**The Covenant at Mount Sinai**

The sun had barely risen over the wilderness when Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders began their ascent up the slopes of Mount Sinai. The air was crisp, the ground still cool from the night, and the towering mountain loomed before them, its peak shrouded in a thick, swirling cloud. The people of Israel had camped at the base of the mountain, their tents spread across the valley like a vast sea of cloth, the smoke of morning fires curling upward into the sky.

For days, the Lord had been speaking to Moses, giving him laws and commandments—the covenant by which Israel would live as His chosen people. Now, the time had come to seal that covenant in a solemn ceremony before God. Moses had already recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and the ordinances, and with one voice, they had declared, *“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”*

With those words still ringing in the air, Moses rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He took twelve pillars—one for each tribe of Israel—and set them around the altar as a reminder that this covenant bound the entire nation. Then, selecting young bulls from the herds, he prepared sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord. The animals were slain, their blood collected in basins, and the rich, coppery scent of sacrifice filled the air.

Moses took half of the blood and splashed it against the altar, consecrating it to the Lord. The other half he kept in the basins, and with the scroll of the covenant in hand—the very words of God written down—he stood before the people and read aloud once more the statutes and commands. Again, the people responded with a thunderous cry: *“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will obey!”*

Then, with solemn reverence, Moses took the remaining blood and sprinkled it over the people, declaring, *“Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”* The crimson droplets fell upon their garments, a vivid sign that they were now bound to God in a sacred oath.

With the covenant ratified, the Lord summoned Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders to come up the mountain. *“Come up to the Lord,”* Moses instructed them, *“but worship from a distance. Only I shall approach the Lord.”*

As they climbed higher, the ground beneath them trembled slightly, and the sky above seemed to pulse with divine presence. Then, before their astonished eyes, the glory of the Lord appeared like a consuming fire upon the summit. Beneath His feet was a pavement of sapphire, clear as the heavens themselves—a sight so breathtaking that the elders fell to their faces in worship.

Yet, even in the midst of such majesty, God did not strike them down. Instead, in an act of unimaginable grace, He permitted them to behold His glory and even to eat and drink in His presence. It was a foretaste of divine fellowship, a moment of communion between the Creator and His people.

But Moses was called further still. The Lord spoke to him, saying, *“Come up to Me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”*

Without hesitation, Moses turned to the elders and instructed Joshua to remain with the people until his return. Then, with staff in hand, he began the final ascent alone, disappearing into the thick cloud that enveloped the mountain.

For six days, the cloud covered Sinai, and the people below waited in hushed anticipation. On the seventh day, the voice of the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. The Israelites watched as the fiery glory of the Lord blazed like a furnace at the top of the mountain, and Moses entered into the midst of it, remaining there for forty days and forty nights.

Below, the people murmured, some in awe, some in fear. The covenant had been made, the blood had been shed, and now their mediator stood in the very presence of God, receiving the law that would shape their destiny as a nation set apart for the Lord.

And so, at Mount Sinai, the bond between God and Israel was sealed—not just in words, but in blood, in fire, and in the unshakable promise of His presence.