Mount Sinai
When the Lord gave His people Manna, He was easing them into a way of depending not just on the literal provision He gave but also on His Word. He wanted them to see that what He said about how to steward the Manna was good, trustworthy, and life-giving. It may seem reasonable to us, but what happened to man’s perception of God in the garden was so profoundly wrong that we have to constantly have our minds changed – that is repentance – about His goodness. So the Lord wanted Israel to see that what He said was good before inviting them to hear Him through the covenant He would establish at Mount Sinai.
When His people arrived there, all of Israel was gathered, and were told:
You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now, if you hear My voice and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be for Me… a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Exodus 19:4-6
It’s so beautiful that the Lord first reminds them of what they had personally seen of His goodness, and that He had already brought them to Himself. They were already in a position of nearness, already in relationship with God because of what He had done in bringing them there. Then He invites them to hear Him. Most translations of this verse have the word “obey” instead of “hear,” but the Hebrew word used here is “tismeu” which is a form of the word “shema.” The Lord wanted His people – those who had seen His deliverance and His efforts to carry them, bear them up, bring them to Himself – to hear His voice. He didn’t want them to listen to a list of rules but to hear Him, His speaking, and also to “keep” His covenant. The word for keep is “shamar” which has to do with vision: observing, keeping in their sight, watching over (like a body guard). This is so profound: God was not saying “if you obey my commands and do everything I say” but “if you hear My voice and watch My covenant…” then the entire nation would be kings and priests.
So the focus was not on Israel doing what He said, but on hearing and seeing what He would do with the covenant He made. This is beautiful in and of itself. What’s even more awesome, though, is that their hearing His voice and watching His covenant was not a condition for being in relationship with Him as their God; they were already His, already the ones He redeemed and brought to Himself. This was a special invitation for them to know Him by having intimate access to His ways of forgiveness, mercy, and blessing. All were invited to be part of the priesthood, all were included in God’s desire for them to be up close and personal with the ministry of atonement that He Himself would ultimately make.
Unfortunately, as you saw in the verses quoted above, God’s people were still so steeped in deception that they opted not to hear His voice. The serpent’s speaking had caused man to see the fruit of death as something good, and the God of life as someone to be avoided. So, although they remarked on the fact that that they could live even if God spoke to them, they were too afraid to continue hearing Him who spoke from glory fire. They urged Moses to talk to God instead and so forfeited their access to the speaking of God on the mountain. That speaking took forty days because His Word surrounding the law was more important than the physical provision of the tablets. Just as God wanted us not to live on bread alone but on the Word proceeding from His mouth, He did not want us to take the law and presume to live on it in our own way. He had a very good, trustworthy, and life-giving Word for how to steward it that His own people declined to hear. So, as He had with Manna, the Lord spelled out for them, in them, and through them what He told Moses so that they could still see what He said. He is so patient, so willing, so constant, so good.
