On the first day of the third month, after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and entered the wilderness of Sinai, where they set up camp in the wilderness. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

Moses climbed up to God, and Yahweh called out to him from the mountain, “This is what you must say to the household of Jacob. Tell the Israelites, ‘You witnessed what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings to bring you to myself.’”

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The Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai on the first day of the third month, a month and a half after they left Egypt. Though their final destination was Canaan, Sinai served as an important waypoint. There they would hold the promised festival to celebrate transferring their service from the pharaoh to Yahweh.¹ For Moses, this constituted a return to the mountain where he’d first encountered God, fulfilling the appointed sign of his calling.²

Soon after arriving, Moses headed to the top of the mountain to speak with God. He received a two-part message for the Israelites explaining why they should serve Yahweh and accept his covenant. The first part of the message recounts what Yahweh had already done for them to prove they could trust him. They had watched him ruin Egypt to free them. Then he brought them “on eagles’ wings” through the wilderness to where he waited for them at Mount Sinai.

This verse, along with Deuteronomy 32:11, is often misunderstood to mean God carried Israel through the wilderness like an eagle carries its young on its wings. But real eagles don’t carry their young, and the verb nasaʾ, sometimes translated “to carry,” literally means “to lift up.” Like other birds, eagles are lifted up on their own wings, not the wings of other eagles. So the eagle in the metaphor is Israel.

By riding air currents, eagles can soar long distances almost effortlessly. The air currents lift the eagle up high in the sky without it having to flap its wings.³ Yahweh led Israel through the wilderness and provided them with food and water through little effort on their part. He gave his people wings and, like the air currents, lifted them high so they could soar effortlessly to him.

A Kingdom of Priests

“‘Now, if you truly obey me and keep my covenant, you’ll be my greatest treasure among the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth belongs to me, but you’ll be my kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you must speak to the Israelites.”

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The second part of Yahweh’s message moves from what he did for Israel in the past to what he would do for them in the future if they accepted and kept his covenant. Above all nations on earth, they would be his greatest treasure. He would honor them by making them a kingdom of priests. The primary role of a priest was to serve as a mediator between God and someone else.⁴ If all Israel served as priests, then by definition, they would serve as mediators for someone outside of Israel—the other nations.⁵

By keeping the covenant, Israel would become a holy nation with the unique right to stand before Yahweh and intercede for the rest of humanity. They would be Yahweh’s greatest treasure, not his only treasure to the exclusion of the other peoples. On the contrary, “the whole earth belongs to me.” If Yahweh didn’t treasure all nations, he would have no need for an entire kingdom of priests. Israel would have no one to mediate for. But Yahweh does treasure the nations, so he called Israel to stand in the gap as a holy and blessed nation drawing the other nations to him.⁶

Later, God established Aaron and his sons as priests to the rest of Israel. As God’s chosen mediators, only they could approach his presence in the tabernacle and live⁷ In the same way, the nations must approach God through his chosen kingdom of priests, Israel. This points to Jesus as the true mediator between God and humanity and the only way we can approach a holy God and live.⁸ Jesus alone perfectly fulfilled all the requirements of the covenant at Sinai (“the law”).⁹ This qualifies him to stand before Yahweh and intercede for the nations, fulfilling Israel’s purpose.¹⁰

Purification

So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people. He presented to them everything Yahweh commanded him. All the people answered in agreement, “We’ll do everything Yahweh said.”

When Moses returned to Yahweh with their response, Yahweh told him, “Look! I’m about to come to you in a thick cloud so the people can hear when I speak with you and trust you forever.”

Then Moses reported to Yahweh what the people said. Yahweh told Moses, “Go to the people and purify them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes and prepare for the third day because on the third day, Yahweh will come down onto Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

“So set boundaries surrounding the people and tell them, ‘Make sure you don’t go up near the mountain and touch its edge. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death. That person cannot be touched but must be stoned or shot with arrows. Neither human nor animal will live!’ When the ram’s horn sounds, they may go up near the mountain.”

Moses descended the mountain to the people to purify them, and they washed their clothes. He told the people to prepare for the third day and abstain from sexual relations.

Image by Willi Heidelbach from Pixabay

Moses returned to the camp and delivered Yahweh’s message to the elders. After discussion, the people all agreed to accept Yahweh’s offer of a covenant relationship. So preparations began for the formal ceremony. Moses climbed back up the mountain to report the response and receive instructions on how to proceed.

Before arriving at Mount Sinai, the Israelites had seen many of Yahweh’s mighty acts. But only Moses had experienced his presence and heard his voice. The time had come for the rest of the people to meet their God. Yahweh would descend onto Mount Sinai and allow them to hear him speaking to Moses. After such a validation, they would never again have an excuse for not trusting Moses. But first, the people had to purify themselves.

Once again, Moses returned to the camp. From that point on, the mountain became sacred ground in preparation for Yahweh’s arrival. Moses set up a barrier that the people were not even to approach. A guard had orders to shoot any person or animal who crossed the barrier. For the rest of that day and all the next day, the people purified themselves, washing their clothes and abstaining from sexual relations. Once purified, they would hear a ram’s horn on the third day. Only then could they approach the mountain, up to the barrier.

Yahweh’s Arrival

When the morning of the third day arrived, thunder rolled, lightning flashed, a thick cloud covered the mountain, and a loud call from a ram’s horn rang out. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out from the camp to meet God. They took their place at the foot of the mountain.

All Mount Sinai smoldered because Yahweh descended on it as the fire, and its smoke ascended like smoke from a kiln. The entire mountain quaked, and the sound of the ram’s horn grew steadily louder.

Moses spoke, and God answered him audibly. Yahweh descended to the top of Mount Sinai and summoned Moses up to the top. So Moses climbed up.

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On the third day, Yahweh arrived as promised. The Israelites awoke to find a thick storm cloud covering Mount Sinai. The fierce thunder and lightning terrified them. But a ram’s horn ringing out summoned them to their divine encounter. So Moses led the purified people from the camp to the foot of the mountain, where they took their place around the barrier.

That morning, the fire pillar representing Yahweh’s presence didn’t change to cloud as it usually did.¹¹ While the Israelites watched, it moved over the mountain and began to descend, causing the whole mountain to smolder and quake. As the pillar descended, the ram’s horn grew louder. Israel discovered approaching Yahweh to be no small matter! The alarming experience warned them about the seriousness of entering into a covenant relationship with such an awesome God. If they accepted his terms, they had better keep them.

The scene didn’t scare Moses. He knew they were safe as long as they obeyed Yahweh’s command to stay behind the barrier. When Yahweh reached the top of the mountain and entered the storm cloud, Moses spoke to him. Yahweh responded audibly so all Israel could hear him and called Moses to join him. At his Lord’s command, Moses crossed the barrier and boldly climbed through the smoke and cloud to the summit.

Final Warning

Then Yahweh told Moses, “Go back down to warn the people not to break through to see Yahweh. Otherwise, many of them will die. Even the priests who approach Yahweh must purify themselves so Yahweh doesn’t break out against them.”

“The people can’t climb Mount Sinai,” Moses replied, “because you warned us to set boundaries to mark it as holy.”

“Go down.” Yahweh told him. “You’ll come back up with Aaron, but make sure the priests and the people don’t climb up to Yahweh so he doesn’t break out against them.” So Moses went down and told the people.

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When Moses reached the top of Mount Sinai, Yahweh immediately sent him back down. Before Yahweh would speak to the people, Moses had to remind them not to try to approach him. In their purified state, the people could only hear his voice. If they tried to see him, many would die. Even the priests had to purify themselves when the time came for them to approach Yahweh.

Moses didn’t understand the need to repeat a command already given. He pointed out that they’d set up a barrier just as Yahweh commanded. The people already knew not to cross the barrier. But Yahweh insisted. He knew the stubborn nature of his people. Moses had to go back down and warn the people again. Later, he would return with Aaron, but the rest of the people had to stay away from the mountain. Only those with Yahweh’s express permission could pass the barrier.

The Ten Commandments

Then God spoke all these words:

“I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from a house of slavery.”

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When Moses had again warned the people against trying to approach Yahweh, the time came for Yahweh to speak. In the hearing of all the people standing at the foot of the mountain, he announced a list of ten stipulations summarizing the covenant at Sinai. The rest of the covenant would follow from these commandments. Yahweh based his right to initiate the covenant on his deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. He had freed them from serving the pharaoh so they could now serve him.¹²

The covenant at Sinai, also called the law of Moses, served a vital role in God’s quest to redeem his human children. Sin created a barrier between a holy God and unholy humanity. Yet as part of his plan to restore this relationship, he intended to live among the Israelites.¹³ So the covenant provided a system of rituals and sacrifices to cover the people’s sins and impurities. But that system could only temporarily cover sin. It could not remove it.¹⁴

The law was never intended as a means of salvation.¹⁵ Many commands cover issues that have nothing to do with sin, such as menstruation, burial, and illness. Instead, these deal with holiness and purification from contact with a broken world. Understanding the purpose of the covenant at Sinai helps to understand its role for those of us under the new covenant.

Jesus’s death and resurrection didn’t change the nature of sin. What was sin then is sin now, and we who belong to Jesus have died to sin.¹⁶ But through his perfect sacrifice, Jesus permanently removed the barrier between God and humanity by cleansing us of our sin and making us holy. No longer do we need to offer sacrifices and perform tedious purification rituals. Jesus fulfilled the law by fully accomplishing its purpose. With its purpose accomplished, the law itself is no longer needed. We are now free from trying to work our way to being pure enough to approach God.¹⁷

The First Commandment

“Don’t have any other gods in my presence.”

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The Ten Commandments can be divided into two groups. The first four deal with the Israelites’ relationship with Yahweh. This puts them among the commandments summarized by what Jesus identified as the greatest commandment. “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your life, and with all your mind.”¹⁸ Loyalty to Yahweh comes first and trumps all other commands.

The first of the Ten Commandments forbids any other gods in Yahweh’s presence.¹⁹ The surrounding nations all worshiped a pantheon of deities ruled by a high deity. The lesser deities all controlled their own domain within creation, including weather, harvests, fertility, and even life and death. So the people would pray to them and offer them sacrifices to ensure their protection. But Israel was not to create such a pantheon, not even one led by Yahweh. They worshiped Yahweh and Yahweh alone.

The Second Commandment

“Don’t make yourself an image in the form of anything in the sky above, on the earth below, or in the water beneath. Don’t bow down to them or serve them because I am Yahweh, your God, a jealous God. I punish the children of those who hate me for three or four generations, but to those who love me and obey my commands, I am faithful for thousands of generations.”

Image by David & Goliath from Free Bible Images, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The second commandment forbids the worship of images carved from wood or stone, which the other nations used to represent their gods. The first commandment already forbade the worship of other national deities (ʾelohim). This commandment also prohibits family idols (teraphim) and making images to represent Yahweh himself.²⁰ Yahweh did allow, and even commanded, decorative images.²¹ But worshiping an image, including one meant to represent Yahweh, would provoke him to jealousy because wood and stone could never be worthy of his glory.

Yahweh’s jealousy reflects the covenant relationship. The covenant gave Yahweh exclusive rights to the worship of his people in the same way a marriage covenant gives a man exclusive rights to his wife. He viewed those who replaced him with worthless idols as a man would view a cheating wife, even disavowing the children as illegitimate. This punishment would last for as long as the idolater led his household, which usually consisted of three or four generations living together.²² Because the family worshiped together, the guilt of idolatry would fall on all of them.

In contrast, those who loved Yahweh would show it by obeying the covenant stipulations. As they remained faithful to Yahweh, he would remain faithful to them and thousands of generations of their descendants. The reward for faithfulness far exceeds the punishment for unfaithfulness because the children of the faithful are Yahweh’s legitimate children.

The Third Commandment

“Don’t utter the name of Yahweh, your God, irreverently. Yahweh won’t leave anyone unpunished who utters his name irreverently.”

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The third commandment deals with the proper use of God’s holy name. It forbids speaking his name irreverently (in an empty, worthless, or vain manner). Of the ten commandments, this one is the least well understood. Two questions affect the meaning.

The first question asks what is meant by God’s name. His true name is Yahweh, but he also goes by many titles used throughout Scripture, including the title “God.” Are these covered by the third commandment? No. Unfortunately, most translations substitute the title “the Lord” for the name Yahweh, obscuring the meaning of this verse. But the commandment doesn’t forbid misusing “the name of the Lord.” It forbids misusing “the name of Yahweh.” Titles like “god” and “lord” may sometimes refer to others, false gods or people. But Yahweh always refers to Israel’s God.

The second question asks what constitutes an irreverent use of Yahweh’s name. Some suggest the third commandment forbids a specific misuse, such as vulgarity, false oaths, or magical incantations.²³ But it likely includes all of these and more The wide range of possibilities led the Jewish people after the exile to stop saying the name Yahweh completely, which is why it doesn’t appear in the New Testament. Yet clearly the third commandment does not forbid saying Yahweh. Yahweh’s name is to be praised and honored and proclaimed throughout the earth. He himself will punish anyone who dishonors it.

The Fourth Commandment

“Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. For six days, you may work and do all your tasks. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh, your God. Don’t do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your slave, nor your animals, nor the foreigner within your gates. In six days, Yahweh made the earth, the sky, the sea, and everything in them. Then he rested on the seventh day. So Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Image by Dean McQuade from Unsplash

The seventh commandment covers the last instruction concerning the proper worship of Yahweh—keeping the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week. In Hebrew, “the seventh day” is equivalent to sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. During this time, Yahweh rested after finishing his act of creation during the first week. To commemorate this, Yahweh commanded the Israelites to do no work on the Sabbath, a law that included foreigners, slaves, and even animals. God gifted everyone in Israel with this special day each week so they could simply rest.

The meaning of the fourth commandment is clear, but how does it apply to Christians under the new covenant? The key to answering that question lies in understanding the purpose of the Ten Commandments and why keeping the Sabbath is one of them. The Ten Commandments cannot be separated from God’s covenant with Israel at Sinai because they summarize its stipulations. The importance of the Sabbath lies in its status as the sign of God’s covenant with Israel.²⁴ This limits the commandment to Israelites living under that covenant.²⁵

The church later began meeting together on the first day of the week (Sunday) to commemorate Jesus’s resurrection on that day.²⁶ But Jewish believers continued keeping the Sabbath on Saturday while also meeting with non-Jewish believers on Sunday. Sunday is not the seventh day and does not replace the Sabbath. Nor was the Sabbath ever a day of worship. It’s a day of rest. The idea of setting aside special days to worship God is wholly unbiblical. Believers should worship God every day, not just when the church meets. The Christian equivalent of the Sabbath is the covenantal sign of baptism, not communal worship on Sundays.²⁷

The Fifth Commandment

“Honor your father and mother so you’ll live a long life in the land Yahweh, your God, is giving you.”

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The last six commandments deal with the Israelites’ relationships with other people. This puts them among the commandments summarized by what Jesus identified as the second greatest commandment. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”²⁸ These commands stem naturally from humanity’s status as God’s image.²⁹ Since humanity represents Yahweh, showing respect for other people shows respect for Yahweh and his authority.

The first and highest of the commands relating to others is the command to honor your father and mother. This precedes even the prohibition against murder because those who don’t respect the two people who gave them life certainly won’t respect anyone else. Paul calls the fifth commandment “the first commandment with a promise.”³⁰ If each generation honored the previous generation, the covenant would continue, passed from parent to child. Yahweh, in turn, would keep his promise to sustain them in the land of Canaan. But one rebellious generation could break the cycle.

Jesus, on the other hand, required his disciples to show a greater loyalty to him than even this highest of human loyalties. We must love him so much that our love for our parents seems like hatred in comparison!³¹ This constitutes a claim to a level of honor due to Yahweh alone.

Respecting Others

“Don’t murder.

“Don’t commit adultery.

“Don’t steal.

“Don’t testify falsely against your neighbor.”

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments forbid mistreatment of others. Elsewhere, Scripture goes beyond this to encourage sacrificial love that works for the benefit of others.³² But here, the commandments focus on simply respecting their human rights. To fail to respect the humanity of another person equates to violating Yahweh’s covenant.

These commandments forbid taking someone’s life, taking a man’s wife, taking someone’s property, and depriving someone of justice by lying in court. While Scripture allows killing in a small number of situations, including in war and as punishment for certain crimes, humanity’s status as God’s image makes human life sacred.³³ This automatically precludes murder, killing someone intentionally and without just cause.

The law against adultery applied to a man sleeping with a married or betrothed woman. In a culture that accepted polygamy, a married man sleeping with an unmarried woman did not constitute adultery.³⁴ This changed when Jesus later restored marriage to its original state of one man and one woman becoming one flesh.³⁵

Moses had set up a system of judges to ensure justice among the people.³⁶ But even just judges can give unjust rulings based on false testimony. The judge might then deprive an innocent person of property or even condemn that person to death. The Israelites were not to abuse the court system in this way. Using the court to commit theft or murder does not lessen the crime.

The Tenth Commandment

“Don’t desire your neighbor’s house. Don’t desire your neighbor’s wife, slave, cow, donkey, or anything else belonging to your neighbor.”

Image by Thomas Wolter from Pixabay

The last of the Ten Commandments forbids envy, the desire to possess what belongs to someone else. The tenth commandment is linked to the seventh and eighth because desiring someone’s belongings naturally precedes theft, and desiring someone’s wife naturally precedes adultery. Jesus took this a step further by equating lust with adultery.³⁷ In the same way, envy creates division even when theft doesn’t occur. God’s people should live in unity with gratitude for what God has given each.

The wicked King Ahab ignored the tenth commandment when he desired a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. Naboth refused to sell his vineyard, so Ahab went to bed and pouted. Ahab’s foreign wife, Jezebel, found it beneath the dignity of a king to take no for an answer, even if that meant violating the rights of one of his subjects. She ordered two wicked men to testify that Naboth had cursed God and the king, a crime punishable by death. When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he confiscated the vineyard as the property of a criminal.³⁸

Ahab’s envy resulted in the breaking of three other commandments. The two witnesses falsely testified against innocent Naboth. As a result, he was murdered. Ahab then stole the vineyard from Naboth’s heirs. All because Ahab cared more about a vineyard than about a fellow Israelite.

Intermediary

Witnessing the thunder, the lightning, the sound of the ram’s horn, and the smoking mountain, all the people trembled and kept their distance. They said to Moses, “You speak to us! We’ll listen. But God must not keep speaking to us or we’ll die.”

“Don’t be afraid!” Moses replied. “God has come to test you and to make you fear him so you won’t sin.”

Image by Moody Publishers from Free Bible Images

The spectacle of Yahweh’s presence terrified the Israelites. They trembled at the thunder, the lighting, the call of the ram’s horn, and the smoking mountain. No one dared approach while Yahweh spoke. When he had finished listing the Ten Commandments, the panicked people had heard enough. They feared they would die in the presence of such an awesome God.

The Israelites begged Moses to speak to them on God’s behalf so they wouldn’t have to listen to God speak directly. For the first time, they recognized and accepted the need for a mediator to intercede between them and Yahweh. They promised to listen to Moses this time.

Moses tried to reassure the people. Yahweh had shown them his power not to destroy them but to test them. So far, he had dealt leniently with their rebellious attitude. But now they’d experienced his presence to help them fear and obey him.³⁹ They didn’t need to fear hearing his voice. They needed to fear sinning against him.

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Exodus 20:21–22:31 →

Exodus 5:1; 7:16.
Exodus 3:12.
Karin Heineman, “Bird’s Secret to Soaring Super High,” American Institute of Physics, April 20, 2017, https://www.aip.org/inside-science/birds-secret-to-soaring-super-high.
Hebrews 5:1; 7:24–25; see Merriam-Webster.com, “priest,” accessed June 19, 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/priest.
Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Exodus 19:5–6.
Deuteronomy 4:6–8; Isaiah 2:2–3; 60:1–3; Zechariah 8:23.
Numbers 18:7.
John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 5:5–6.
Matthew 5:17.
See Why Israel?
See The Pillar of Cloud and Fire.
Exodus 7:16.
Exodus 25:8.
Hebrews 10:1–6.
Galatians 3:24–25.
Romans 6:1–14.
Matthew 5:17; Romans 10:4.
Matthew 22:35–38; see Deuteronomy 6:5.
The traditional translation, “before me,” has two possible meanings. It can mean “in front of me, in my presence,” which is correct. But it can also give the wrong meaning “higher than me,” allowing for the worship of lesser gods. The Hebrew cannot mean “higher than me.”
See Family Idols.
Exodus 25:17–20; 26:31; 28:33; 1 Kings 7:18–26; 2 Chronicles 3:5–16.
Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Exodus 20:5–6; Wells, “Exodus,” 232.
Durham, Exodus, 287–288; Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Exodus 20:7; Wells, “Exodus,” 232.
Exodus 31:16–17; Ezekiel 20:10–12; see The Major Covenants.
Colossians 2:16–17.
Luke 24:1–3.
Matthew 28:19; Romans 6:3–4.
Matthew 22:37–40; Leviticus 19:18.
See The Image of God.
Ephesians 6:2.
Luke 14:26; see Hyperbole.
Leviticus 19:10; Deuteronomy 15:7–8; Proverbs 11:24–25; 22:9; Isaiah 58:10; 2 Corinthians 9:11; Hebrews 13:16.
See The Value of Human Life.
Osborn and Howard, Handbook on Exodus, 479; Wells, “Exodus,” 235.
Matthew 19:4–8.
See Jethro’s Advice.
Matthew 5:27–28.
1 Kings 21:1–16.
See The Fear of God.