Scripture Daily

Context No. 440 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 19:7-13: in context

7Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8All the people answered together, and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. 9The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” Moses told the words of the people to the LORD. 10The LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, 11and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai. 12You shall set bounds to the people all around, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t go up onto the mountain, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death. 13No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it is animal or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.”

Israel is camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, about to meet God directly, and the instructions for that meeting are striking in how serious they are. The people have agreed to everything God says, and God announces he will descend on the mountain in a thick cloud so the people can hear him speak. But before that can happen, there is preparation. Consecrate the people, God tells Moses, today and tomorrow; have them wash their garments and be ready for the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on the mountain in the sight of all the people.

And then come the boundaries. Set limits around the mountain, God says, and warn the people not to go up onto it or even touch its edge, for whoever touches the mountain shall surely die. The mountain, once God's presence settles on it, becomes so charged with holiness that contact with it is fatal, whether for a person or an animal. This is not the picture of God most of us carry around. We tend to approach him casually, even flippantly, as though he were a comfortable presence we can amble up to whenever we like. Sinai insists on something we have largely lost: that the holiness of God is weighty and real, that meeting him is a serious, awe-filled thing that calls for preparation, cleansing, and reverence, not a casual stroll. And notice that the boundaries were not cruelty. They were mercy. The limits protected the people from a holiness that would otherwise have consumed them; the line around the mountain was drawn for their sake.

That is worth recovering, because a God I can approach carelessly is a God I have made too small. Sinai does not mean God is unapproachable, later the way is opened through Christ, but it does mean he is holy, and that his holiness is not to be trifled with. Have I let my sense of God shrink into something casual and weightless, approaching him unprepared and unreverent, when the mountain smoking with his presence insists that to meet the holy God is a serious and awe-filled thing?

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