Signs of the Times, Book 1 - Ellen G. White

country seems strangely solemn to the weary travelers. They frequently
contrast the verdant valleys of Egypt with these dark, and cheerless ravines,
and the bustling activity of their former home, with the mountain solitude.
Here the Lord had gathered his people to himself, that he might talk with
them. There was nothing here that they chose to worship, nothing to divert
their minds, and nothing upon which they would fasten their affections.
Everything was calculated to make man feel his nothingness in the presence
of him who has "weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance."
Soon after their arrival at Sinai, Moses received a divine summons to
ascend the mountain. Alone he climbed the steep and jagged rocks, placing
his feet in steps made without hands; and far up on those solitary heights,
God informed him that Israel was now to be taken into close and peculiar
connection with himself, and that they were to become an organized church
in the wilderness, and a nation whom he would govern. These are the words
which he spake:
"Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles
wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice
indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me
above all people; for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a
kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt
speak unto the children of Israel."
Moses came down, and having assembled the elders of Israel, he
repeated to them the message of God. When it was made known to them,
they answered: "All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do." Here they
entered into a solemn covenant with God to accept him as their ruler, by
which they became, in a special sense, the subjects of his divine authority.
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