Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Mount Sinai

 

Hebrews 12:18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, [19] and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. [20] (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” [21] And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

 

A similar contrast is elicited in Galatians, when Paul, using Hagar and Sarah, addresses the Galatian church about freedom and bondage. It is written, “Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all,” Galatians 4:22-26.

Hagar, representing the Sinaitic covenant Israel made with Yahweh when He led them out of Egypt was provisional, temporary, and led one into bondage. Bondage? Yes, the Law does not liberate; the Law condemns and executes those condemned. The Law is a holy and pitiless machine, reflecting a standard man cannot achieve and revealing not our own moral worth, but our sinfulness. The Law fails to bring comfort, but it can excite penal fear. Human laws, administered by courts and enforced by police, are similar on a smaller scale. We don’t look to the laws of man with hope of liberty; obeying them keeps us in good standing with the secular power, and in that respect we receive the benefit of a peaceful life, void of criminal complications. But when the law is broken, there is only punishment for the transgressor. That is because the law was designed for the sake of maintaining peace in the commonwealth by defining, addressing, and disciplining malefaction.

 

The writer, using similar language to Paul’s, is likewise leading his readership to a comparable conclusion. The fiery mountain where God spoke aloud to the people shook and quaked, and the people quailed in terror, begging Moses to be their spokesman, lest they die from hearing the voice of Yahweh, Exodus 20:18, 19. To cement this comparison further, Paul writes again to the Corinthian church, addressing the topic of the Law. Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he tells them, “But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory,” 2 Corinthians 3:7-9.

 

Note the descriptors. The Law is “the ministry of death,” and “the ministry of condemnation.” The Law was entirely provisional, with an “if you, then I” clause woven throughout, as already addressed in Leviticus chapter 26. Why is the Law described as the ministry of death? Paul, talking about the old covenant as the letter, simply states that it kills those who subscribe to it, 2 Corinthians 3:6. James wrote to his Jewish audience, avowing that if they were to break a single law in God’s commandments, they have broken the entire law, James 2:10, 11. The Law is for transgressors. If Israel were to obey the Law, then God would bless their country with bounty; but was this blessing a reward for obedience, or simply because they obeyed? When someone adheres to what is right many sorrows are avoided because they have not broken the law, penal or moral. One could say such a soul was blessed. But does that blessing stem from God’s providence, or simply living a life in alignment with God’s will?

 

Israel was meant to be a land where Yahweh’s rule was observed and enforced. Gentiles could come to Israel’s God and approach by adoption into the tribes of Israel. In fact, that was God’s desire for the nations, Malachi 1:11, so they too may have access to the God of Israel. But Jewish zeal for the Law appeared to surpass even their zeal for the Lawgiver, and so Israel forfeit its place of blessing, and was instead chastened for prolonged and flagrant disobedience. The blessing would have naturally flowed as a consequence of obedience; since the Jewish nation would have walked with God, they would have reaped the blessing that was attendant to His presence. Since they chose to walk contrarily, the curse pursued and eventually overtook them, as northern Samaria and southern Judah suffered exile. Then came the Diasporas of 70 and 135 AD, resulting once more in exile.

 

The point that must be stressed is that the Law results in death and condemnation. Furthermore, it was contrary to the Jews and to all men, Colossians 2:14. Fellow Christians, if you believe obeying the Law is a requirement for your faith, or that it helps to save you or keep you saved, listen closely to what the apostle is saying about the Law. It is contrary, death, and condemnation. It is for transgressors, 1 Timothy 1:9. The Jews were promised temporal blessing IF they obeyed without fail, but severe chastisement should they disobey. They were NEVER promised eternal life through the law; neither was anyone else. Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, whose gospel is everlasting and whose name alone it is necessary to be saved by, Acts 4:12, Revelation 14:6.

 

Attending the verses in order, the writer assures the Hebrew Christians that they have not come to such a covenant, verse 18. The eternal covenant in Christ, made by and finished within the Godhead (Hebrews 9:14), is not the fierce, unforgiving countenance of a holy God with no mediator between Him and man. It is said that the angels were present on Sinai, Acts 7:53. This would make sense, since the angels are grossly interested in the doings of God’s prophetic word, 1 Peter 1:12. We find the trumpets blowing in verse 19 (see also Exodus 19:13), a sound that would be used in Israel for numerous purposes.

 

It was the sound to proclaim the Jubilee, Leviticus 25:9. The Jubilee was the 50^th year observed by the Jews in their land, a year of liberty when debt and bondage were forgiven, and their brethren were set free. More importantly to our text, they were used to summon and direct the congregation of Israel, Numbers 10:1-10. Of note in this passage is how the trumpet would be employed for matters of war: “When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies,” Numbers 10:9. The trumpet was connected to God’s superintendence over His people. Israel was not governed by prophets, judges, or kings. It was governed by God. It was a theocratic state. For forgiveness of debt, for direction of assembly and dispersion, and for war, that God might fight for them, the trumpet was blown. In this instance the trumpet was blown to gather the congregation to God’s presence on the mountain, whose Shekinah terrified them, Moses included. This verse, citing Deuteronomy 9:19, reads, “And I was greatly terrified because of the wrath and anger, because the Lord was provoked with you utterly to destroy you; yet the Lord hearkened to me at this time also,” LXX. Finally, Jesus also explained that He would send his angels at the sound of a trumpet to gather His elect from the farthest reaches of Heaven, Matthew 24:31. Again we see the trumpet employed as a summons to gather, this time for the final assembly of the saints as Christ gathers all of His own to Himself.

 

God’s anger or wrath, from man’s perspective, isn’t about a jealous God incapable of controlling His temper like the pagan gods of the Gentiles. No, His wrath is linked to His holiness. His holiness, an undefiled separatedness, cannot abide sin, which is a spiritual and moral cancer, corrupting what it invades and killing it. God’s justice or Law, apart from His grace, mercy and love, can only manifest in anger and wrath. Nothing about judgment and retribution is merciful or gracious. Lawbreakers receive the punishment due because they have infracted the King’s justice. God cannot deny His own character, so He will be to us as we choose to approach Him.  “To the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with the blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; with the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd,” Psalm 18:25. Jesus said, “Blessed be the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed be the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” Matthew 5:7, 8. Furthermore, we read, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap,” Galatians 6:7.

 

Israel could not be saved nationally. Salvation, in a spiritual, eternal sense, must be between the individual and God; it is not due to inheritance and ethnicity. Despite that, God separated the Jewish people for His own possession, as His revelatory vehicle on earth, and through them would bring Messiah, the Savior. The Jews entered into covenant with Yahweh, but this agreement had nothing to do with eternal life; it dealt with the privilege and responsibility of being the chosen people given the Law and the prophets. They had to choose from the heart to obey God out of love for Him, which would result in national obedience, had they submitted to their God’s will. If we look to the blessing and not the blesser we have a wrong motivation for our spiritual walk, and dejection and failure will inevitably result. The Jewish people saw the holiness of God untempered by grace and quailed; but despite that they pursued righteousness through the very Law that shook the mountain and condemned them as sinners, Romans 10:3-5, 2 Corinthians 3:14, 15.