Exodus 19:7-25 (NRSV)
Read Exodus 19:7-25 on biblegateway.com
Verse 7So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. Verse 8The people all answered as one: "Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do." Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
Verse 9Then the Lord said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after." When Moses had told the words of the people to the Lord, Verse 10the Lord said to Moses: "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes Verse 11and prepare for the third day, because on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Verse 12You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, 'Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of it. Any who touch the mountain shall be put to death. Verse 13No hand shall touch them, but they shall be stoned or shot with arrows; whether animal or human being, they shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain." Verse 14So Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes. Verse 15And he said to the people, "Prepare for the third day; do not go near a woman."
Verse 16On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Verse 17Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Verse 18Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. Verse 19As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. Verse 20When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. Verse 21Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people not to break through to the Lord to look; otherwise many of them will perish. Verse 22Even the priests who approach the Lord must consecrate themselves or the Lord will break out against them." Verse 23Moses said to the Lord, "The people are not permitted to come up to Mount Sinai; for you yourself warned us, saying, 'Set limits around the mountain and keep it holy.'" Verse 24The Lord said to him, "Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you; but do not let either the priests or the people break through to come up to the Lord; otherwise he will break out against them." Verse 25So Moses went down to the people and told them.
Devotion
It is difficult to read this text without conjuring up some movie spectacle in the mind's eye. The scene may be something out of Indiana Jones or Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments." A great deal of ceremony with warnings and forebodings takes place near Mount Sinai, the holy mountain. It is like a cleansing ritual demanding that people stand aside; yet the ceremony permits Moses to climb and speak with the Lord.
Perhaps the drama is really a kind of ritual prologue to an even greater event which soon follows (in the next chapter, Exodus 20). There the drama reaches a historic climax and the Ten Commandments are ushered in. "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery. You shall not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, covet." The great gift of the divine law is preceded by the impressive drama of the Holy Mountain replete with prohibitions and prescriptions. Then God spoke. We'd better listen.
Prayer
O God, even though we are a gospel people, we are also children under the law. Let us hear and obey what you have commanded; and let us follow the one who has given us the law of love. Amen.