16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”
24 The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.”
25 So Moses went down to the people and told them. (Exodus 19:16-25)
This episode brings us to the third day of the third month after the Israelites (600,000 and more Exodus 12:37) had gone out of Egypt. They were finding their identity as a people, a nation; they were adjusting to Moses’ leadership. Most of all, they were learning to stand in awe of their holy God, Yahweh. They had much to learn.
We are at the beginning of their Sinai experience and we know much happened. Eventually, this is where the Ten Commandments were given. At the bottom of Mount Sinai, they worshipped the golden calf. But these were to come.
On the third day of the third month, the people were consecrated (exodus 19:10). The Lord descended on the top of Mount Sinai with all the sounds and visuals that symbolized the presence of God at that at time.
In these few verses, God spoke. Moses listened. And Moses spoke to the people accordingly. The people listened to Moses and they followed. Nothing much else happened. Nothing dramatic like the 10 plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea. Nothing important like the handing down of the Ten Commandments. These few verses are often skipped over so that we could get to the more important passages.
Perhaps.
Let us see if we can learn from these verses the relationship between the Israelites, Moses and Yahweh. And we shall see how their relationships inspire us in our relationships..
Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain. The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses went up and the Lord gave Moses the words to speak to the people. So Moses went down to the people and told them.
The Lord was moulding Moses as the leader of His people . Moses had to first learn to be led by God. The Lord was moulding the Israelites to be a holy nation. The principle is straightforward. The line is simple when applied to the Church. Authority to lead comes from God and the leader (e.g. Moses) must himself be a servant to God.
In the Church context since the coming of the Holy Spirit, we need to appreciate that there are still modern day Moses, and modern day people of God. But the leaders and the led are now interchangeable. We are called to lead in some areas and to be led in some other areas. We are to lead sometimes and to be led sometimes. We are to have the humility of a servant , ready to lead as well as ready to be led - both under the authority of God and His word.
A leader is to be mindful to “go up Mount Sinai” to listen to God.
All God’s people are to be mindful not to worship a golden calf when we are waiting in silence.
We have much to learn from these verses.