God delivered His people by miracles, signs,
and wonders, from the hands of the Egyptians,
and slew the army of pharaoh as His people passed
through the midst of the sea unharmed. The Israelites
were led to the foot of mount Sinai in Arabia
where they set up camp.
Soon after the encampment at Sinai, Moses was
called up into the mountain to meet with God.
Alone he climbed the steep and rugged path,
and drew near to the cloud that marked the place
of Jehovah's presence. Israel was now to be
taken into a close and peculiar relation to
the Most High--to be incorporated as a church
and a nation under the government of God. The
message to Moses for the people was:
"Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,
and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought
you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey
My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then
ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above
all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye
shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an
holy nation."
Moses returned to the camp, and having summoned
the elders of Israel, he repeated to them the
divine message. Their answer was, "All
that the Lord hath spoken we will do."
Thus they entered into a solemn covenant with
God, pledging themselves to accept Him as their
ruler, by which they became, in a special sense,
the subjects of His authority.
Again their leader ascended the mountain, and
the Lord said unto him, "Lo, I come unto
thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear
when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever."
When they met with difficulties in the way,
they were disposed to murmur against Moses and
Aaron, and accuse them of leading the hosts
of Israel from Egypt to destroy them. The Lord
would honor Moses before them, that they might
be led to confide in his instructions.
God purposed to make the occasion of speaking
His law a scene of awful grandeur, in keeping
with its exalted character. The people were
to be impressed that everything connected with
the service of God must be regarded with the
greatest reverence.
The Lord said to Moses, "Go unto the people,
and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let
them wash their clothes, and be ready against
the third day: for the third day the Lord will
come down in the sight of all the people upon
Mount Sinai." During these intervening
days all were to occupy the time in solemn preparation
to appear before God. Their person and their
clothing must be freed from impurity. And as
Moses should point out their sins, they were
to devote themselves to humiliation, fasting,
and prayer, that their hearts might be cleansed
from iniquity.
The preparations were made, according to the
command; and in obedience to a further injunction,
Moses directed that a barrier be placed about
the mount, that neither man nor beast might
intrude upon the sacred precinct. If any ventured
so much as to touch it, the penalty was instant
death.
On the morning of the third day, as the eyes
of all the people were turned toward the mount,
its summit was covered with a thick cloud, which
grew more black and dense, sweeping downward
until the entire mountain was wrapped in darkness
and awful mystery. Then a sound as of a trumpet
was heard, summoning the people to meet with
God; and Moses led them forth to the base of
the mountain. From the thick darkness flashed
vivid lightnings, while peals of thunder echoed
and re-echoed among the surrounding heights.
"And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke,
because the Lord descended upon it in fire:
and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke
of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly."
"The glory of the Lord was like devouring
fire on the top of the mount" in the sight
of the assembled multitude. And "the voice
of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder
and louder." So terrible were the tokens
of Jehovah's presence that the hosts of Israel
shook with fear, and fell upon their faces before
the Lord. Even Moses exclaimed, "I exceedingly
fear and quake." Hebrews 12:21.
And now the thunders ceased; the trumpet was
no longer heard; the earth was still. There
was a period of solemn silence, and then the
voice of God was heard. Speaking out of the
thick darkness that enshrouded Him, as He stood
upon the mount, surrounded by a retinue of angels,
the Lord made known His law. Moses, describing
the scene, says: "The Lord came from Sinai,
and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth
from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands
of saints: from His right hand went a fiery
law for them. Yea, He loved the people; all
His saints are in Thy hand: and they sat down
at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy
words." Deuteronomy 33:2, 3.
Jehovah revealed Himself, not alone in the awful
majesty of the judge and lawgiver, but as the
compassionate guardian of His people: "I
am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage." He whom they had already known
as their Guide and Deliverer, who had brought
them forth from Egypt, making a way for them
through the sea, and overthrowing Pharaoh and
his hosts, who had thus shown Himself to be
above all the gods of Egypt--He it was who now
spoke His law.
The law was not spoken at this time exclusively
for the benefit of the Hebrews. God honored
them by making them the guardians and keepers
of His law, but it was to be held as a sacred
trust for the whole world. The precepts of the
Decalogue are adapted to all mankind, and they
were given for the instruction and government
of all. Ten precepts, brief, comprehensive,
and authoritative, cover the duty of man to
God and to his fellow man; and all based upon
the great fundamental principle of love. "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength,
and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself."
Luke 10:27. See also Deuteronomy 6:4, 5; Leviticus
19:18. In the Ten Commandments these principles
are carried out in detail, and made applicable
to the condition and circumstances of man.
# 1
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."
Exodus 20:3
# 2
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth: thou
shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve
them."
Exodus 20:4-5
# 3
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold
him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."
Exodus 20:7
# 4
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou,
nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant,
nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy
stranger that is within thy gates: for in six
days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that in them is, and rested the seventh
day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath
day, and hallowed it."
Exodus 20:8-11
# 5
"Honor thy father and thy mother: that
thy days may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee."
Exodus 20:12
# 6
"Thou shalt not kill."
Exodus 20:13
# 7
"Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Exodus 20:14
# 8
"Thou shalt not steal."
Exodus 20:15
# 9
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbor."
Exodus 20:16
# 10
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house,
thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor
his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his
ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."
Exodus 20:17
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