Exodus 19 explained: A Meeting at the Mountain

Arrival at Sinai (vv. 1-2)

About two months after leaving Egypt, the people camp in the desert at the foot of the mountain where much of the rest of Exodus takes place. Tradition places it at a peak in the southern Sinai Peninsula called Jebel Musa, but no one knows for certain which mountain it was.

God's offer (vv. 3-6)

God begins with what he has already done, carrying them out of Egypt the way a great bird bears its young, and only then offers a covenant, a binding agreement in which they will be his treasured people if they keep it. Just as priests stand between God and others, the whole nation was to be set apart to represent God among the nations, a phrase Christians later applied to the church.

The people say yes (vv. 7-9)

Moses brings the offer to the elders, and the whole people answer together that they will do everything God has said. God then says he will come in a thick cloud, so the people can hear him speak with Moses and trust Moses as his messenger.

Getting ready (vv. 10-15)

For two days the people wash their clothes and abstain from sexual relations, ways of marking themselves as set apart and ready to meet God. A boundary goes around the mountain, and anyone who crosses it is to be killed with stones or arrows without being touched, likely so that no one else would have to cross the line.

God comes down (vv. 16-19)

Thunder, lightning, thick cloud, smoke like a furnace, a shaking mountain and a trumpet blast growing ever louder show God's overwhelming power, and the whole camp trembles. Moses leads the people out to stand at the base, and as he speaks, God answers him in a voice.

A final warning (vv. 20-25)

God calls Moses to the top only to send him back down to warn the people not to push through to look, or God will break out against them and many will die. Priests are mentioned before Israel's priesthood is formally set up, and scholars are unsure who they were, possibly family heads who offered sacrifices.

Key verse: Exodus 19:5

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether the condition of obedience here makes the Sinai covenant a deal based on keeping the law, set in contrast to grace, or whether obedience is meant as a grateful response to a rescue God had already carried out.

Something to think about

This chapter pictures God as both close and caring yet dangerous to approach, so can something be both intimate and overwhelming at the same time, and have you ever experienced anything like that?