THE STORY, Week 5, "At the Foot of the Mountain: God's Preamble to His Constitution"

Exodus 19:1-6

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.  2 They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain,  3 while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:  4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;  6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”  

We read in this text that it has been three months since the people of Israel had gone up out of the land of Egypt.  It had been three months since they experienced the wonder of the first Passover; three months since they had miraculously passed through the Red Sea to freedom; and three months since Pharaoh's army was drowned by that same water as it came down over them.  For three months they had been living on a sticky, bread like substance called "manna"...and for three months they had been wandering through the desert wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula.

The arrival of the people Israel at the Mountain of God was a fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Moses back in Exodus 3:12.  As God was speaking to Moses through the burning bush, God proclaimed and promised, "But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." (ESV)  The arrival of Israel here at this mountain is one of the high points in the book of Exodus.  It marks the achievement of God's plan to save a people for his glory.

This isn't just any people group.  This is a people to whom God has solemnly swore an oath to

The Sixth Day of Creation

through their ancestor Abraham (Genesis 22).  God loves his people, and will use them to bring his plan for creation to fruition.  That is, when creation was finished at the end of the sixth day (Genesis 1), God looked at all he had created, and behold, it was "very good"--it was perfect. God's vision for humanity and his plan for his creation had been put into place.  The willful sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, put God's plan and vision into jeopardy--but God would not be thwarted.  He promised that through a child of Eve redemption would come (Genesis 3:15).  This promise was carried through her son Seth, protected by Noah in the flood, and then though reconfirmed by God through promises made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

As the people Israel were languishing for centuries as slaves in Egypt they would have orally passed down from generation to generation the great promise of God to their ancestor Abraham to bring them to a Promised Land.  Now, freed from slavery at the hands of the Egyptian oppressors, the people Israel were brought by God to this mountain where he would establish a new covenant relationship with his people.

Philip Ryken writes, "It was at the base of this mountain of God where the people of Israel pitched their tents and looked up at the rugged, rocky cliffs pushing out of the desert.  At the base of the mountain they would remain for the remainder of the book of Exodus (about one year).  First they would receive the Law, then they would build the tabernacle--and it was here, in that lonely desolate place that the people would meet the living God."

I once had a Bible teacher teach me that the gathering of the people of Israel at the foot of the Mountain of God was similar to the Constitutional Congress that met in Philadelphia from May-September 1787 to draft our national constitution. I think that is a pretty good analogy to work with.  I remember in 8th grade Civics class that Mrs. Megowan had us memorize the Preamble to the US Constitution.  I can still recite it today, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."  Exodus 19:1-6 is the preamble to God's Constitution which will be given in the upcoming chapters.  

There are some notable differences between the US version and God's.  The US's preamble is FROM the people and FOR the people.  The preamble delivered in this pericope is FROM God and FOR God. In this passage God first makes himself known to the people Israel by what he has done to Egypt--both their first-born and the defeat-by-drowning of Pharaoh's army in the waters of the Red Sea.

Eagles saving Sam and Frodo. (Ted Nasmith)

Next, God states that he bore the people on eagles wings and brought them to himself. Eagles are fierce birds of pray as well as being used literarily as great protectors.  The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings have multiple examples of great eagles coming to the aid of dwarves, hobbits, and others.  We know that eagles typically nest at high altitudes and keep their baby eaglets in the nest for protection for roughly 100 days. At that time the mother will nudge the baby's out of the nest.  She watches the eaglet carefully--if the baby doesn't spread her wings and fly on her own, the mother quickly descends and catches the eaglet on her back and bears her to safety.  This is the same way that God cares for and protects his chosen people Israel.

Finally, God brought the people Israel out of Egypt to the mountain where they would worship himself.  The exodus from Egypt was not about getting the people safely aware from their taskmasters.  If that was the case, God would have safely brought them through the Red Sea and then turned them loose.  Rather, the exodus was about God bringing the people of Israel to this mountain, where he would covenant with them--and they would worship and glorify him!

Notice that God saves the people first, and then gives them the Law (their constitution). Freedom wasn't a result of following the rules, rather, the Law was a result of freedom.  The same is true in the Christian Faith today.  FIRST God saves us; THEN he teaches us how to live for his glory.  If personal obedience was the requirement for salvation none would be saved.

In this preamble, God tells the people what kind of God he is--a God who saves and protects his people.  Then he tells them who they are supposed to be--a precious people with a specific purpose. The Hebrew word "Segullah" is translated in V. 5 as "treasured possession."  This word refers to the personal, most-prized royal possession of a king.  Israel was God's royal property, his most prized possession.

The response to being God's treasured possession is to live as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That is, to live lives set apart from the rest of the pagan world.  To live as a beacon of God's light, not to scare people away from God, but to draw them to God.  How were they to live that life of holiness?  Where would they learn how to live in that manner?  The answer to both questions is the Law.  The Law of God is the constituting document where God binds himself not simply to a man (Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob) but to an entire people.  Israel was now a nation--the people of God, and God desired for them to follow his law not out of obligation--but out of thanksgiving; as a response to the freedom and protection that God had given to them.

We know that the people would fail in this calling, but God's vision for his creation would not be abated.  In the fullness of time he sent Christ Jesus into the world--the fulfillment of the Law, the embodiment of the people Israel.  He would be the carrier of the promise.  He would share the love of God with a dark world.  He would be the one to atone for the peoples' sins and make reconciliation with God.  It is in Jesus that the promise made to Abraham to bless all of the peoples of the world would be fulfilled (Genesis 12).  It was in Jesus that the head of the serpent would be crushed (Genesis 3).

Next week, THE STORY brings us to the forty year desert wanderings of Israel for her lack of faith and disobedience.