On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel."
Exodus 19:1-6
This chapter and the next bring us to a high point in God's dealings with His people, the giving of the Law at Sinai, and there are issues of fundamental importance that must be grasped, if a true understanding of Israel's experience is to be possible. In coming to Sinai, Moses had returned to the place where God has first met with him (see 3:12). When we compare the earlier chapter with this, it seems to become clear that right from the outset of Israel's pilgrimage Moses had had this one object in view, namely to get to Sinai, and to the rendezvous appointed by God. This is the significance of 3, which tells how Moses went up into the mount without any express command from God. He did not need any express directive to do so, for had not God already said that He would meet with him there? It was as if Moses were saying, 'Lord, here am I. Thou didst say Thou wouldst meet with me here. I have accomplished the first task. What next wilt Thou have me to do? Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth'. What God did say to him (4-6) is central to a true grasp of the significance and purpose of the Law that was about to be given to the people. The emphasis is first of all on what God had done for them in delivering them from Egypt, and it is on the basis of this that the summons to obedience is given. It is hardly possible to over-estimate the importance of this; everything in our understanding of the Old Testament as a whole depends upon it. For it means that the message of the Old Testament is not 'This do and thou shalt live', but 'I have given you life (in redeeming you from Egypt), therefore this is how I require you to live, this is how a redeemed people should live'. The Law, in other words, was to be the expression in the people's lives of the salvation of God, not the condition of that salvation.