seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 19:7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. 13 They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”
14 After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. 15 Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”
9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. 13 They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”
14 After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. 15 Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”
Ok, I'm going right to the easy English commentary this morning.
All the Israelites promised that they would obey God. They wanted him to be their God. They did not know yet all that a holy nation needed to do. Soon they did wrong things. So they did not obey God (Exodus 32:1-4).
A dense cloud was a sign that God was present with them. The people would learn to have confidence in Moses as their leader.
The Israelites had to prepare themselves so that God could show himself to them. They had to become aware that God is completely holy. They wanted to be pure and clean in their spirit too. So they washed their clothes as a sign. Moses put boundaries round the mountain so that nobody would approach it. The mountain was holy when God was present on it. So the people and their animals must stay outside the boundaries. Nobody must touch any person who did not obey that order. And they must not go near to such a person. A person who did not obey had become dangerous to the Israelites. So they must kill that person with stones or with arrows. The people could climb up the mountain only if they heard the sound from a male sheep’s horn. The priests sounded those horns as a signal. Also, the people must not have sex for a time. It is not wrong for a husband and wife to have sex. But the people must prepare their emotions as well as their minds. They had to be ready for the holy God.
A dense cloud was a sign that God was present with them. The people would learn to have confidence in Moses as their leader.
The Israelites had to prepare themselves so that God could show himself to them. They had to become aware that God is completely holy. They wanted to be pure and clean in their spirit too. So they washed their clothes as a sign. Moses put boundaries round the mountain so that nobody would approach it. The mountain was holy when God was present on it. So the people and their animals must stay outside the boundaries. Nobody must touch any person who did not obey that order. And they must not go near to such a person. A person who did not obey had become dangerous to the Israelites. So they must kill that person with stones or with arrows. The people could climb up the mountain only if they heard the sound from a male sheep’s horn. The priests sounded those horns as a signal. Also, the people must not have sex for a time. It is not wrong for a husband and wife to have sex. But the people must prepare their emotions as well as their minds. They had to be ready for the holy God.
First let me deal with the sex issue here. I keep hearing the "Rocky" theme song after reading these verses. The people had been following this cloud around the desert for a long time, fifty days..... and now they were going to hear from God who was shrouded in this cloud. They were going to hear the voice of the One who brought them out of slavery, led them across the water on dry ground, then swallowed up Egypt's chariots, who fed them and provided water for them to drink.
Back then, please remember, men had more than one wife. Remember, there were over 2 million people in the valley below Mount Sinai. On top of that, not all the women in that 2 million were Israelite women. Choosing the wife to lay with was an important decision on the night before God was going to speak.
I found it curious that GodVine did not comment on verse 15. This is what I found at bible-commentaries.com.
God provides the basis Himself, but as human beings we have our share of responsibility. Moses consecrated the people, but they had to wash their clothes themselves. We read in Revelation about the people who came out of the great tribulation, that "they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." God makes the provisions but we have to apply them to our lives. The people must have understood, though, that the washing of their clothes was more than a matter of water and soap, but that it had a spiritual dimension. Moses adds to this: "Abstain from sexual relations." We do not find this injunction in the orders God gave to Moses and they may have been Moses' own interpretation of God's command. Adam Clarke believes that the question is not whether a man should approach a woman, but whether he should come close to fire. In my word study, I have been unable to find any reason for a different translation than woman. We should not see in this command an inference that sexual relations within marriage would be incompatible with spirituality.
I am reminded, by these verses, of so many Sundays in the past when we put on our finest clothes and went to church. This morning, I am reminded that when I was a child, and we went to my grandparent's home for Christmas, we all use to get dressed for the Christmas Eve party in the living room. The living room was only used for special events. We all had to take bathes, put on our finest outfits that were chosen just for this party, and even curl our hair and comb it just so. We all had to get ready. Then, before we could open any of the presents [and there always seemed to be hundreds of presents calling our names] we would sing Christmas Carols and read the Nativity from the Bible.
As the oldest granddaughter, the reading of the Nativity was delegated to me. The whole time I was getting ready for the party, I was anticipating the reading of the Nativity. It was a big deal. Now that I look back on it, I recall that the only translation of the Bible we had was the King James. I could never understand the King James Version. All those thees and thous just mired me down. But the Nativity.... the translation never seemed to get in the way of the story... I understood it and I could read it without stumbling. Generally, I could pull it off without a hitch. It was a very big deal.
So the Israelites are going to have a visit from God. This should be interesting.
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