God Gives His Law on Mount Sinai

This chapter is based on Exodus 19 to 24. 

Soon after setting up camp at Sinai, Moses was called up into the mountain to meet with God. Israel was now to be taken into a close and special relationship to the Most High—to be organized as a church and a nation under the government of God. “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” 1TC 197.2

Moses returned to the camp, and he repeated the divine message to the elders of Israel. Their answer was, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” In this way they entered into a solemn covenant with God, pledging themselves to accept Him as their ruler, becoming in a special sense the subjects of His authority. 1TC 198.1

God intended to make the event of speaking His law a scene of awe-inspiring grandeur. Everything connected with the service of God must be thought of with the greatest reverence. The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. ... For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.” Everyone was to spend the time in solemn preparation to appear before God. Their bodies and their clothing must be free from impurity. They were to devote themselves to searching their hearts for any wrong, fasting, and prayer, that their hearts might be cleansed from iniquity. 1TC 198.2

On the morning of the third day, Sinai’s summit was covered with a thick cloud, black and dense, sweeping downward until the entire mountain was shrouded in darkness and mystery. Then a sound like a trumpet was heard, calling the people to meet with God. From the thick darkness lightnings flashed, while peals of thunder echoed among the surrounding heights. “Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire ... and the whole mountain quaked greatly.” All of Israel shook with fear and fell on their faces before the Lord. Even Moses exclaimed, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling” (Hebrews 12:21). 1TC 198.3

Now the thunder stopped, the trumpet was no longer heard, and the earth was still. There was a period of solemn silence; then the voice of God was heard. Speaking out of the thick darkness as He stood on the mountain, surrounded by angels, the Lord made known His law. 1TC 198.4

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” The One who had brought them out of Egypt, making a way for them through the sea, and overthrowing Pharaoh and his army—He was the One who now spoke His law. 1TC 198.5

God honored the Hebrews by making them the guardians and keepers of His law, but they were to hold it as a sacred trust for the whole world. The laws of the Ten Commandments are adapted to people everywhere, and they were given for the instruction and government of all. Ten commandments, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, cover our duty to God and to other people, and all are based on the great fundamental principle of love. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). In the Ten Commandments these principles are applied to our lives. 1TC 199.1

(1) “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Whatever we cherish that tends to lessen our love for God or to interfere with the service that is rightfully His—of that we make a god. 1TC 199.2

(2) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.” 1TC 199.3

Concepts of God Affect Human Behavior

Many heathen nations claimed that their images were only symbols by which the Deity was worshiped, but God has declared such worship to be sin. The attempt to represent the Eternal One by material objects would lower our concepts of God. Our minds would be attracted to the creature rather than to the Creator, and as our concepts of God were lowered, the human race would become degraded. 1TC 199.4

“I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” The close relation of God to His people is represented by the illustration of marriage. Since idolatry is spiritual adultery, the displeasure of God against it is fittingly called jealousy. 1TC 199.5

“Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.” Children are not punished for their parents’ guilt, except as they take part in their sins. Usually, however, by inheritance and example the children become partakers of the parents’ sin. Wrong tendencies, perverted appetites, and debased morals, as well as physical disease and decline, are passed along from parent to child, to the third and fourth generation. 1TC 199.6

“Showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” To those who are faithful in His service, God promises mercy, not merely to the third and fourth generation like the wrath threatened against those who hate Him, but to thousands of generations. 1TC 200.1

(3) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” 1TC 200.2

This commandment forbids us to use the name of God in a light or careless manner. By the thoughtless mention of God in common conversation, and by frequent, thoughtless repetition of His name, we dishonor Him. “Holy and awesome is His name” (Psalm 111:9). We should speak it with reverence and solemnity. 1TC 200.3

(4) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” 1TC 200.4

The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having been established at creation. Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, it tells the difference between the true God from false gods, so the Sabbath is the sign of our allegiance to God. The fourth commandment is the only one of the ten in which we find both the name and the title of the Lawgiver—the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given—as it contains the seal of God. 1TC 200.5

God has given us six days in which to work, and He requires that we do our work in those six days. Acts of necessity and mercy are permitted on the Sabbath. The sick and suffering are always to be cared for, but we should strictly avoid unnecessary work. To keep the Sabbath holy, we should not even allow our minds to dwell on things of a worldly character. And the commandment includes everyone within our “gates” (meaning our homes). All the members of the household are to set aside their worldly business during the sacred hours. All should unite to honor God by their willing service on His holy day. 1TC 200.6

(5) “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” 1TC 201.1

Parents are entitled to a degree of love and respect owed to no other person. To reject the rightful authority of one’s parents is also to reject the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires children not only to respect, submit to, and obey their parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their cares, to guard their reputation, and to care for and comfort them in old age. It also requires respect for ministers and rulers and for all others to whom God has given authority. 1TC 201.2

(6) “You shall not murder.” 1TC 201.3

All acts of injustice that tend to shorten life—the spirit of hatred and revenge, or indulging any passion that leads to injurious acts toward others (even to wish them harm, for “whoever hates his brother is a murderer”), a selfish neglect of caring for the needy, self-indulgence or overwork that tends to injure health—all these are, to a greater or less degree, violations of the sixth commandment. 1TC 201.4

(7) “You shall not commit adultery.” 1TC 201.5

God’s law demands purity not only in the outward life but in the secret intents and emotions of the heart. Christ, who taught the far-reaching obligation of the law of God, declared that the evil thought or look is as truly sin as is the unlawful deed. 1TC 201.6

(8) “You shall not steal.” 1TC 201.7

This prohibition condemns kidnapping and slave dealing, wars of conquest, theft and robbery. It demands strict honesty in the smallest details of life. It forbids shady business dealings and requires the payment of rightful debts or wages. Every attempt to gain advantage by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another is registered as fraud in the books of heaven. 1TC 201.8

(9) “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” 1TC 201.9

An intention to deceive is what makes a lie. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the face, we may tell a lie as effectively as by words. It is a lie even to state the facts in such a way as to mislead. Every effort to injure our neighbor’s reputation by misrepresentation, slander, or gossip, and even hiding truth in order to injure others, is a violation of the ninth commandment. 1TC 201.10

(10) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” 1TC 202.1

The tenth commandment strikes at the very root of all sins—it prohibits the selfish desire, from which springs the sinful act. The person who refuses to indulge even a sinful desire for something that belongs to another will not be guilty of a wrong act toward anyone else. 1TC 202.2

God proclaimed His law with demonstrations of His power and glory, so that His people would never forget the scene. He wanted to show everyone the sacredness and permanence of His law. 1TC 202.3

God’s Law Is a Law of Love

As God’s great rule of right was presented before them, the people realized as never before how offensive sin is to a holy God and how guilty they were in His sight. They cried out to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” The leader answered, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” 1TC 202.4

Blinded and depraved by slavery and heathenism, the people were not prepared to fully understand the far-reaching principles of God’s Ten Commandments. Additional instruction was given, illustrating and applying these principles. These laws were called “judgments” because the magistrates were to give judgment according to them. Unlike the Ten Commandments, they were delivered privately to Moses. 1TC 202.5

The first of these related to servants. A Hebrew could not be sold as a slave for life. His service was limited to six years and on the seventh he was to be set free. The holding of non-Israelites as slaves was permitted, but their life and person were strictly guarded. The murderer of a slave was to be punished, and an injury inflicted on a slave by his master, even if no more than the loss of a tooth, entitled him to his freedom. 1TC 202.6

The Israelites were to be careful not to indulge the spirit of cruelty like that which they had suffered under their Egyptian taskmasters. The memory of their own bitter experience should enable them to put themselves in the servant’s place, and to be kind and compassionate. 1TC 203.1

The rights of widows and orphans were specially guarded. “If you afflict them in any way,” the Lord declared, “and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.” Foreigners who united themselves with Israel were to be protected from wrong or oppression. “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” 1TC 203.2

Charging interest on a loan to the poor was forbidden. A poor person’s garment or blanket taken as a pledge for a loan must be given back at evening time. Judges were warned against perverting justice, aiding a false cause, or receiving bribes. Slander was prohibited, and acts of kindness were required even toward personal enemies. 1TC 203.3

The people were reminded of the sacred obligation of the Sabbath. Yearly feasts were appointed, at which all the men of the nation were to assemble before the Lord, bringing to Him their offerings of gratitude and the first fruits of His provision of crops. The purpose of all these regulations was stated—all were given for the good of Israel. The Lord said, “You shall be holy men to Me.” 1TC 203.4

These laws were to be recorded by Moses and carefully treasured as the foundation of the national law, and, with the ten precepts, as the condition of God’s fulfilling His promises to Israel. 1TC 203.5

The message was now given, “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him.” Christ in the pillar of cloud and of fire was their Leader. While there were symbols or “types” pointing to a Savior to come, there was also a present Savior, who gave commands to Moses for the people and was presented to them as the only channel of blessing. 1TC 203.6

How the “Old Covenant” was Made

After coming down from the mountain, “Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has said we will do.’” 1TC 204.1

Then they ratified the covenant. An altar was built at the foot of the mountain, and beside it twelve pillars were set up, “according to the twelve tribes of Israel,” as a testimony that they accepted the covenant. Moses “took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people.” All were free to choose whether they would comply with the covenant’s conditions. They had heard God’s law proclaimed, and its principles had been applied to various situations, so that they could know how much this covenant involved. Again the people answered together, 1TC 204.2

“‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.’ When Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood ... and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you’” (Hebrews 9:19, 20). 1TC 204.3

Moses had received the command, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.” The seventy elders were to assist Moses in governing Israel, and God put His Spirit on them. “And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.” They did not see God Himself, but they saw the glory of His presence. They had been thinking about His glory, purity, and mercy, until they could come nearer to Him. 1TC 204.4

Moses and “his assistant Joshua” were now summoned to meet with God. The leader appointed Aaron and Hur, assisted by the elders, to act in his place. Moses waited to be called into the presence chamber of the Most High. His patience and obedience were tested, but he did not leave his post. Even this favored servant of God could not immediately approach into His presence and endure His glory. For six days he must devote himself to God by searching of heart, meditation, and prayer. 1TC 204.5

On the seventh day, which was the Sabbath, Moses was called up into the cloud. “So Moses went into the midst of the cloud. ... And Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights.” He fasted during the entire forty days. 1TC 205.1

God Exalts a Race of Slaves

During his stay on the mountain, Moses received directions for building a sanctuary in which the divine Presence would be specially revealed. “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them,” was the command of God. For the third time keeping the Sabbath was commanded: “‘It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever,’ the Lord declared, ‘that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. ... Whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people’” (Exodus 31:17, 13, 14). 1TC 205.2

From then on the people were to be honored with the abiding presence of their King. “I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God,” “and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory” (Exodus 29:45, 43). 1TC 205.3

From a race of slaves the Israelites had been exalted above all peoples to be the special treasure of the King of kings. God had separated them from the world, He had made them the holders of His law, and through them He intended to preserve the knowledge of Himself on earth. 1TC 205.4

Thus the light of heaven was to shine out to a world in darkness. A voice was to be heard appealing to all peoples to turn from idolatry to serve the living God. If the Israelites would be true to their trust, God would be their defense, and He would exalt them above all other nations. 1TC 205.5