In Exodus chapter nineteen, verse one records the establishment of God’s covenant with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. That covenant is an extension of the covenant with Abraham and his descendants. The covenant is for Israel’s prior reconciliation to God and their ongoing fellowship. It defined the conditions by which Israel would remain God’s treasured possession by continuing in His blessing and carrying out His will for the nation.
God intended that Israel be a unique people and set apart to Him for this purpose. The people were to respond in obedience and gratitude to God by seeking to keep the commandments and offering the prescribed sacrifice of God’s covenant. As a result, they would remain God’s special people: a kingdom of priests who were holy and pure.
Mount Sinai was a place which nature, not art, had made conspicuous, for it was the highest in all that range of mountains. Thus God put contempt upon cities and palaces, setting up his pavilion on the top of a large hill in a barren desert. It is called Sinai from the multitude of thorny bushes that overspread it.
In the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God. These events have arguably transpired at mount Horeb: Scholars have referred to Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb as the same place. Essentially, this Mount Sinai is a symbol of our sin and a reminder of our need for a Savior. Mount Sinai reminds us of the seriousness of our sins and the division they cause between God and His people. Israel could not touch the ground because due to the holiness of God and the unholiness of their sin. Mount Sinai reminds the seriousness of our sins and the division they cause between the Heavenly Father and His people.