From Brigham Young University's Maxwell Institute, this is the Maxwell Institute podcast,

Faith Illuminating Scholarship. In 26, we are releasing a series called Old Testament Reflections.

Each week, a scholar offers a short reflection on the Come Follow Me reading.

Today's piece, God's trustworthiness and becoming a kingdom of priests.

Reflections on Exodus chapter 19 through 20

is written and read by Avram Shannon.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

we spend a lot of time talking about covenants.

We speak of the covenant with our first parents, with Enoch, and especially the covenant with

Abraham and Sarah. In the book of Exodus, we find a record of the first covenant that God made

with Israel as a whole people. Occasionally overlooked and often misunderstood, the Sinai covenant is the covenant that

the biblical authors are most concerned with. We usually call this covenant the Law of Moses.

Although the law of Moses can sometimes have a negative reputation among the members of the church

and broader Christianity, this is an unfortunate characterization of the

primary way in which Jehovah interacted with his children for centuries. Back in Exodus 6, as the

Lord began the process of culminate at Mount Sinai, he told Moses what he wanted for Israel,

and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. That's Exodus 6, 7. Fundamentally, this is the Old Testament idea of God's relations with Israel.

Israel is to be Jehovah's people, and He is their God.

All of the covenants, regulations, and commandments that the Lord gave to his people in the Scriptures were in service to this bond.

When Deuteronomy commands Israel to love God, Deuteronme 6.5, this love is essentially an expression

of the deep relationship that God is forging with Israel.

Thus, when Jehovah brings the people to Mount Sinai and offers them a covenant relationship with him,

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