for Sunday 17th of August 2025
Read Exodus 19:1-8. What did God promise them here, at the base of Mount Sinai?
God led the Israelites to Mount Sinai, where He would soon give them the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue). Jebel Musa (elevation: 7,497 feet, or 2,285 meters) in the Sinai Peninsula is likely where Moses met with God several times (for example, Exodus 3:1, Exodus 19:2, Exodus 24:18), and, years later, Elijah encountered God here (1 Kings 19:8). This is the same mountain where God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 3:1,10). At that time, God informed Moses that he would worship God with liberated Israel in this same location, which would be a sign for Moses that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was leading them (Exodus 3:12).
Image © Providence Collection at Goodsalt.com
After two months of traveling, the Israelites arrived at Sinai (Exodus 19:1), where they would remain for about one year (compare Exodus 19:1 with Numbers 10:11-12). During this year, many laws were issued, as described in Exodus 19:1-25; Exodus 20:1-26; Exodus 21:1-36; Exodus 22:1-31; Exodus 23:1-33; Exodus 24:1-18; Exodus 25:1-40; Exodus 26:1-37; Exodus 27:1-21; Exodus 28:1-43; Exodus 29:1-46; Exodus 30:1-38; Exodus 31:1-18; Exodus 32:1-35; Exodus 33:1-23; Exodus 34:1-35; Exodus 35:1-35; Exodus 36:1-38; Exodus 37:1-29; Exodus 38:1-31; Exodus 39:1-43; Exodus 40:1-38, Leviticus 1:1-17; Leviticus 2:1-16; Leviticus 3:1-17; Leviticus 4:1-35; Leviticus 5:1-19; Leviticus 6:1-30; Leviticus 7:1-38; Leviticus 8:1-36; Leviticus 9:1-24; Leviticus 10:1-20; Leviticus 11:1-47; Leviticus 12:1-8; Leviticus 13:1-59; Leviticus 14:1-57; Leviticus 15:1-33; Leviticus 16:1-34; Leviticus 17:1-16; Leviticus 18:1-30; Leviticus 19:1-37; Leviticus 20:1-27; Leviticus 21:1-24; Leviticus 22:1-33; Leviticus 23:1-44; Leviticus 24:1-23; Leviticus 25:1-55; Leviticus 26:1-46; Leviticus 27:1-34, and Numbers 1:1-54; Numbers 2:1-34; Numbers 3:1-51; Numbers 4:1-49; Numbers 5:1-31; Numbers 6:1-27; Numbers 7:1-89; Numbers 8:1-26; Numbers 9:1-23; Numbers 10:1-10. Israel’s stay at Mount Sinai is the central piece of the narrative found in the first five books of Moses. Here is the foundation of their becoming God’s chosen people, the only nation not steeped in paganism and idolatry.
God takes the initiative and establishes the covenant between Himself and Israel. On the condition of the people’s obedience and their maintaining a relationship with Him, God promises to make them a special treasure, a kingdom of priests, a holy people.
To be a holy people means to be dedicated to God and to reveal His character to others, especially to the nations around them. They were also called to function as a kingdom of priests who would connect other people with God, leading them to Him and teaching them His ways and His laws. They were to be God’s special treasure because He wanted Israel as His channel to illuminate the world with knowledge of Him and His character.
This covenant was the legal establishment of a relationship between God and His people. The general covenant formula, which slightly varies in different texts, is: “I will be their God, and they will be my people” (see Exodus 6:7, Leviticus 26:12, Jeremiah 24:7, Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10, Revelation 21:3).
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Imagine being God’s “special treasure”! What special privileges would that encompass? What special responsibilities would you have? |
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At Mount Sinai, God promised to make the Children of Israel a special treasure (Exodus 19:5), regardless of their several shortcomings. Different Bible translations render “special treasure” with the following wording:
NKJV: “a special treasure to Me above all people”
KJV: “a peculiar treasure unto me above all people”
NIV: “my treasured possession”
NASB: “My own possession among all the peoples”
CSB: “my own possession out of all the peoples”
NLT: “my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth”
GNT: “my own people”
Amplified Bible: “My own special possession and treasure from among all peoples of the world”
Why did God choose to make these unfaithful people special above all the peoples of the World? Were they any more righteous than other nations? Not at all, even God knew they were a stiff-necked people (Deuteronomy 9:6)
“The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your ancestors…”( Deuteronomy 7:7–8).
By His sovereign power, God wanted to make the Israelites a special instrument through which He would bless all the peoples of the earth through Jesus Christ, who was born in the house of Jacob. God’s promise at Mount Sinai was purposed to set aside a people who could be His witnesses to the world. The selection of the undeserving people was a display of God’s grace. God was demonstrating that salvation is not human strength by His grace alone. As the Children of Israel failed to play this special role, God has now appointed the church as His treasured possession on earth.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”- 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
It is worthwhile comparing the Ten Commandments with other ancient codes of ethics, as they share similarities and differences. The two most well-known are:
All three codes were public statements designed to ensure social order, prohibiting wrongful behaviour such as theft, murder, bearing false witness. They all refer to a divine authority outside of natural human experience.
There are some significant differences:
The comparison serves to remind us that God probably spoke to other civilisations too. While there is something unique about Israel's encounter with God's moral code and we should act on that, it is dismissive to think that God did not work with others as well.
One lesson we need to apply to ourselves is that we are not better than others because we know about the Ten Commandments. Rather, we have a responsibility to live within its precepts by both honouring God and acting with love and compassion to one another, including those who dismiss moral codes altogether. Smug complacency that we stand on the high moral ground is not honouring God, or loving our fellow beings.
Mmmmh! Yes!
What you've written here is so much important.
It's kind of interesting that the Hebrew word "Horeb" (חֹרֵב) is related to the verb "hareb," which means "to dry up," "be in ruins," "desolate", or "lay waste." At the same time, in Hebrew, Sinai (סיני) is primarily understood to mean "thorny" or "bushy," as well as sometimes referring to a place of "shining" or "fiery".
The scripture in many points uses Mt. Horeb synonymously with Mt. Sinai. Something about this mountain tells about closeness to divinity and solitude. Alone and at our lowest, God has a way to talk to us, and if we find a way to listen, our hearts connect with God in such a blessed way.
The people of God are twenty days into the wilderness. God is loudest to them now, only if they want to savor the moment; only if they want to let go of the past and feel the presence of God. God wants His story told by the humility and obedience of Israel. Through Israel, the world should appreciate His justice and mercy, despite God's glorious might.
At our wilderness, in the depth of solitude, God is teaching us how to love Him. It's time to surrender our desires to God in our emptiness, so that God may manifest His plentifulness through working on us. Mt. Sinai reminds us that with nothing, emptiness, and solitude, God launches His awesomeness through us. At the place of ruins, desolation, thorny and bushy, we surrender to God's control so that His will is done.
Are you lonesome and deep in the thicket of spiritual wilderness? God was ahead of you; He will fight for you. Let's hold our peace, praise Him, and exalt Him at these times.
It was God's intiative to descend on Mount Sinai to give His Law, God was not invited by israelites (Exodus 19:18-20), the bible records God came down to His people. The same God would later come down again, not with thunder and fire, but in the humility of His Son, Jesus Christ without human invitation (John 1:14).
God gave the law in mount Sinai. The wirk of the law is to reveal our sin (Romans 3:20) but we need the spirit to convict our us and lead us to repentance. A classic example is Judas Iscariot, who was so overwhelmed by his guilt as revealed by the law he had a choice to make seek the Lord's face but he unfortunately sought relief through fellow conspirators- human means rather than turning to Christ for mercy. Just as Moses "went up" when the Lord called him on Sinai (Exodus 19:20), so too does the call of the Gospel bring about a response in those whom the Spirit calls. In the words of Luther it is the Holy Spirit who “calls, gathers,enlightens, and sanctifies” believers keeping them with Jesus in the true faith. The Mount Sinai experience is a reminder that God is gracious and is calling us upward to greater faith.
Anyone who believes and searches for God's lordship will never be disappointed. The best we can do is continually ask for knowledge from above: the blessing of the Holy Spirit. As we keep the soft state of clay in our personalities, God can work in us faster, build us up to serve others, and give us a genuine experience of a joyful life.
Time to pass on a testimony of fairly new two Seventh-day Adventist believers that is true as the ten commandments. About 36 years ago our Sabbath School teacher asked for a testimony of our faith. A couple stood up and said without shame, embarrassment, or outright timidity, 2 Timothy 1:8, my wife and I became Seventh-day Adventist when we had gone to 27 different churches and found the Seventh-day Adventist were closest to the whole Bible truth. Tears of joy still well up in me for our church, whenever I am asked by a still small voice to share this wonderful testimony
I’m wondering about what the lesson is talking about with regard to a “legal relationship with God”? Is this where we get the term legalist-having a legal relationship with God without having a spiritual relationship with Him? It seems that this confusion of the legal and spiritual aspects of religion, as well as the separation of the two, are at the heart of our inability to rightly represent God to the world. Why have your name on the church books if you don’t love God with all of your heart, with all of your mind, with all of your soul, and all of your strength, and your neighbor as yourself? Why is it possible to have a legal relationship without a spiritual?
“My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” James 3:10
When using terms like “legal”, or “legalist”, It would be helpful to clarify definitions to prevent confusion caused by the language we use.
God wants us to understand that He holds nothing against us, and longs to embrace us. To that end, He uses a multiplicity of salvation models that reveal certain aspects of truth. One of those models is the legal model, famously used by Paul and developed most fully in Romans. Even terms or concepts relating to “judgement” at the very least suggest some type of legal (law based) relationship or understanding.
Legally, Jesus “paid the price” (which is legal language) for all sin – which implies that from a legal perspective, all humanity has a relationship with God. Obviously, this does not mean that all humanity is saved, but that all humanity has the opportunity of responding to the provisions made through the New Covenant. Indeed, the New Covenant is the Everlasting Covenant, which has always existed, but was revealed as a result of the rebellion of creatures.
Thank you, Randall, for your helpful comment reminding us of the "multiplicity of salvation models that reveal certain aspects of truth."
We fall into error when we focus on just one model and one aspect of the truth and treat it as the whole truth. Indeed, that is exactly what happens with fanaticism and offshoot groups.
It has saddened me to see that happen in this very forum when someone emphasized a beautiful aspect of God's plan only to make it the whole to the exclusion of other aspects. The effect is always to confuse and to denigrate an important aspect necessary for true understanding.
Yes, there is a legal aspect to our salvation just as the marriage covenant has a legal aspect. We don't want to ignore the legal aspect that binds husband and wife together "till death do as part," but if husband and wife focused on the legal aspect, I daresay they wouldn't have much of a marriage. Instead, the legal aspect is the beginning, and the love relationship is what makes the marriage. Perhaps that is why God so often compares His relationship with His people to a marriage. He wants us to understand that He wants an intimate relationship with His people.
I don't think God actually wanted Israel to have a legal relationship with Him. Yes, He wanted them to obey and they needed to obey, but the only way to obey was to have His laws written on their hearts. Israel failed because they just wanted an agreement and they thought they could keep it. They said "All that the Lord has said we will do" but they couldn't even do it for 2 months. Nor can we, if we fail to let God write His law on our hearts.
"God takes the initiative and establishes the covenant with Israel. On the condition of their obedience and faithful relationship with Him, He promises to make them a special treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy people."
In the New Covenant, God does the same for us. He takes the initiative by providing salvation through Christ and offers it to us on the condition that, once we accept this gift, we love and obey Him, allowing our lives to reflect His grace.
John 14:19-21 –
The world did not ‘know’ the God of Israel until He manifested Himself in His Laws, statutes, regulations and ordinances. God called the ancestors of the people of Israel to start this process of familiarization which concluded in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, as a living example of His presence among His people.
This process of getting to know our God cannot be accomplished any other way than to form a personal, intimate, spiritual relationship with Him based on our love of Him – our acceptance and response to Him loving us first – 1 John 4:18-20. Our life is to be a testimony to the Goodness and Righteousness of God in Christ; being in Jesus Christ, we are called to be a living testimony to this Truth.
Every jot and tittle regarding His ‘laws and ordinances’ are the direct revelation of His Goodness and Righteousness, which, when taken up in the life of man, will bring about the life which honors God. Yes, our God wants our life to be the “channel to illuminate the world with knowledge of His Love embodied in His character!”
Lest we forget: He enabled us to express our love of Him in Spirit and Truth - our life is now in Him through Jesus Christ – John 15:5.
The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. More to be desired are Gods laws than much fine gold. Psalm 19:7-10. A gem is worth repeating. There is a modern tune to this Psalm some may know.
To be prepared for the Lord was in their best interest and welfare as the last six of the Ten Words of God. So shall it be in the coming of the Son of God some day soon. Live like Jesus the song goes. The 1st 4 are in worship to God. The one and only living God. Out of love He gave them to us out of love for Him we do keep them.