Bible Timeline · About 1446 BC

Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments

Three months after leaving Egypt, Israel camped at Mount Sinai. God came down in fire and smoke, spoke the Ten Commandments and made a covenant with the nation. While Moses was on the mountain, the people made a golden calf.

Read it in the Bible: Exodus 19:1-20:21 Exodus 24:1-18 Exodus 32:1-35 Exodus 34:1-35 Deuteronomy 5:1-21 Matthew 22:36-40

At Mount Sinai God made a covenant with Israel and gave them the Ten Commandments. It happened about three months after the Exodus, so about 1446 BC by the traditional count, or the 1200s BC on the later view. God came down on the mountain in fire, smoke and thunder, spoke the commandments to the whole nation and later wrote them on two stone tablets. Then, while Moses was still up on the mountain, the people made a golden calf. Sinai is where a crowd of former slaves became a nation with a God, a law and a calling.

What Happened When Israel Reached Mount Sinai?

In the third month, on the same day of the month that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. Exodus 19:1

This was the same mountain where God had spoken to Moses from the burning bush, and God had promised Moses he would come back here to worship, Exodus 3:12. Before God gave a single rule, He reminded them of what He had already done.

‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Exodus 19:4

That order matters. God did not say, keep these rules and I will save you. He said, I already saved you, now here is how My people live. Grace came first. Then God called them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, Exodus 19:6, a people who would show the whole world what God is like.

On the third day the mountain shook.

Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because Yahweh had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. Exodus 19:18

What Are the Ten Commandments in Order?

God introduced them with these words.

“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:2 to 3

Here they are as most Protestant and Orthodox churches number them, from Exodus 20:3 to 17.

You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol.
You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Honor your father and mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.

The Bible calls them the ten words, Exodus 34:28, but it does not number them, so traditions count a little differently. Jewish tradition counts I am Yahweh your God as the first word. Catholics and Lutherans, following Augustine, join no other gods and no idols into one, then split coveting into two. Nobody is adding or dropping a commandment. They are just drawing the lines in different places.

The first few are about loving God. The rest are about loving people. The people were so shaken by God's voice that they begged Moses to speak to them instead, Exodus 20:19.

What Was the Covenant at Sinai?

A covenant is a binding agreement, like a marriage vow between God and a nation. Moses wrote down God's laws in the Book of the Covenant, Exodus 20 to 23, read it to the people and sealed it with blood.

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that Yahweh has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” So Moses took the blood, splattered it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that Yahweh has made with you in accordance with all these words.” Exodus 24:7 to 8

Then Moses went up the mountain for forty days. God gave him the plans for the tabernacle and the two stone tablets, written by the finger of God, Exodus 31:18.

Why Did Israel Make the Golden Calf?

Forty days is a long time when you are waiting on a man who disappeared into a cloud of fire. The people got impatient.

Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!” Exodus 32:1

Aaron collected their gold earrings and made a calf. Egypt had bull gods, so they went back to what they knew. They had promised to keep the covenant just weeks before. When Moses came down and asked Aaron what happened, Aaron gave what might be the weakest excuse in the Bible.

So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, let him take it off,’ and they gave it to me. And when I threw it into the fire, out came this calf!” Exodus 32:24

Moses smashed the tablets at the foot of the mountain, burned the calf and ground it to powder. About three thousand people died that day, Exodus 32:28. Then Moses went back up and begged God to forgive the people, even offering to be blotted out of God's book in their place, Exodus 32:32. That is a picture of a greater Mediator to come.

Why Did Moses' Face Shine?

God forgave and renewed the covenant. Moses carved two new tablets, and God wrote the words again, Exodus 34:1. Then God passed by Moses and announced His own character.

Then Yahweh passed in front of Moses and called out: “Yahweh, Yahweh God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Exodus 34:6 to 7

After forty more days with God, Moses came down glowing.

And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was unaware that his face had become radiant from speaking with Yahweh. Exodus 34:29

The people were afraid to come near, so Moses wore a veil over his face. Paul says Christians now see God's glory with unveiled faces and are being changed into the image of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:18. Forty years later, Moses repeated the commandments to the next generation in Deuteronomy 5.

Where Is Mount Sinai?

The oldest Christian tradition places it at Jebel Musa in the southern Sinai Peninsula, where Saint Catherine's Monastery has stood since the 500s AD. Some scholars suggest other peaks in Sinai, and some place it in northwest Arabia, since Paul mentions Mount Sinai in Arabia, Galatians 4:25. We don't know for certain. The Archaeology page on this site looks at the main options.

What the Ten Commandments Mean for Christians Today

Jesus summed up the whole law in two commands.

Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37 to 40

The Ten Commandments still show us what God is like and what love looks like. They also show us that we fall short, which is exactly what Paul says the law was for.

So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Galatians 3:24

At Sinai the covenant was sealed with the blood of animals. At the Last Supper Jesus lifted the cup and called it My blood of the covenant, Matthew 26:28. God promised through Jeremiah that one day He would write His law on hearts instead of stone, Jeremiah 31:33. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that is exactly what He does.

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Questions People Ask

What are the Ten Commandments?

They are the ten words God spoke at Mount Sinai in Exodus 20:1 to 17 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5. They command worship of God alone, no idols, honoring His name, keeping the Sabbath, honoring parents, and forbid murder, adultery, stealing, lying and coveting.

Why do churches number the Ten Commandments differently?

The Bible calls them ten words but does not number them. Jewish tradition counts the opening I am Yahweh your God as the first word. Catholics and Lutherans combine the commands about other gods and idols and split coveting into two, while most other Protestants and the Orthodox list idols separately.

What was the golden calf?

While Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days, the people asked Aaron to make gods for them, and he made a calf from their gold earrings, Exodus 32. Moses broke the tablets, destroyed the calf and then pleaded with God to forgive the people.

Why did Moses' face shine?

After forty days speaking with Yahweh on the mountain, Moses' face glowed with reflected glory, Exodus 34:29 to 35. He covered it with a veil when he spoke to the people. Paul uses this in 2 Corinthians 3 to describe believers being changed by seeing God's glory in Christ.

Do Christians have to keep the Ten Commandments?

Christians agree the moral heart of the commandments still shows how to love God and neighbor, and the New Testament repeats nearly all of them. Christians differ on how the Sabbath applies today. All agree that keeping the law cannot save anyone, and that salvation comes by grace through faith in Christ.

Sources

Saint Catherine Area, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

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