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Exodus chs. 19 By: Edward Short© 1.Exodus ch. 19 is a very important section of the book of Exodus; it records God’s invitation to Israel to enter into covenant with him. 2.Ex. 19:1-2: How long have the Israelites been gone from Egypt? Where are they at this time? 3.Ex. 19:3-6: God offers the covenant to Israel. 4.Ex. 19:3: Where did Moses go to meet with God? Note: What God told Moses (v. 3) is very much like the “Hebrew parallelism” of Ex. 15: The first half of the statement and the second half mean the same thing: A: “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob;” B: “what you are to tell the people of Israel.” “Say” and “tell” are equivalent; “house of Jacob” and “people of Israel” are equivalent. 5.Ex. 19:4: The Foundation of the Covenant: In one brief sentence, God describes what he did for the Israelites: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on e_____ w____ and brought you to m_____”. What is the most important word in this sentence? (Mentioned three times in one form or another.) The Israelites must not forget that it was G___ who brought them to his chest. What great deeds did God do for Israel? (1) S_____ them from cruel bondage in Egypt; (2) Sep______ them from among all the nations to become his own people. (Please memorize v. 4.) Explain how verse 4 applies to Christians today. 6.Ex. 19:5-6: Conditions and Promises of the Covenant: Since God stepped forward and invited the Israelites to enter into “covenant” with him, and because God did great deeds for the Israelites, therefore God is qualified to set down the cond______ of the covenant. This great God also has the authority to reward the Israelites (to make them pr_______). The first condition is: “Now if you o___ me fully and k____ my covenant.” The first promise is: “then out of all nations you will be my treasured p_______.” There is yet another statement which may be seen as a condition, a promise, a standard, a purpose and a result of the covenant: “you w___ __ for me a kingdom of p_____ and a h____ nation.” Read 1 Peter 2:5, 9 and then apply Ex. 19:5 to Christians today. 7.Ex. 19:7-8: The Israelites Accept the Covenant: Who represented the community? “The people all responded together, "We will d___ everything the LORD has s____.” Then, “Moses brought their answer back to the LORD.” With this statement, the Israelites accepted God’s invitation and they accepted the covenant; they accepted all the conditions, rules, regulations and commandments of the covenant. The Israelites made a covenant with God; they signed their names and chopped it with their stamp. 8.Ex. 19:9: God affirmed Moses as leader, as his spokesman and as the mediator: God told 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.” In the original Hebrew, the “you” in “put their trust in you” is emphatic [Woods, s.v. Ex. 19:9]. Why would God exalt Moses in the eyes of the Israelites? If the community did not respect Moses, would they respect the words that Moses was about to speak as God’s representative? 9.Ex. 19:10-15: Describe what regulations the Hebrews were to observe in order to “cleanse or purify themselves” [Chinese Union version] (v 10). (The New Chinese version: “set apart”; the Easy-to-Read Chinese version: “cleanse or purify themselves.”) Why were they told “Do not go near a woman”? This was not because sexual intercourse was a sin and not because sexual activity was unholy and impure within itself. In the Bible, sex is God’s creation, so sexual union within marriage is holy and good. However sexual intercourse would render an Israelite ceremonially “unclean.” 10.Ex. 19:16-23: Describe everything that happened. See also Deuteronomy 4:11-112; Hebrews 12:18-21. This is not an ordinary earthquake; rather is an epiphany ( a manifestation of God). Why did everyone in the camp tremble (v. 16)? What did Moses himself do (Hebrews 12:18-21)? This phenomenon was [what happens when] a holy God comes close to impure people, when a sinless God contacts sinful humanity. 11.Ex. 19:21-24: Why did God say, “and many of them perish” and “the LORD will break out against them”? Perhaps God is not referring to the punishment of vs. 12-13 (man punishing man). Rather God is saying that if a sinful human gets too close to the holy God, he will die, or that God would punish him (God punishing man). See 1 Samuel 6:19 and 2 Samuel 6:6-7. From this we know that God is pure and holy. In today’s society, may citizens freely get close to the president? If we get too close to the president or touch him, what will security personnel quickly do? (In God’s sight, a president after all is only a sinner like the rest of us.) If we cannot even freely approach the president, then what about approaching God? (2004.10.24)(2005.5 Rev.) License Agreement for Bible Texts These Scriptures: • May not be altered or modified in any form. 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