by Rev. D. M. MacDonald, Edinburgh.
Mount Sinai.
This mountain is triple headed and has borne for centuries the name of Sinai. It is situated in the granite district, called in the Bible Horeb, which means desolate. It was the scene of God’s proclamation of His Law to the children of Israel. The mountain mass stands at the highest point of the peninsula, and forms the crown of one of the most glorious ranges in the world. It has been said that nothing more sublimely beautiful can be seen in this world than a sunset from a certain place on it. The rosy glow on the mountain-tops, gradually giving way before the rising darkness, reminds one irresistibly of “the glory of the Lord.”
When the Israelites camped near the Mount, Moses went up and God said to him that he was making a covenant with the people that if they obeyed Him they would be unto Him an holy nation and they promised they would obey. They were then warned to sanctify themselves and be ready on the third day to listen to the voice of God but not to touch the Mount. Then amidst thunderings and lightenings and the noise of the trumpet and the smoke and the earthquake throbs, which shook the ground, a voice like that of a man, distinctly articulate, pronounced the words of the Moral Law which has been from that day to this the guide of life to innumerable souls. It has been well said that the delivery of the Decalogue on Sinai formed a decisive epoch in the history of the human race, and was even perhaps the greatest and most important event in human history up to the time of its occurrence. It is a system which stands on a moral eminence far above all other moral systems and unequalled for simplicity, comprehensiveness and solemnity. Its precepts constitute a summary of human duty manifestly divine which is suited for every form of human society and which cannot become antiquated as long as the world lasts.
The Ten Commandments were not only spoken by God himself but also written by his finger on the two tables of testimony. This shows their immense importance for they are the only portion of scripture written by his finger. Other parts were written by inspired men. The first table states our duties to God and the second table our duties to our fellow sinners. To be a real Christian a man must be righteous towards God and towards his fellow sinners, thereby showing that he is obeying the precepts of the Moral Law and honours it as a rule of life. It is true that the Law pronounces its curse on all who disobey it and that means that the human race is condemned by it because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In order to save sinners from the Law’s curse the Saviour bore that curse Himself and by the infinite glory of His Person magnified the Law and made it honourable through His perfect obedience and sufferings unto death. Although the Law demands obedience it does not offer salvation to any one. The Jews erred grievously in thinking that it did as the Apostle Paul shows for he himself thought that he could be saved by it until he was converted. It was then he saw clearly that only by faith in Christ he could be saved and afterwards he wrote that, “Christ was the end of the Law for righteousness to all who believe in Him.”