Exodus 19:2
For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
Israel had left Rephidim and come into the desert of Sinai, pitching and camping before the mount in the third month after leaving Egypt, where they remained encamped on the plain beneath the mountain for nearly a year. There God called Moses up into the cloud to give His covenant message for the house of Jacob, offering to take them into close relation to Himself as His peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, if they would indeed obey His voice and keep His covenant. Moses laid the offer before the elders, and the people answered that they would do all the Lord had said, entering a solemn covenant accepting God as their ruler. From that same camp God came down in awful grandeur and proclaimed His law in an audible voice, including the Ten Commandments, to reveal His glory and authority and the sacredness of His law for all time. What was spoken to Israel at Sinai is spoken as truly now, and must be often repeated and sacredly observed by God's people today, whose individual duty is to understand what God means and do whatever He commands.
Arrival at Mount Sinai
They had left Rephidim behind and had come into the desert and wilderness of Sinai, where they pitched and camped before the mount and mountain. That encampment before Sinai was reached in the third month after going out of Egypt, after only about three months of travel and journeying.
They had followed the cloudy pillar through difficult wilderness terrain and camped on the plain beneath Sinai. There they remained nearly a year. All that time the cloud rested on the mountain, and the pillar of fire by night showed divine protection over them. Sinai itself was a high mountain standing in the barren wilderness and desert.
Soon after the encampment Moses went up to God to meet with Him. He climbed alone up the steep path into the cloud that marked God's presence.
Covenant and Law Proclaimed
The camp in the wilderness of Sinai before the mount, reached after departing from Rephidim, was the setting for God's covenant message to Israel. It was there, in the third month after going out of Egypt after only about three months of journeying, that God spoke to Moses concerning His covenant with the people. That message was addressed to the house of Jacob and the children of Israel, grounded in what He had done to the Egyptians and how He had borne Israel on eagles' wings and brought them to Himself, to take them into a close and peculiar relation to Him. This was the occasion when God called Israel to be His peculiar people and established them under His covenant.
God offered to incorporate them as a church and a nation under His government. He offered to make them a peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The offer was conditional on their indeed obeying His voice and keeping His covenant, which means real obedience and not merely professing to worship God. It was made on condition of obedience to His commandments. If they fulfilled the pledge, He promised to greatly bless them and honor them, to manifest His love and power upon them, and constantly to care for them.
Moses brought the message to the elders of Israel. The people answered that all that the Lord had spoken they would do. By that answer they entered into a solemn covenant accepting God as their ruler, making them in a special sense the subjects of His authority.
The camp before the mount was also the preparation and setting for hearing God's law. There the Lord came down before the people and gave them His law, with promises for keeping His commandments, making known the covenant requirements. There God proclaimed the Ten Commandments to the congregation gathered to hear Him. That law included the law first given in Eden, proclaimed after He had delivered Israel from Egypt despite Pharaoh's opposition so they might keep it and hear Him proclaim it. Obedience to all His commandments given there is the highest education for humanity.
God chose this mountain to reveal Himself and His glory and to speak His law in audible voice. He manifested Himself in awful grandeur and overwhelming majesty in giving His law, amid scenes whose grandeur displayed His authority and the sacredness and importance of the law. That revelation showed the law's importance for all ages. The impressions of that scene were never forgotten by those who beheld it.
Call to Obedience Today
What was spoken to ancient Israel at Sinai is spoken as truly now. The words given when Israel was encamped before the mount, where the Lord manifested Himself in awful grandeur in giving His law, call for obedience to the commandments of God. That instruction in Exodus and Deuteronomy applies to God's Israel for as long as they live on earth. The record is written for present readers as truly as for the children of Israel, and the impressions of that scene were never forgotten by those who beheld it.
As God brought Israel to Himself at Sinai, He must bring each person to Himself today before He can work through them in the great work of preparing a people to stand in the day of the Lord. It is therefore each person's individual duty to seek to understand what God means and to do whatever He commands. The blessings God gives call for the people to observe and value His instruction for their good and to honor His name. Obedience to all God's commandments is the highest education for humanity.
The instruction in Exodus 19 and 20 is of great importance and must be often repeated and sacredly observed. Its setting before the mount shows the Lord as the only true God who demands that His people be obedient to His Word. There God made His promise to His people on condition of their obedience to His commandments, the people answered that all the Lord had spoken they would do, and God declared that He would come in a thick cloud so the people would hear when He spoke with Moses and believe Moses forever. As He dealt with His ancient people at Sinai, so He will deal with those now who despise the Word of the Lord and refuse to humble their proud hearts before the wisdom and righteousness of God. When every device is used to draw people away from truth and righteousness, those who stand on the Lord's side keep holy the memorial of creation established when God wrought the work of creation in six days and blessed and sanctified the seventh day as a day of rest.
Israel's pledge to God at Sinai is proved when they come into hard places and perplexities. Instead of murmuring, complaining, and fretting against the Lord, they should stand the proving by getting down in simplicity on their knees and asking the Lord God of Israel to help them. They may ask as He gave them water before to show His great kindness, and the Lord is pleased with that prayerful trust.