The Bible CourseSample

Mountain and covenant – God meets his people

Reflect:

As the epic tale The Lord of the Rings concludes, an exhausted and weary Frodo and Sam lie in the wreckage of Mordor, resigned to dying there, with home a hopeless dream. Enter the eagles who swoop down and pluck them from danger and carry them safely home.

What reminder does God give the people of Israel in verses 3–6, and why?

Moses had been here before. At Mount Sinai (Horeb), God had met him in a bush, but now he meets with him from a mountain ablaze with his presence. This time God calls not one person, but a nation. But before calling the people of Israel, he reminded them of the past. They had been exhausted and weary, enslaved and oppressed, but God swept in like an eagle and bore them up on his wings. Like vulnerable chicks, the Israelites were surrounded, but God, the mother eagle, plucked them out of their enemies' hands and carried them to safety.

How do you view God? In this passage, God is compared to a passionate mother eagle who won’t lose sight of its own. God loves us with a tender, personal, but fierce, love.

God reminds before he calls. The order is important. Israel is to be God’s ‘treasured possession … a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’. God reminded Israel of all he’d done so that they’d know their purpose came from a place of security. Israel’s purpose wasn’t to earn the love of God, but because of the love of God.

With privilege comes responsibility. As the hand-picked conduits of God’s love to the world, the Israelites were called to show off how good and holy God is. They weren’t called to create a subculture, but to display what it means to be truly human.

In verses 12–25, the people prepare, and God comes down. What do we learn here about God?

God is eager to be with his people, and yet Moses is told to set limits for the people to prevent them from touching or climbing the mountain. Because God is so holy and so perfect, none of them would have been able to enter his presence and live. There’s a tension between his eagerness to be near and his holiness that sets him apart. God had to come down onto the mountain.

Respond

AW Tozer once said: ‘What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.’ How do you see God? Does this passage challenge the way you see him?