Exodus 19:5, commentary and pictures

Soon after bringing Israel out of Egyptian bondage, God promised that if they truly obeyed His voice and kept His covenant they would be His peculiar treasure above all peoples. He spoke this through Christ to Moses on Sinai amid thunder and cloud after bearing them as on eagles' wings to Himself, to bind them to Him in love and trust. The covenant to be kept is the Ten Commandments, already binding and then spoken aloud and written on stone to impress their sacredness. Because all the earth is His, He as supreme ruler over all nations and rulers sets apart an obedient people as His special possession, gift and defense. That promise stands for His people today as truly as for Israel, calling them to be a separate holy nation and kingdom of priests to preserve His law and shine His light to the world, polished as Christ's jewels to reflect Him.

Sinai Setting and Deliverance

Soon after Israel encamped at Sinai, in the third month after going out of Egypt from Rephidim to camp before the mount, the offer was spoken as preparation of the congregation for hearing the law. Moses alone went up and climbed the steep and rugged path into the cloud marking God's presence, where God called to him from the mountain with a message for the house of Jacob and the children of Israel. By those words God was taking Israel into a close and peculiar relation to Himself, incorporating them as a church and a nation under His government. Because all the earth belongs to Him He is Ruler of the nations with all kings, rulers and nations under His rule and government, yet obedience to His voice and keeping His covenant would make Israel His special treasured people above all others.

The offer follows His reminder of what He did to the Egyptians and how He bore Israel on eagles' wings and brought them to Himself. He had rescued them from Egypt and from Egyptian bondage and slavery to receive a new knowledge of God, and only then set them apart as His special people among all peoples. Their covenant also made them subjects of His divine authority, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation received by the charter establishing Israel as a people.

Its setting is sanctification and bounds at Sinai and God's descent in thunder, lightning, cloud, trumpet, fire, smoke and quaking. The cloud mercifully shielded the people from the glory of His presence while God drew near so they could recognize His power. They were gathered at the foot of the mountain, among God's created works and away from human displays of pride. This was to give evidence that He is God who will not bear iniquity, and to impress the sacredness of His law.

Christ Himself spoke the words by word of mouth to Moses out of the mountain, and they are the words of God giving a standard of absolute completeness, the perfection of the Saviour's character. He went before Moses in the wilderness and led Israel enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, which settled where they should pitch their tents and lifted when they should move forward, working marvelously for them in difficulties and trials. Christ stood as their invisible leader while Moses led them visibly. By beholding Christ in families and in the church, the youth are to be educated to behold Him and to be taught these words diligently.

The covenant they are to keep is the Ten Commandments, which were already called God's covenant before this covenant with Israel was made. They were not a mutual agreement but what God commanded Israel to do, and in all their details they became the basis of the covenant between God and Israel. At Sinai God did not give a new law there, for the covenant law dates back to creation and was given in Eden. He graciously spoke His law with an audible voice in the hearing of all the people and wrote it with His own finger on stone amid awful grandeur, and the sacredness of the mountain and the awe of His presence impressed its sacredness and exalted character. That law is comprised in the two great principles of love to God and love to neighbor, embracing the first four commandments showing duty to God and the last six showing duty to fellow man, more explicitly stated and worded after the fall to meet the case of fallen intelligences blinded by transgression. Israel as His peculiar treasure was greatly exalted as the depositaries of His law to guard it and hand it down to later generations and to all men, for the ten precepts were by no means given exclusively to Israel to be confined to them.

Covenant Condition and Obedience

The standing as a treasured possession above all peoples was made to depend entirely on actually obeying the divine voice and keeping the covenant, a real, wholehearted and earnest obedience in truth and righteousness rather than mere profession, name, uncomprehending assent, or oath-taking joined with treacherous dealing. The offer came after rescue from Egypt and the bringing of the people to God Himself, and it rested on His ownership of the whole earth, by which He could set apart one people as His own special possession among the nations. Belonging to His people was thus joined to covenant obedience, and that obedience itself opens to a fuller understanding of duty.

To obey that voice and keep that covenant is to keep the commandments and the whole law given at Sinai, standing upon that law as an enduring foundation. Obedience is the test of love to the gracious heavenly Father, involving every covenant mercy, and it is the only way to show such love; it is learned by carefully studying the Word to learn what is in it and by walking in cheerful, holy obedience. Such loyalty to the law honors God before the world, allows Him to fulfill His promises in making His people holy and a praise in the earth, and is essential to receiving His favor and blessing and to future and eternal happiness.

Where that condition is met, God engages to bless and honor His treasured people, to show them His love and power, and to care for them continually. He communicates with them so that they need not stumble, gives life to those who keep His commandments, and brings the obedient to entrance into His kingdom, where His law continues to be observed and may never be trifled with. The pledge given in return for the solemn pledge to obey sets forth both the reward of obedience and the duties of a denominated people.

The instruction given with the promise guards against injustice and guides how people are to treat one another. Its observance centers on sacredly keeping holy the seventh-day memorial of creation, an instruction of great importance to be often repeated and sacredly observed now by all who stand on the Lord's side. It is to be read before congregations as God's own Word for seventh-day observance, with responsibility left upon those who reject a plain Thus saith the Lord, and without entering into controversy with advocates of Sunday laws, while Satan uses every device to draw away from truth and righteousness and to exalt the first day in opposition to God. Keeping the Sabbath mattered to the covenant relation, and failure to keep it brought sorrow and shame, for the Sabbath stood as a lasting sign between God and His people marking Him as their Lord.

The law with this conditional promise of great blessing was given because during Egyptian bondage the people had largely lost the knowledge of God and of the principles of the Abrahamic covenant. They had no true conception of the holiness of God, the exceeding sinfulness of their own hearts, their utter inability in themselves to render obedience, and their need of a Saviour. The promise was meant to teach those truths and to bind them to God in love, trust, gratitude and confidence after deliverance from Egypt, amid patient preparation in which He drew near to impress the power and sacredness of His law while the cloud mercifully shielded the people gathered at the foot of the mount among created works away from human pride.

Israel was chosen from among the nations as that treasured people on this condition of obedience, and His dealings show that He must be obeyed and that those determined to exalt themselves are blotted out.

God Owns All Earth

Because all the earth is His, God is the King of kings and the only true God, supreme ruler over heaven and earth with the highest power and knowledge, and all nations, kings and rulers stand under His rule and government. He had rescued Israel from Egypt and brought them to Himself, and on condition of obeying His voice indeed and keeping His covenant He would make them His treasured people above all peoples. That call to obey and keep covenant includes everyone, and those who do become His treasured people among all peoples. Israel accepted this calling by solemnly pledging to do all that the Lord had spoken, thereby becoming subjects of His divine authority as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Though He owns the whole earth, He sets apart an obedient people as His special possession above others. This standing is conditional on real, sincere obedience in truth, not merely profession, name, or worship in word only. It is His gift and possession, not a human claim of ownership over other peoples, and the Sinai covenant thus given is a refuge and defense that remains in force today. The same covenant is made with every soul, and it applies to God's commandment-keeping people in the last days, whose acceptance with Him depends on faithfully fulfilling its terms as a holy people called to show His praises.

His claim embraces the whole world, including not only the means entrusted to His people but all that they are and have, so their gifts are not acceptable when they withhold themselves. His kingdom belongs to Him and embraces the whole world, and its principles test and purify His peculiar treasure, shaping them after His image. That kingdom is to succeed every other kingdom, cover the whole earth, and never pass to another ruler.

Israel's Mission to World

By this word God took Israel into a close and peculiar relation to Himself, incorporating them as a church and a nation under His government on condition of obeying His voice and keeping His covenant. Soon after the encampment at Sinai Moses alone climbed the steep path into the cloud marking God's presence to receive the message, then repeated it to the elders, and all the people answered together that they would do all the Lord had spoken. By that solemn covenant they accepted Him as their ruler and King and became in a special sense the subjects of His authority, pledged to be true to Him and set apart to be united with a holy God as His specially valued treasured people above all others. Their standing as His treasure was conditional on obedience, for God chose Israel and Israel chose Him.

The obedient people would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, made kings and priests unto God. They would be a chosen generation and royal priesthood, called out of darkness into His marvelous light to show forth His praises, led and healed by the true Shepherd with peace to him that is near and afar off. The choosing was not because they were more in number, for they were the fewest, but because the Lord loved them and would keep the oath sworn to their fathers, redeeming them with a mighty hand out of the house of bondmen as the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations. True belonging required real obedience in truth, earnestness, sincerity and righteousness, not merely being called by the name of Israel, swearing by the name of the Lord, or assenting without understanding while dealing treacherously, and faithful fulfillment of the terms determines acceptance with God.

He lifted them from a race of slaves to exalt them above all peoples as His peculiar treasure as King of kings, separating them from the world to commit to them a sacred trust. He made them the depositaries of His law, entrusting them with His words, divine precepts and commandments, with guides and ministers and temporal and spiritual advantages, so the knowledge of Himself would be preserved among men and communicated to the world. Through them the light of heaven was to shine out to a world enshrouded in darkness, with a voice appealing to all peoples to turn from idolatry to serve the living God, revealing His character, carrying the gospel invitation to the whole world, and pointing nations through sacrificial service to Christ so that all who looked to Him might live. If true to that trust they would become a power in the world, with God as their defense exalting them above all other nations, modeling true righteousness and what His church should be, showing blessings of heaven's principles in health, prosperity, honor and exaltation, and standing forth under His wise and holy rule as a living channel of light and continual witness to the only true and living God who created all things, an example of the superiority of His worship over every form of idolatry.

For this reason God erected barriers about His people and gave special injunction not to mingle with idolatrous nations and follow their ways, giving them landmarks always to be respected for their own good and for the benefit of the world that knew not God. The law was given to preserve humanity from turning wholly to idolatry, and God established Israel in Canaan as part of this purpose. The Ten Commandments marked them as distinct, and the church likewise is His precious treasure dear to His heart.

Their government was therefore essentially different from all the nations around them, for God Himself was their wise and mild governor and special leader. He ruled through His prophets and through rulers He chose for them, giving them statutes and laws to be obeyed in the Lord, with God to be inquired of in every difficulty and perplexity. To prefer a despotic human monarchy like the surrounding nations was a rebellious departure from God, showing great want of faith in His providence to raise up rulers to lead and govern them. Looking to Him alone as lawgiver and source of strength would draw them constantly nearer to Him and elevate and ennoble them to fit them for their high destiny, while placing a human king on the throne turns minds from divine power to trust human strength more and divine power less, and the errors of the king lead into sin and separate the nation from God.

Israel as God's peculiar treasure was privileged with a two-fold system of law, the moral and the ceremonial. The moral law points back to creation to keep the living God who made the world in remembrance, dates back to creation, and its claims bind all men in every dispensation and will exist through all time and eternity, comprised in the two great principles of love to God in the first four commandments showing duty to God and love to neighbor in the last six showing duty to fellow man, more explicitly stated after the fall to meet the case of fallen intelligences blinded by transgression. The ceremonial law of sacrifices and offerings was added because of transgression of the moral law, pointing to future redemption through Christ the great offering. Statutes and judgments specifying duty to fellow men, including those concerning marriage, inheritance, and strict justice in dealing with one another, define and simplify the principles of the moral law, were made clearer by particular precepts through Christ who went before Moses in the wilderness to protect life and guard the sacred law from being forgotten in an apostate world, and were designed to keep God's chosen people distinct and separate from idolatrous nations and preserve them from becoming like those without the love and fear of God.

They were called peculiar because, alone among the nations, they preserved the true worship of God if they remained faithful and kept His commandments. Their faithfulness would make the temple a lasting sign of God's special favor to His chosen people.

Israel's Answer and Failure

Moses carried the offer to the elders and to all the house of Jacob, and the whole people answered together with upraised voice and hands that all the Lord had spoken they would do. By that united pledge they entered a perpetual solemn covenant to obey all His commandments, accepted Him as their ruler and became in a special sense the subjects of His authority, His denominated people pledged to obedience. That covenant prepared for His coming in a thick cloud so that they would hear Him speak with Moses and believe Moses forever, as the law was about to be proclaimed at Sinai with full explanation so that disobedience could have no excuse.

They entered readily because they felt able to establish their own righteousness, not realizing their sinfulness and that without Christ it was impossible to keep God's law. Within weeks they broke the covenant by worshiping a graven image, proving they could not hope for favor through a broken covenant. That failure was permitted to prepare them to feel their need of pardon and of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant.

Abraham's family had been chosen as treasure because Abraham faithfully kept God's commandments, with special blessings conferred for that obedience. His descendants departed from the worship of the true God, transgressed His law and imitated idolatrous nations, so their posterity became bondmen to an idolatrous nation as punishment for apostasy. When humbled in Egypt they acknowledged His dealings, cried earnestly for deliverance from oppression, and promised to serve God and obey His law if He would break the yoke of bondage, and their cries and promises reached heaven. God answered by manifesting His power in the plagues and in their deliverance to confirm their faith in Him as the only true and living God, to give unmistakable evidence of the difference He placed between the Egyptians and His people, and so that all nations would know He had chosen them and taken them to Himself as His peculiar treasure.

The descent into Egypt had been permitted because Israel was disposed to connect with the heathen and imitate their idolatry, and there Joseph's influence was widely felt and circumstances were favorable for remaining a distinct people. There the gross idolatry, cruelty and oppression should have inspired abhorrence of idolatry and led them to flee for refuge to the God of their fathers. Satan opposed this calling by darkening their minds to imitate their heathen masters and by weakening faith through the loss during bondage of sacrificial offerings pointing to the great Sacrifice, seeking to hold more than two million souls in ignorance, superstition, obscurity and bondage to obliterate the remembrance of God and resist their deliverance. After deliverance they were called to follow the way He had marked out, but they quickly turned from that way and broke their promise, and while Moses was away receiving the laws they were to remember and teach their children they lost faith in his return and failed to keep faith with God. By following their own impulses, disregarding the Sabbath and breaking other commandments, rebelling against the holy law spoken at Sinai, they forfeited the blessings He wished to give and disqualified themselves from being recognized as His peculiar treasure.

That standing as God's chosen, specially favored people above every other, His own treasured people brought out of Egypt, ended nationally when Christ, who alone could save them, was slighted, abused, rejected and crucified, bringing the doom of city and nation. The promises given to them as a people had been their hope and confidence, and they trusted them as assurance of salvation while professing to be governed by God's commandments. Christ came first to this favored people, but they did not receive Him, showing no eager interest at His birth and advent though angels sought them first and heaven expected eager waiting. Their leaders continued hypocritical devotion exalting traditions, and as a people they forgot God, used blessings for their own glory, and withheld religious guidance and a holy example, failing the purpose to reveal His character, point nations to Christ through the sacrificial service, and carry the gospel invitation to the whole world.

Covenant Belongs to Today

The covenant made at Sinai remains in force today, for it was begun by God and not by men and rests on His goodness and love and on salvation through Christ to be received by living faith. It was made with Israel and is made also with every soul, including all who obey Him. Its truths belonged to the Jewish economy, yet they grow clearer through the gospel and will be fully unfolded in the future life. The promise rests on His ownership of the whole earth, and though He owns all, He sets apart the obedient as His treasured possession above all peoples. It is a refuge and defense, and acceptance under it depends on faithfully fulfilling its terms.

What was spoken in the wilderness of Sinai is written for God's people today as truly as for Israel then, especially for His commandment-keeping people in the last days who pledge to fulfill its terms. Their acceptance with Him depends on faithful fulfillment, and disobedience is the cause of weakness. Each person must be brought to God before He can work through them in preparing a people to stand in the day of the Lord, and it is each one's duty to understand what He means and to do whatever He bids. This is done by cooperating with Him in simple day-by-day faith, while Christ as Author and Finisher perfects the work begun when truth first united them to the Saviour. Obedience brings entrance into His kingdom, where His law continues to be observed, for He gave His commandments with promise of life to keepers.

To be His treasure means to stand as a separate and distinct people, free from all worldly influences, policy and alliances, sanctified because He comes near. His chosen treasure is required to be patterns of piety, holy in heart and conversation, elevated, refined and sanctified, partakers of the divine nature having escaped worldly corruption. Children need moral courage to live this way apart from the spirit and habits of those who do not love Him or keep His commandments. Circumcision was the sign and pledge of that covenant duty to remain separate and faithful, for mingling with other nations exposed Israel to idolatry and caused loss of holy character. Honoring Him by obedience in teaching, healing and publishing keeps His people a constant light, rather than being named Babylon and called out in disorganization.

This distinctness is to appear in dress, for as the blue border marked Israel, so God's people today should dress simply and distinctly from the world, glorifying God and rebuking pride, vanity and extravagance. It is to appear in healthful living by God's appointed food and cleanliness, which elevates above the heathen, for He supplied healthful food and pure water and promised to preserve the obedient from disease. Their rejection of the food He provided and craving for flesh brought death to many, and the manna rather than flesh was the food best suited to train them to belong to Him and to bless and teach the world. Valuing earthly things above spiritual things in this way caused failure to reach His ideal and fulfill His purpose of sacred preeminence. Loyalty to God's commands takes precedence over conflicting human authority, so those whose faith forbids taking part in war must refuse orders that would require violation of God's law and conscience, while obeying the laws of the land when they do not conflict, with noncombatant service distinct from voluntary enlistment.

Seventh-day Adventists the world over are called to be this peculiar treasure and holy nation, and that identity and its reasons should be explained to children in simple language as they grow. It means His church on earth is appointed to stand perfectly united in the Spirit and counsel of the Lord of hosts to the end of time. The Lord Himself is to be ruler of the people He has chosen and His Spirit the chief counselor, so believers counsel, pray and help one another as fellow workers. Everything savouring of domineering human power over conscience and spiritual experience is to be set aside, with no man made amenable to his fellow and no brother dictating another's individual duty. Accepting the truths that call them out of the world and standing together by the old landmarks preserves that unity and faithfulness.

The name is true of His present people only if they obey the requirements specified in His Word. When they do not obey, added messages are sent to awaken them to duty and to impress their sinfulness and fearful danger in neglecting His Word, just as Israel's disobedience to His law brought the multitude of ceremonies and ordinances to keep God in remembrance. The same covenant privilege given to ancient Israel belongs to the church, requiring living for God and Him only; departing from light, neglecting duties, joining with the selfish and world-loving, and cherishing pride, love of pleasure and sin violates the covenant and dishonors God. God tests and proves His peculiar people by calling them to be divested of self, to turn from selfishness, obey His voice, keep His covenant and statutes, walk in His way and carry out His wise and gracious purposes. Meeting that condition brings blessing to themselves, their families, the church and His institutions, with humbled penitence bringing divine light, rejoicing, answered petition, grace, wisdom and steady prosperity in humility with Christ as pattern. Refusing by heeding their own hearts and men's words instead of His warnings imperils their own souls and others through influence, quenches His Spirit and causes Christ to depart.

Christ and Treasured People

To be God's peculiar treasure is to be Christ's purchased jewels, His precious possession bought at the cost of His suffering, humiliation and love. He sees in them purity and perfection and is satisfied, and their added glory honors His name. At first they are only rough stones, but if they place themselves in His hands and submit to His polishing they are cut and pressed until all roughness, pride, self-uplifting and self-sufficiency are taken away. Without that refining discipline and trial they shine no more than a common pebble, while with it their luster depends on reflecting Christ Himself and shining brightly with the light of His loveliness. Once polished they are secure so that no man can pluck them out of His hand, pronounced worthy of a place in the Lord's temple and in His casket. They become jewels in His crown of rejoicing on His coronation day, and those who remain steadfast and faithful look forward to walking with Him in white, a reward that makes any sacrifice worthwhile.

Through the drawing love of God, the grace of Christ and the work of the Spirit, God renews the broken relation with the sinner and chooses all who come to Christ in personal faith to be saved and presented to the Father. This connection with Himself to be His peculiar treasure comes through compassion and matchless love to lost sinners, by the sacrifice of the Redeemer and His gift of Himself. It is a deliverance from the bondage of sin greater than the deliverance of the Hebrews at the Red Sea, by which sinners are redeemed, forgiven with joy, adopted as sons and daughters, purified for God and made zealous for good works. They are formed for Himself to show forth His praise, with the blessed hope of the great plan of redemption, the heavenly inheritance, the rich promises, and Jesus living to intercede as a theme for constant gratitude and praise with heart and soul and voice.

Covenant honor brings blessing only on condition of faithfulness, and calls for full, willing obedience as privilege and not hardship, with spiritual prosperity depending on loyalty to God. By Christ giving His life so God can pardon transgressions, people by repentance and faith can become His sons and daughters. They are not to treat the covenant as grounds for self-importance or trust in their own ability, but to rest confidence in God, since they are weak and unstable and failed to remain loyal. They are to draw near to Him to understand His commands and then obey them with wholehearted consecration, and this makes their service complete and brings His richest blessings.

Being unlike the nations was a special privilege and blessing, not a disadvantage, and Israel's desire to imitate other peoples disregarded that honor. By adopting the customs of surrounding nations they sacrificed a distinct, holy character, grew less reverent toward God, and ceased to value their status as His people. Because of that chosen place He expressly forbade intermarriage with idolatrous nations, which Solomon violated when he multiplied to himself wives from idolatrous nations until they turned his heart after other gods so that it was no longer perfect with God. God trained them through obedience to bless and teach the world with sacred preeminence, testing them after the fall as He had tested humanity in Eden, with appetite as a test. By valuing earthly things above spiritual ones and departing from His appointed way, including rejecting the food He provided, they failed to reach His ideal of character and fulfill His purpose.

When tested they were to trust and humbly ask God for help rather than murmur, complain and fret, believing in Him continually and trusting in His continued kindness. Keeping His covenant by obeying His voice and observing His commandments would be their life, giving an experience fitting them both to possess the promised land and to carry out His purposes in individual life. Jesus Christ Himself led them enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, which settled where they should pitch their tents and lifted when they should move forward, and worked marvelously for them in difficulties and trials. Their forty years in the wilderness in separation prepared them to represent what God's people should be, displaying His supreme authority so that other nations feared them because Jehovah was with them. Their lax observance, disregarding the Sabbath and breaking other commandments, greatly displeased God and brought punishment upon that generation.

The promise that obedient covenant-keepers would be His treasured possession as kings and priests was understood by the Jews as a hope of earthly power, but Christ came humbly rather than with force of arms. The church is likewise God's precious treasure, dear to His heart, set apart from every other nation as Israel was. God entrusted them with His words, gave divine precepts and commandments, appointed guides and ministers, and provided temporal and spiritual advantages, with the Ten Commandments as the hedge that distinguished Israel from other nations. Though a mighty host is arrayed against them, God is on His people's side with all power as a separated peculiar people, a holy nation and royal priesthood, calling them not to rely upon men but to put trust in the Lord God of Israel, and then they shall gain the victory.