Exodus Chapter 19
Preparing for the Covenant  

1 Exactly two months after the Israelites had left Egypt, they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai.

2 They arrived there coming from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.

3 The Israelites camped there in front of the mountain, but Moses went up to God and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, “This is what you are to say and to explain to the Israelites:

4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.

5 Now if you listen to me and keep my covenant, you shall be my very own possession among all the nations. For all the earth is mine,

6 but you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
And he added, “This is what you are to say to the people of Israel.”

7 So Moses went and summoned all the elders of the people and related to them all that Yahweh had commanded him to say.

8 All the people responded with one voice, “All that Yahweh has said, we will do.” Moses then brought back to Yahweh the people’s response

9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “I am go ing to come to you in a dense cloud so that the people may hear me speaking with you and trust you always.” Then Moses related to Yahweh what the peo ple had said.

10 Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go to the people and have them sanctified today and tomorrow; let them wash their garments

11 and be ready for the third day. For on the third day Yahweh will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

12 You will fix a limit for the people all around, saying: ‘Take care not to go up to the moun tain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain will die.

13 No hand shall touch him but he will be stoned or shot down by arrows; be it man or beast he shall not live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds may some of them go up to the mountain.”

14 Moses came down from the moun tain to the people and purified them, and they washed their garments.

15 He then said to the people, “Be ready in three days and abstain from sexual relations.”

16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled.

17 Moses then made the people leave the camp to meet God and stand at the foot of the mountain.

18 Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke because Yahweh had come down in fire, and the smoke rose as from a furnace. The whole mountain shook violently,

19 while the blast of the trumpet be came louder and louder. Mo ses spoke and God replied in thunder.

20 When Yahweh had come down to the summit of Mount Sinai, God called Moses who went to the summit

21 where Yahweh said to him, “Go down and give this warning to the people, lest they rush to see Yahweh and many of them perish.

22 Even the priests who come near Yahweh must purify themselves lest Yahweh break out against them.”

23 Moses answered Yahweh, “The peo ple cannot ascend Mount Sinai be cause you yourself ordered us to put limits around the mountain, and set it apart as holy.”

24 Yahweh re plied, “Go down and bring up Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to Yahweh or he will break out against them.”

25 So Moses went down to the people and said to them...

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Comments Exodus, Chapter 19

• 19.1 The Israelites had come to know God, both in the circumstances of their liberation and in the trials of the desert. In this way they had been prepared for the encounter intended by Yahweh when he called Moses in the desert at Horeb or Sinai (Ex 3:12). The time had come to freely accept God’s design to make them his people forever.

All the earth is mine. God is the God of every person and the savior of all, may they be Christians or not. Nevertheless, he has decided to direct history and make it mature from within, through a people whom he has chosen to pass through critical experiences.

A holy nation, this means, consecrated to me. Israel will be the kingdom whose only king is Yahweh. So the efforts of Israel’s rulers should be directed towards justice. The Israelites are a free people who belong only to God; hence, they should not allow themselves to be contaminated by idols, impure customs and the false values of other peoples.

You will be for me a kingdom of priests. In any religion, the priest is one who approaches God and receives communications. Israel, as a whole, has this privilege of knowing God and approaching him in a way that other peoples cannot. Israel re ceives God’s promises for all humanity.

This covenant is concretized at the foot of Mount Sinai, in one of the most impressive places that can be imagined. Moses and the elders, that is, the rep resentatives of the people, climb the mountain in the middle of a tremendous electrical storm, while the thunder roars amidst the ravines. The cleanliness of their robes, the prohibition against coming too close, and their abstinence have prepared their spirits to feel the “weight” of God (this is the meaning of the Hebrew word “glory”).

All this helps us understand what Jesus wished to say during the Last Supper with his apostles, when he spoke of a new covenant (Mk 14:24). In the prayer that followed, he asked that the believers might be the new People consecrated to God, priests of God in the midst of the world: Jn 17; 1 P 2:5; Rev 1:6 and 5:10.

In the Bible, the word “the Law” is used to desig nate all the laws that were related to the Covenant made at Mount Sinai.

The Law indicates, by itself, something weighty. The Hebrews had thrown off the yoke of slavery, but they could not progress without a Law. The educators of any child impose a discipline to form the will, to tame whims, to train in generosity. Like wise, the people of Israel needed to submit to a Law for a long time before they would become mature enough to receive the Spirit. Submissive to the Law, they would discover how often they offended God.

Do not forget that here we speak of the prepa ration for the Covenant. The Covenant account is concluded in Chapter 24, after the laws given in chapters 20-23 that interrupt the account.