PERHAPS those who do the monthly study may prefer to retain for their own use the papers and notes which they have written. If so, we should be glad to have a card from those who do the study, just to keep in touch with one another, and so that we may know whether the study as carried on at present does really meet any need amongst the children of God, either young or old; also, any questions can be sent in. Of course those who like to send in their papers are quite free to do so, and any who would like to have their papers returned with remarks or questions answered can have them returned if they will kindly mention it when writing.
Exodus 19-34—Most of our correspondents have gathered the main lessons of Sinai, but a good many have not noticed the whole of the events that took place during the eleven months of the stay at Sinai. The following is a brief outline, without commentary, of what actually took place: God’s ways with His people, and their ways with Him, as they came out at Sinai. References are added to other passages in the Scriptures which throw light on the different points:
1. Moses goes up the First Time.— God begins His proving of the people (Ex. 20:2020And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. (Exodus 20:20)) by declaring what He had done for them, and promising that they should be His people on the condition of obedience. They accept, instead of falling back, as Moses does in Exodus 33 (“consider that this nation is Thy people”), upon God’s grace (cf. Jer. 7:22,2322For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: 23But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. (Jeremiah 7:22‑23)).
2. Moses goes up the Second Time, and receives the message that the people and mountain are to be hallowed against Jehovah’s coming down on the third day.
3. Jehovah descends in fire. Moses brings the people out of the camp to meet with God. Moses goes up the Third Time to be told that the people are not to come near. God speaks the ten words (Deut. 5:2222These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. (Deuteronomy 5:22)). The people are afraid to draw near (Deut. 5:55(I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying, (Deuteronomy 5:5)), and desire not to hear the voice any more (Ex. 20:1919And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. (Exodus 20:19); Deut. 5:2525Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die. (Deuteronomy 5:25); Heb. 12:1919And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (Hebrews 12:19)).
4. Moses goes up the Fourth Time (Ex. 20:2121And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:21); Deut. 5:3131But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. (Deuteronomy 5:31)), and receives the judgments and ordinances.— Exodus 24:1,21And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. 2And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him. (Exodus 24:1‑2) shows the standing of the people on this ground; they are to worship afar off. But they undertake a second time to do all Jehovah’s words (Ex. 24:33And 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 hath said will we do. (Exodus 24:3)). Then Moses writes the words of Jehovah in the book of covenant, the twelve pillars bear witness to the standing formally taken up by the people as a whole, and the blood bears witness to the solemn character of their act—it is sprinkled on the altar, the people, and (letting in the light of better things) on the book (Heb. 9:19,2019For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. (Hebrews 9:19‑20)). A third time they say, “All that Jehovah has said will we do and obey” (contrast Jer. 32:2323And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them: (Jeremiah 32:23)), and then their representatives go up according to Exodus 24:1, 21And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. 2And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him. (Exodus 24:1‑2) and see God’s feet. Moses saw God’s ways, His “back-parts” (Ex. 33:2323And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. (Exodus 33:23)), but we see Him in Christ, face to face, without a veil (2 Cor. 3:1818But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18)). The sapphire may suggest righteousness displayed in government, declared by the heavens (Psa. 50:66And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah. (Psalm 50:6)). Cf. Isaiah 54:1111O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. (Isaiah 54:11), also the description of the vision in Ezekiel 1 and 10.
But there was no change of nature in them: Moses, when with God, neither ate nor drank, but they remain earthly, they eat and drink, just as they do before their calf.
5. Moses goes up the Fifth Time to receive the pattern of heavenly things, and remains forty days and nights. God intends to dwell among His people in a sanctuary built of their free gifts (cf. Psa. 68:1818Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalm 68:18)). Then he receives the two tables, God’s work and God’s writing, and is sent down because his people have transgressed. He breaks the tables, and the people eat of the fruit of their own doings (Ex. 32:2020And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. (Exodus 32:20); Prov. 1:3131Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. (Proverbs 1:31); Jer. 32:1919Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings: (Jeremiah 32:19)).
6. Moses goes up the Sixth Time to intercede (forty days and nights). Their position is lost, their life is forfeited, they stand in the position of Reuben in Deuteronomy 33:66Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few. (Deuteronomy 33:6), condemned to die, but reprieved on intercession (Deut. 9:19, 10:10).
Moses desires to do more, to make atonement, but this could not be. God declares that while accepting mediation for the people as a whole (Psa. 106:2323Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them. (Psalm 106:23)), He will exercise judgment according to the sin of individuals.
The tent is pitched outside the camp, and there the fullest intimacy of Jehovah with Moses is seen. Every one that sought Jehovah went out of the camp.
7. Moses goes up the Seventh Time (forty days and nights).— God declares His name Himself, and His character in grace and government, which was henceforth to be the resource of faith, and the basis of all God’s ways with His people. This will be traced out in more detail next month (D.V.).
The law is put into the ark prepared by Moses, (Deut. 10:1-51At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. 2And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. 3And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. 4And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. 5And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me. (Deuteronomy 10:1‑5)). Henceforth law and grace can be traced in the history of Israel, mingled in a wonderful way.
8. The Tabernacle is then built and hallowed, and God dwells in it.
9. The Whole of the Book of Leviticus concerning the order of approach to God is then given.
10. Then comes the Numbering of the People, setting them in individual responsibility before God, and the order of the camp as the place where God has His dwelling. This completes the remarkable unfolding of God’s ways at Sinai, showing His resources, not against external difficulties as in the first stage, but in face of the complete breakdown of man as an object of blessing. How beautiful in it all to see that where all is failure on man’s side, the Spirit of God, though of need recording the failure for our admonition, dwells with far greater fullness on the thoughts of God in Christ, in all the precious types of the tabernacle and offerings. May the Lord lead us into the instruction furnished by these things.
For December students are asked to trace out the contrasts brought out in Scripture between Sinai and Zion. As we have not space for questions this time, we will endeavor to answer those which have been sent in by next issue. Some, however, are not suitable for answering in this way, but will be answered by letter as soon as possible.
B. S. ED.