Exodus 19 · The Lantern

Israel at Mount Sinai

In the third month, when the children of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

For they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

You 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 obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.

And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people to the LORD.

And the LORD said to Moses, Look, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you for ever. And Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.

And the LORD said to Moses, Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes,

And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

And you shall set bounds to the people around, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that you go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whoever touches the mount shall be surely put to death:

There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mount.

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

But if any is an evil and savage beast and altogether incapable of taking in the subject matter of contemplation and theology, let him not hurtfully and malignantly lurk in his den among the woods, to catch hold of some dogma or saying by a sudden spring and to tear sound doctrine to pieces by his misrepresentations.

And here is shown how a prelate should behave: being perfect in both action and contemplation, he must accept the laws. Where? On the Mountain of Contemplation, with Moses, so that he may act with propriety and industry, and not as a beast, for a beast cannot go up into the Mountain: a beast that touches the Mountain must be stoned.

And Moses went down from the mount to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.

And he said to the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

The LORD Visits Sinai

And it happened on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightning, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people in the camp trembled.

Yet the third day is always made fitting for sacred mysteries. For when the people had gone out of Egypt, on the third day it offers sacrifice to God, and on the third day it is purified; and the resurrection of the Lord is on the third day; and many other mysteries are enclosed within this day.

The law then was obviously given on the third day of the third month. Now count the days from the fourteenth of the first month, when the pasch was kept, to the third day of the third month. You will have seventeen of the first month, thirty of the second, three of the third, which makes fifty.

When Abraham offered his son Isaac, he was a type of God the Father, while Isaac prefigured our Lord and Savior. The fact that he arrived at the place of sacrifice on the third day is shown to represent the mystery of the Trinity. That the third day should be accepted in the sense of a promise or mystery of the Trinity is found frequently in the sacred books.

And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the lower part of the mount.

And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and its smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

And the LORD said to Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

And Moses said to the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for you charged us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

And the LORD said to him, Away, get you down, and you shall come up, you, and Aaron with you: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

So Moses went down to the people, and spoke to them.

Exodus19

Israel at Mount Sinai

The LORD Visits Sinai