Theme

Narrator: Chris Genthree
 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 12
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Over and over again, in His revelations to man, God has been pleased to give illustration to His words by the natural features of the locality where the words have been uttered. In speaking to men, God uses the natural to give emphasis to the spiritual. We are of the natural, nature surrounds us, and that very environment God uses to teach of the verities which lie outside and beyond the realm of nature.
Sinai was a mountain isolated, in a way, from others. The Scripture narrative informs us that bounds were set about it (Ex. 19:2323And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. (Exodus 19:23)), that it was in view from a plain in which “all” (Ex. 19:1111And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. (Exodus 19:11)) the people could stand, and move either “near” it or “afar off” from it (Ex. 20:2121And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:21)). It was sufficiently broad on the summit to enable one person to be in seclusion when 70 others were also there (Ex. 24:1-111And 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. 3And 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. 4And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. 6And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. 9Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. (Exodus 24:1‑11)). The base of the mountain could accommodate the two or three millions of Israel who stood and faced the fiery mount, enabling them to see all, without one rank obstructing the view of the rank behind it. Can anyone question the design of God in the selection of this plain? Surely the natural character of Mount Sinai was indeed in keeping with the solemn law that was proclaimed there!
H. F. Witherby (adapted)