THE MAKING OF THE SINAI COVENANT

(EXODUS 19, 24:1 – 8)

EXODUS 19

Exodus 19 New International Version (NIV)
At Mount Sinai
19 On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.

9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. 13 They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

14 After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. 15 Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”

16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain[b] trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.[c]

20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”

23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”

24 The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.”

25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.

EXODUS 24:1-8

Exodus 24:1-8
King James Version (KJV)
24 And 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.

2 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

3 And 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.

4 And 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.

5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord.

6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7 And 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.

8 And 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.

HISTORY NOTES

KCSE History Notes Form 1 to 4

(a) Preparation

God made a covenant with the Israelites at Mount Sinai in the wilderness.  He brought them here so that he could enter into a personal relationship with the whole community of Abraham’s descendants.
God called Moses to the mountain to ask him if the Israelites were willing to obey. If they would obey Him, God made the following promises to them;

1. He would make them His people.
2. He would make them a kingdom of priests.
3. He would make them a holy nation.

​In readiness for the making of the Sinai Covenant, Abraham made the following preparations:

1. They had to purify themselves i.e. washed the clothes and themselves.
2. Moses marked a boundary at the foot of the mountain/ a holy boundary to prevent any person or animal going up the mountain.
3. To be ready on the third day for the Lord come down on the mountain.
4. Men were advised not to touch a woman/ no sexual relationship.
5. They were to report to the mountain on hearing the sound of the trumpet.
6. On the 3rd day Moses took the Israelites to meet their God.
7. God manifested his presence in the form of:
8. Thunder.
9. Lightning. 
10. Earthquake.
11. Thick cloud that covered the whole mountain.
12. Fire.
13. Smoke.             
14. A loud trumpet blast that made the people tremble.
15. Moses went up the mountain and was given the Ten Commandments
16.  Moses came back from the Mt. and told the people about the laws and ordinances which were to guide them as a covenant people.  All the people answered in one voice and said “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do,” (Exodus 24:3 – 4)

Questions to expect in examinations on topic

Give six lessons that Christians can learn about God from the renewal of the Sinai covenant. 

1. ​God is slow to anger
2. God is compassionate
3. God is loving
4. God is forgiving
5. God is jealous
6. God is just i.e. punishes evil doers
7. God is faithful/keeps His promises.   
8. God is merciful                                                       
9. God is gracious   ​

1. Describe the sealing of the Sinai Covenant in Exodus 24: 1 – 8 

1. ​​​The Lord told Moses to go up to the mountain together with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu;
2. The seventy elders of Israel were to worship a far off.
3. Moses alone was to go near the Lord/the people were not to go up with him.
4. Moses told the people the Ten Commandments and they all agreed to obey.
5. Moses wrote down God’s laws and commands.
6. The next morning/day Moses built an altar at the foot of the mountain and put twelve pillars according to twelve tribes of Israel.
7. Young men sacrificed the oxen to offer peace offerings and burnt offerings.
8. Moses collected the blood into two basins.
9. He poured half of the blood into the altar
10. He then read the Ten Commandments/the book of the covenant to the people.
11. The people agreed to obey.
12. Moses threw the remaining blood/sprinked upon the people.
13. Saying “Behold the blood of the covenant which the lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Explain the Israelites new understanding of God as taught to them by Moses

1. ​He is the God of their fore fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
2. God is more powerful than the other gods e.g He led them across the Red Sea.
3. He fulfils his promises as evidenced by their release from Egypt
4. God is holy as seen from the restriction from contact with the mountain.
5. God uses His chosen people to carry out His mission e.g Israel.
6. God is the provider as seen in His provision of manna and quails.
7. He is a moral God as He gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites to guide their behavior.
8. God is a personal God who initiates a covenant relationship with individual’s e.g the Sinai Covenant.
9. He is the only God/Yahweh is the true God.
10. God is just as He punished idol worshippers.
11.  God is transandent and beyond human understanding as seen in the revelation of Mt. Sinai.
12. God demands total obedience from His instruction during the making and the renewal of covenant.
13. God is awesome as shown in peoples fear of him as seen on Mt. Sinai.
14. God is omnipresent. He moved with them and was present in the pillar of cloud and fire.
15. God is a jealous God as expressed in the Ten Commandments.
16. He is a God of freedom/delivered them from bondage.
17. Punishes sinners/forgives/God is just/punishes the oppressors and comes to the rescue of the oppressed.

Describe the call of Moses in Exodus 3:1-22   ​

1. ​Moses was in the wilderness of Sinai looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro.
2. He saw a burning bush which was not being consumed.
3. Moses became curious and moved closer to see what was happening.
4. God called him by his name and told him not to move more closer.
5. God told him to remove his shoes for he was standing on a holy ground.
6. God revealed Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
7. Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
8. God told Moses that he had heard the cry of the children of Israel in Egypt and He was sending him to go and deliver them.
9. Moses was initially reluctant to go but God assured him of His protection.
10. God revealed His name to Moses as “I am whom I am”(Yahweh) after Moses inquired to know God’s name.
11. God foretold the hardness of Pharaoh to release the Hebrews from Egypt unless forced by a mighty hand.
12. God promised to give favour to the Hebrews who would obtain from the Egyptians.

How God prepared the Israelites for the making of the covenant at Mt. Sinai

1. God told Moses to remind the people of Israel of how he had brought them out of Egypt.
2. God told Moses that He wanted to make a special relationship with Israel / make them a kingdom of priests / A holy nation.
3. Moses called all the elders / people and told them what God had said.
4. God told Moses that he wanted the Israelites to obey Him.
5. The Israelites promised to do all that the Lord had said.
6. God promised to come down and meet with the people on the third day.
7. The people were instructed to consecrate themselves / wash their garments / clean.
8. Moses set bounds for the people not to go up the mountain / touch the border of it / boundaries.
9. The people were to abstain from sexual relationships.
10. On the third day, there was a thick cloud upon the mountain / loud trumpet blast/an earth quake.
11. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God! they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.
12. The Lord came down to the top of the mountain / called Moses to go up Him.

Describe how the Israelites broke the Sinai covenant Exodus 32:1-34. 

1. Moses went up to them mountain to get more instructions from God.
2. He stayed there for along time/delayed there people became impatient.
3. People complained to Aaron/asked him to make for them a god to worship.
4. Aaron took their earnings, melted them and made a golden calf.
5. Aaron told the people that the calf was their god who brought them out of Egypt.
6. Aaron built an altar in front of the bull calf/pronounced a festival in honour of the calf.
7. The next morning people brought some animals to burn as a sacrifice and others to eat as a fellowship offerings.
8. People sat down to eat and feast which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex.
9. God told Moses to go down the mountain because people had rejected him.
10. God in anger wanted to punish them/Moses interceded for them.
11. Moses reached down the mountain he threw down the stone tablets which contained the ten commandments and broke them.
12. Moses took the golden calf melted it/mixed the power with water and made the people to drink.
13. Moses separated those who had worshipped the golden calf and those who had not.
14. He told those who had not worshipped the calf to take swords and kill all those who had worshipped.
15. He told the Levites to consecrate themselves as priests in the service of the Lord.

Give four differences between the new covenants foretold by Jeremiah and the Sinaitic covenant  ​

1. The law would be written in the hearts of men /women unlike the Sinai covenant in which laws were written on stone tablets
2. Every individual would know God personally unlike the Sinai covenant in which people relied on priests prophets and other religious leaders
3. New covenants would have forgiveness of sins unlike the Sinaitic one
4. New covenant would be universal while Sinaitic was for Jews only
5. In the Sinai covenant there was communal responsibility of sin but the new covenant would have individual responsibility
6. Sinaitic covenant was sealed with the blood of animals while the new covenant would be sealed by the blood of Jesus
7. The new covenant would not fail like the Sinai covenant which had repeatedly failed    

Related Links

• The Renewal of the Sinai Covenant 
• Steps in the Formation/ Sealing of The Covenant 
• The Making of the Sinai Covenant 
• The Breaking of the Sinai Covenant

What are the Lessons we learn from the Breaking of the Sinai Covenant?

1. God is the only one to be worshiped
2. Christian should have faith in God
3. God should not be represented by images
4. Christian should not be swayed by others
5. They should read the Bible
6. God hates sin
7. They should resist temptations to worship modern idols
8. God is all knowing

​​​​​What were the conditions given to the Israelites renewal of the Sinai covenant?

1. ​To obey what God commands them.
2. Not to make any treaty with those who live in the land where they were going.
3. To break down the altars, sacred stones and false gods of the inhabitants of Canaan.
4. Not to worship any other gods.
5. Not to make cast idols.
6. To keep the feast of unleavened bread.
7. To rest on Seventh day.
8. To dedicate all their firstborn male children and first-born males of their domestic animals to God.
9. To offer to God the first fruits of their crops.
10. They were not to marry with foreigners.

​Describe the making of the Sinai covenant (Exodus 24:3-18)

1. He came from the mountain and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances.
2. All people said that all that the Lord has said they could do.
3. He built an altar at the foot of the mountain on which he placed twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
4. He then sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings.
5. They gave sacrifices of oxen to the Lord.
6. Moses took half of the blood and poured it on the alter, the place of meeting with God.
7. He then took the book of the covenant in which the divine laws had been written down by him.
8. He read it in the hearing of all people and the people said all that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient.
9. Moses took the remaining blood and sprinkled it over the people.
10. Sprinkling of the blood implied that the covenant was binding to the Israelites to God.
11. God concluded the covenant ceremony by giving Moses the two stone tablets on which the laws were written                 

​NEXT: STEPS IN THE FORMATION/SEALING OF THE COVENANT

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