Thoughts on Mount Sinai

This week we are reading Exodus 19.  We begin to look at Moses' encounter with God on Mount Sinai, the spiritual, literary, and geographical high point of Exodus.  Where is Mount Sinai?  The short answer is: everywhere.  No one knows for sure, and as a result, dozens of mountains have been proposed as the possible site.  Most of these are located in the Sinai Peninsula, part of modern-day Egypt, but locations in Saudia Arabia  and just south of Israel have also been suggested.

One of the earliest traditional locations is Mount Sinai in the southern Sinai Peninsula.  A Christian Monastery has been located at this site for over 1500 years.  A bush in the monastery is supposedly the original burning bush that Moses saw.  All who enter the chapel on this site are required to remove their shoes, just as Moses did.

19:3-6 As Moses first met God on the mountain, God once again reiterated His covenant with the people.  If they obeyed Him, then they would be his "treasured possession."  The basis for their obedience was that they had seen for themselves what God did for them.

19:9 God came to the people "in a dense cloud."  This is symbolic of the fact that God is so far beyond us as to be unapproachable and unknowable.  Furthermore, in biblical tradition anyone who sees God's face will immediately die.  The cloud protected the people from this.

19:10-15 The extensive preparations that the people must make, as well as the precautions they must observe, highlight God's holiness and the seriousness of approaching Him.  We have been made holy by Jesus Christ, and therefore we can "approach the throne of grace with confidence" (Hebrews 4:16).  Nevertheless, this doesn't at all take away from the seriousness of entering into God's presence.  Do we take this seriously enough?  Do we adequately prepare ourselves?  Or, do we take it far too lightly and casually?

19:16-25 The presence of God was a scary thing.  The imagery of the scene, with its thunder, lightning, earthquakes, fire, and trumpets, highlights this.  The people needed to be warned against the dangers of seeing God; even the priests need to adequately prepare, lest the Lord "break out against them."  Do we truly understand the meaning and consequences of God's holiness?

Hebrews 12:18-29 references this chapter of Exodus extensively.  The author contrasts the Old Covenant of the law with the New Covenant founded upon Christ.  What are some differences between the two?  What continuity is there?