How must Israel prepare for the Lord’s coming at Sinai, and what limits are placed on approaching the mountain?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The people must be sanctified, wash their garments and be ready for the third day; Moses also tells them not to come near their wives. The Lord commands boundaries and death penalties for touching the mountain, gives a trumpet instruction about going up, and later repeats the limits while calling Moses and Aaron to come up.

Chapter breakdown

How must Israel prepare for the Lord’s coming at Sinai, and what limits are placed on approaching the mountain? The people must be sanctified, wash their garments and be ready for the third day; Moses also tells them not to come near their wives. The Lord commands boundaries and death penalties for touching the mountain, gives a trumpet instruction about going up, and later repeats the limits while calling Moses and Aaron to come up.

In the third month after leaving Egypt, on the day stated in the account, Israel comes to the wilderness of Sinai. They leave Raphidim, camp in the desert of Sinai and pitch their tents opposite the mountain. Moses goes up to God, and the Lord calls to him from the mountain with words for the house of Jacob and the children of Israel. Challoner’s note explains that Moses went up Mount Sinai, where God spoke to him.

The Lord says they have seen what he did to the Egyptians, how he carried them on eagles’ wings and took them to himself. If they hear his voice and keep his covenant, they will be his special possession above all peoples, for all the earth is his. They will be a priestly kingdom and a holy nation to him. These are the words Moses is to speak to Israel.

Moses calls together the elders and declares all the Lord’s words. All the people answer together that they will do all the Lord has spoken. Moses relates their words to the Lord. The Lord says he will come to Moses in the darkness of a cloud, so the people may hear him speaking to Moses and believe Moses forever. Moses tells the Lord the people’s words.

The Lord tells Moses to go and sanctify the people that day and the next, and have them wash their garments. They must be ready for the third day, when the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in all the people’s sight.

Moses must set limits around the mountain and warn the people not to go up or touch its borders. Whoever touches the mountain will die. No hands may touch him; he must be stoned to death or shot through with arrows. Whether beast or person, he must not live. The instruction then says: “When the trumpet shall begin to sound, then let them go up into the mount.”

Moses comes down and sanctifies the people. After they wash their garments, he tells them to be ready for the third day and not to come near their wives.

On the third day’s morning there is thunder, flashing lightning, a very thick cloud covering the mountain and an exceedingly loud trumpet. The people in the camp fear. Moses brings them out to meet God, and they stand at the mountain’s bottom. All Sinai is in smoke because the Lord has come down in fire. The smoke rises as from a furnace, and the whole mountain is terrible. The trumpet’s sound grows louder by degrees and is drawn out longer. Moses speaks, and God answers him.

The Lord comes down to Sinai’s very top and calls Moses there. When Moses goes up, he is told to go down and warn the people, lest they wish to pass the limits to see the Lord and a very great multitude perish. The priests who come to the Lord must also be sanctified, lest he strike them.

Moses says the people cannot come up because the Lord had commanded him to set limits around the mountain and sanctify it. The Lord tells him to go down and come up with Aaron. The priests and people must not pass the limits or come up to the Lord, lest he kill them. Moses goes down to the people and tells them all.

The story inside

At Sinai, the Lord gives Moses a message recalling what Israel has seen and making the promised status conditional on hearing his voice and keeping his covenant. The people answer together that they will do all he has spoken. The Lord states why he will speak to Moses in the cloud: the people may hear and believe Moses forever. Preparation involves sanctification, washed garments, readiness and the instruction about wives. The boundary commands include both the death penalty and the trumpet instruction about going up. On the third morning, the people fear at the thunder, lightning, cloud and trumpet, and stand at the mountain’s bottom. The Lord calls Moses to the top and again sends him to warn the people and priests. When Moses mentions the already-set boundaries, God commands him to go down and later come with Aaron, keeping the people and priests within the limits. Moses tells them all. The account retains these successive instructions without supplying a new explanation to reconcile them. (Exodus 19:1–25.)

Lessons worth keeping

1
The promised status has a condition. Israel must hear the Lord’s voice and keep his covenant to be his special possession, a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. The message also says all the earth is his. (19:4–6.)
2
The cloud has a stated purpose. The people are to hear the Lord speaking to Moses and believe Moses forever. Their answer to the earlier message is given together and then reported to God. (19:7–9.)
3
All the approach instructions must remain visible. The chapter gives the touching penalty, the trumpet instruction about going up, and later warnings against crossing the limits. Moses is told to go down and come up with Aaron; the priests and people remain barred by the closing command. (19:12–13, 20–25.)

Test your recall

Why does God say he will come to Moses in a cloud? So the people may hear him speaking and believe Moses forever. Why does smoke rise from Sinai? The Lord has come down upon it in fire. Why is Moses sent down to warn the people again? They might pass the limits to see the Lord and a very great multitude perish. Whom must he bring when he comes up?

Show answer

Aaron; the people and priests must not pass the limits. (19:9, 18, 21–24.)

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 7966–7970
Exodus Chapter 19 They come to Sinai: the people are commanded to be sanctified. The Lord, coming in thunder and lightning, speaketh with Moses.
Lines 7971–7984
19:1. In the third month of the departure of Israel out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai: 19:2. For departing out of Raphidim, and coming to the desert of Sinai, they camped in the same place, and there Israel pitched their tents over against the mountain. 19:3. And Moses went up to God; and the Lord called unto him from the mountain, and said: Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: And Moses went up to God.... Moses went up to mount Sinai, where God spoke to him.
Lines 7985–7994
19:4. You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, how I have carried you upon the wings of eagles, and have taken you to myself. 19:5. If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is mine. 19:6. And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation. These are the words thou shalt speak to the children of Israel.
Lines 7995–8006
19:7. Moses came; and calling together the elders of the people, he declared all the words which the Lord had commanded. 19:8. And all the people answered together: All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do. And when Moses had related the people’s words to the Lord, 19:9. The Lord said to him: Lo, now will I come to thee in the darkness of a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to thee, and may believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.
Lines 8007–8013
19:10. And he said to him: Go to the people, and sanctify them to day, and to morrow, and let them wash their garments. 19:11. And let them be ready against the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people, upon Mount Sinai.
Lines 8014–8023
19:12. And thou shalt appoint certain limits to the people round about, and thou shalt say to them: Take heed ye go not up into the mount, and that ye touch not the borders thereof: every one that toucheth the mount, dying he shall die. 19:13. No hands shall touch him, but he shall be stoned to death, or he shall be shot through with arrows: whether it be beast, or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet shall begin to sound, then let them go up into the mount.
Lines 8024–8029
19:14. And Moses came down from the mount to the people, and sanctified them. And when they had washed their garments, 19:15. He said to them: Be ready against the third day, and come not near your wives.
Lines 8030–8045
19:16. And now the third day was come, and the morning appeared: and behold thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash, and a very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the noise of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud; and the people that was in the camp, feared. 19:17. And when Moses had brought them forth to meet God, from the place of the camp, they stood at the bottom of the mount. 19:18. And all Mount Sinai was on a smoke: because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace: and all the mount was terrible. 19:19. And the sound of the trumpet grew by degrees louder and louder, and was drawn out to a greater length: Moses spoke, and God answered him.
Lines 8046–8056
19:20. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, in the very top of the mount, and he called Moses unto the top thereof. And when he was gone up thither, 19:21. He said unto him: Go down, and charge the people; lest they should have a mind to pass the limits to see the Lord, and a very great multitude of them should perish. 19:22. The priests also that come to the Lord, let them be sanctified, lest he strike them.
Lines 8057–8067
19:23. And Moses said to the Lord: The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai: for thou didst charge, and command, saying: Set limits about the mount, and sanctify it. 19:24. And the Lord said to him: Go, get thee down; and thou shalt come up, thou and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people pass the limits, nor come up to the Lord, lest he kill them. 19:25. And Moses went down to the people and told them all.