ABOUT two months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai, also called Horeb. It was here that God spoke to Moses from the burning bush. The people camp here; they stay here for some time.
While the people wait below, Moses goes up to the mountain. There, Jehovah tells Moses that He wants the Israelites to obey Him and become His special people. When Moses comes down, he tells the Israelites what Jehovah has said. And the people say that they will obey Jehovah, because they want to be His people.
Now the Lord does something strange. He makes smoke rise from the mountaintop and makes loud thunder rumbles. He also speaks to the people and says, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt.’ Then he gives them this command: ‘You must not worship any gods but me.’
God gives the Israelites nine more commandments, or laws. The people are very afraid. They say to Moses, ‘You speak to us, for we fear that if God speaks to us we will die.’
Later, Jehovah tells Moses: ‘Come up here on the mountain. I will give you two flat stones on which I have written the laws that I want the people to keep.’ So Moses goes up the mountain once more. For 40 days and nights he stays there.
God has many, many laws for his people. Moses writes them down. God also gives Moses the two flat stones. On these, God himself has written the 10 laws that he has spoken to all people. They are called the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are important laws. But so are the many other laws that God gives to the Israelites. One of these is, ‘You must love Jehovah your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength.’ And another is, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ God’s Son, Jesus Christ, said that these are the two greatest laws that God gave to His people Israel. Later we will learn many things about God’s Son and His teachings.