From the Red Sea to Mt. Sinai

(Day 49—Sabbath Before Pentecost) 

Fred R. Coulter—May 29, 1993

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I wanted to take this time to go through a sermon and show some chronology of the events, as the title is, From the Red Sea to Mt. Sinai. I want to show that the first Day of Pentecost could not have been on the 6th of Sivan.

The reason that I want to bring this out is because there are some people who say that we should keep the Feast of Pentecost on the 6th of Sivan, which is counted—as I'll show you on a chart later—beginning on the day after the first Holy Day during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, rather than on the day after the regular Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

I will show you that it would be absolutely impossible for the Feast of Pentecost to be on the 6th of Sivan even if you counted from the first Holy Day, because he would come far short. As a matter of fact, you would not even come to the time of the giving of the Law.

We have one very critical place in the book of Exodus that gives us an absolute key date. This date is absolutely fixed, and we know what day of the week it is because the events that it was on and then we can count forward from that day; we can also count backwards from that day. We can arrive at the exact time that all the events took place, beginning with the first day of the first month, and then go all the way through to the Feast of Pentecost.

There will be several things in here that we will be able to see that we will be able to know and understand as we go along. Exo. 16 is the key thing to begin the chronology: If you're going to do anything chronologically in the Bible, you have to begin with a known absolute over which there can be no dispute! From that you can prove from the circumstances of that known absolute that the Feast of Pentecost, the first Pentecost, could not have under any circumstances been on the 6th day of the 3rd month, or the 6th of Sivan as the Jews claim today.

That was a later addition that they did when there were problems and difficulties between those Hellenists Jews out of Alexandria who wanted to go ahead and make it counting Pentecost from the day after the first Holy Day during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, rather than on the day after the regular Sabbath.

Exodus 16:1: "And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came into the Wilderness of Sin..." That's not just the place of sin, that's just the name of it; that has nothing to do with the word that we call sin for the transgressing of the Law.

"…which is between Elim and Sinai. And on the fifteenth day of the second month…" (v 1)

How do we know that this is a Sabbath? We have an absolute day, the 15th day of the 2nd month, but we don't know which day of the week that it is, yet. Let's find out from Exo. 16 because they're already on the other side of the Red Sea when we get here, but we have to go here to start so that we know the basis of where we begin is correct.

"…And on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt, then the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, 'O that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!'" (vs 1-3).

Of course, God didn't do that, and Moses didn't do that, but that's the way human nature is.

• Were they impugning evil motives to God? Yes!
• Were the impugning evil motives to Moses? Yes!
• What did they really say when they were in Egypt under the bondage of slavery?
• They said 'O Lord, send a redeemer; get us out of here we can't stand this.'

So, they get out there and now they find that the goings a little tough! Sometimes in our Christian life we find the same thing, as we're walking, as it were, from the Red Sea to Sinai! Sometimes the going gets a little tough, but we still have to endure and continue!

Verse 4: "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain amount every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, they shall prepare what they bring in. And it shall be twice as much as they gather day by day'" (vs 4-5).

We're not only going to have a fixed day when this occurred, we're also going to have a clear six days and then as we'll see the seventh day after that.

Verse 6: "And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, 'At sunset… ['ba erev'—ending the day] …then you shall know that the LORD has brought you out from the land of Egypt. And at sunrise… [morning] …you shall see the glory of the LORD, for He hears your murmurings against the LORD. And what are we that you murmur against us?' And Moses said, 'You will see when the LORD shall give you flesh to eat at sunset … ['be ha arbayim'] …and bread to the full at sunrise, for the LORD hears your murmurings, which you murmur against Him. And what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.' And Moses spoke to Aaron, 'Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, "Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your murmurings"' (vs 6-9).

Verse 10: "And it came to pass as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they turned toward the wilderness. And behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud! And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, "Between the two evenings… ['be ha arbayim'; after sunset] …you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the LORD your God"'" (vs 10-12).

So, we know them from this point that the 15th day of the 2nd month had to be a weekly Sabbath, because in the morning they went out and they gathered manna. They ate the flesh that night and in the morning they went out and gathered manna. They gathered at how many days? Six days! and on the 6th day 'you'll gather twice as much.' So, that means that the 15thday of the 2nd month was a weekly Sabbath! That's why God sent the quail at sunset, which ended the day and that's why they ate the flesh on 'ben ha arbayim,' which then proves the 'ben ha arbayim' is between sunset a dark, that's when they ate it. Then they got up in the morning and there was the manna all around:

Verse 13: "And it came to pass, at sunset, that the quails came up and covered the camp. And at sunrise the dew lay all around the camp…. [outside the camp] …And when the layer of dew had gone up, behold, there was a small round thing upon the face of the wilderness, small as the hoar-frost upon the ground" (vs 13-14). So, they had to go up and pick it up!

Verse 15: "And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, 'What is that?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. This is the thing, which the LORD has commanded. "Each man gather of it according to his eating, an omer for each one, according to the number of your persons. Each one shall take for those who are in his tent"' And the children of Israel did so…" (vs 15-17).

You know the rest of the story, Moses said, 'Don't keep it up to the next day.' Some kept it up to the next day and bread worms and stank!

Then Moses said, v 22: "And it came to pass, on the sixth day…" So, we've got an exact sequence and you gather twice as much on the 6th day. Then what happened on the Sabbath, he said don't go out to get it and some went out to get it!

Verse 23: "And he said to them, 'This is that which the LORD has said, "Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil. And that which remains over, lay up for yourselves to be kept until the next morning."' And they laid it up until the next morning as Moses said. And it did not stink; neither was there any worm in it. And Moses said, 'Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you shall not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, in it there shall be none'" (vs 23-26)

So, someone went out on the Sabbath! Verse 27: "And it came to pass that some of the people went out on the seventh day in order to gather, but they did not find any. And the LORD said to Moses, 'How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See, because the LORD has given you the Sabbath, therefore, He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day. Let each one stay in his place. Do not let any one go out of his place on the seventh day'" (vs 27-29).

Referring to a chart, which is going to include many things that we're going to cover going clear back to the selection of the lamb on the 10th day of the 1st month, all the way to Mt. Sinai on the Day of Pentecost. We will firmly fix and clearly show you that the 15th day of the 2nd month was a Sabbath!

Referring to a chart:

• 1st month of the year
• 2nd month—15th day

• they had six days of gathering manna
• they got two days of manna the 6th day
• then here's the Sabbath again

This is a firm date we know that the 1st month of the year has 30 days. In today's calculated Hebrew calendar. There are 29 days in the second month, but there's astrological reasons to believe that there were 30 days in the 2nd month in the year of the Exodus. So, I went ahead and put the 30th day here.

Now what we will do is go back and we will examine beginning with the 1st day of the 1st month and see all the instructions that God gave. We will not only know how to count Pentecost, we will know when they went through the Red Sea, we'll see all the things that they did, and we will prove absolutely that Pentecost was not on the 6th of Sivan!

Exodus 12:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, "In the tenth day of this month…"'" (vs 1-3)—which is the 1st month, and we'll see exactly how that sequence comes.

"…they shall take to them each man a lamb for a father's house, a lamb for a house. And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take according to the number of the souls, each one, according to the eating of his mouth, you shall count concerning the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. And you shall keep it up until the beginning of the fourteenth day of the same month…." (vs 3-6).

So, they were just selected on the 10th day of the month, and they were to keep it until the 14th day, which we know is the beginning of the day when the 14th began. Then we go through the whole thing concerning the Passover. What they were to do with the Passover and where they were to put the blood. They were to eat it in that night, they weren't to boil it was to be roasted with fire. All the remains: skin, guts and bones were to be burned, and they then rest in the morning to assemble. At midnight God killed all the firstborn of the men and the animals of the land of Egypt.

Then we come over here to the beginning of the Exodus, which we know is the 15th day of the 1st month, and it begins at night, or at the going down of the sun when the sun is going down.

I fully explain it; if you have any questions about it, just read the book, The Christian Passover book.

Deuteronomy 16:1: "Keep the month of Abib…"—which is another name for the 1st month. They're actually two names for the 1st month: Abib and Nisan. Abib was the name of the month at the beginning before they went into the Babylonian captivity after they came back it was Nisan

"…and observe the Passover to the LORD your God. For in the month of Abib, the LORD your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night" (v 1).

Let's see that it was actually at the going down of the sun is the 14th was ending and the 15th was beginning. Num. 33 gives the whole sequence the 15th day of the 1st month. This gives a chronology of the timeframe all the way down to where the children of Israel went on their journey.

Numbers 33:1: "These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting places. And they set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the next day after the Passover day, the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were still burying all their firstborn…" (vs 1-4). So, it was just the sun was going down that they went up!

Sidebar: I might mention, many of you have seen the movie The Ten Commandments, sometimes many times over. All of the experts who did the consulting for the Ten Commandments and showing the Exodus, showed them leaving right at sunset, not leaving your houses in the dark of night, which coincides here!

Let's follow through with the Exodus. They left the day after the Passover on the 15th day of the 1st month. It was the night that they went out, as the sun was going down, and they continue their Exodus and journeyed on from there.

Exodus 12:40: "Now, the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years, and it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day, all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations" (vs 40-42).

They went out that night, beginning the Holy Day; they marched all that Holy Day, that night, and on into the next day and we'll see where they went. They left Rameses and went to Succoth. We'll see all their journeys as they go along.

Exodus 13:20—here we get a chronological sequence: "And they moved from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people" (vs 20-22). That continued all the way through till they got into the Holy Land!

Exodus 14:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal Zephon. You shall camp before it by the sea'" (vs 1-2).

Let's see how they recorded this in the goings and the journeys of the children of Israel. It brings them right to that point. It shows the exactly the same thing

Numbers 33:5: "And the children of Israel set out from Rameses and pitched in Succoth… [we just covered that so this is a repeat of it] …And they set out from Succoth and pitched in Etham on the edge of the wilderness. And they set out from Etham and turned toward Pi Hahiroth, which is in front of Baal Zephon. And they pitched in front of Migdol. And they set out from before Pi Hahiroth and passed through the middle of the Sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah" (vs 5-8).

We will see why we know that they crossed the Red Sea on the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They then completely left Egypt on that day. We know the whole story of it, we've covered that so I won't belabor the point with it, except to say that it's very significant and very profound that God did what He did to the Egyptians.

There's a man who has written a book: 101 Things Everyone Should Know About the Bible by John Trigilio, and he purports that the way the children of Israel went across the Red Sea was because God froze it and they walked across the frozen Red Sea.

But these people lived in a desert area, so it doesn't make any sense at all. You can't necessarily believe everything the scholars say. Those people would have had frostbite on the feet. That would have been very difficult to do that. But it was just the miracle that God did. He opened the Red Sea and they went through on the dry ground. They didn't slide across the ice of the Red Sea, they went across on the dry ground as God said!

Referring to chart: We will see all the events that I just covered, and we'll see it laid out according to the calendar and then we will begin to understand some of these other events will end up at Mt. Sinai and the giving of the Law on Pentecost.

We focused in on the 1st month. Let's review: This is the beginning of months to you. And because we firmly fixed the Sabbath of the 15th day of the 2nd month and counting backwards we know that the 1st day of the month then was on a Thursday. We come on down to where they select the lamb on the 10th day of the 1st month, which was a Sabbath. Why would it be easy to select the lamb on the 10th day the 1st month being a Sabbath? Because they wouldn't be out grazing in the pasture; they would be all corralled in, so it would be easy to select the lamb.

I might also let you know that the sequence of the Passover in the year that Jesus was crucified is exactly the same. We know that on the 10th day of the 1st month God the Father selected Jesus Christ as the Passover Lamb for the sins of the whole world, we find that in John 12 when the voice came out of heaven, and that was selecting Christ. God, the Father selected Christ on the 10th day of the 1st month!

Back to the children of Israel and Egypt. They work to keep it until the 14th day, four days they were to keep it, and they were to kill 'ben ha arbayim' after the 13th ended and as the 14th began. They were to roast it and eat it. At midnight the Lord passed over. In the morning they assembled in Rameses and he began going out at sunset on the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's the 15th day of the 1st month. I have it marked as a Holy Day. Then I've got the seven days of Unleavened Bread numbered: 1-7.

Let me show you something very interesting concerning this. What was the first thing that Moses said when he went to Pharaoh, 'Let us go three days journey into the wilderness and offer sacrifices and hold the Feast to the Lord.' Let's count 1, 2, 3—Sabbath Day—a Feast day. They held a Feast of the Lord. They probably then offered whatever sacrifices at that particular day. Very possible; it doesn't record that they did. But then we have the three days see how that fits in.

Then we come 4, 5, 6, 7 and we know somewhere in here that Pharaoh decided to come after the children of Israel. We know that Pharaoh got to them the day before they crossed the Red Sea, and God then sent the cloud that separated them. It was light to the children of Israel at night, and it was darkness to the Egyptians on the other side of it. God then open the Red Sea and they crossed the Red Sea.

It tells us after the Red Sea they went three days journey into the wilderness and rested the Sabbath. See how all of that fits in? they went 21, 22, 23 and rested on the 24th day of the 1st month.

Let's look at some of the other Scriptures; we'll follow along in Exo. 15, when they get over here—a three days journey—and we'll see what happened there. We will see that last three days sequence after they left coming up out of the Red Sea.

Numbers 33:8: "And they set out from before Pi Hahiroth and passed through the middle of the Sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah."

Let's see what happened when they came tomorrow (Pentecost), and they rested on the Sabbath. They got there and the people were all upset. We'll see that God did something special for them and made a special covenant with them. One thing we need to understand what God is that there are many promises and there are sub-covenants beneath the regular covenant

Exodus 15:23: "And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah because it was bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses..." (vs 23-24).

These people were murmuring from day one. Should have been the 11th commandment, 'Thou shalt not murmur.' The children of Israel broke all of them anyway.

Verse 24: "And the people murmured against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?' And he cried to the LORD. And the LORD showed him a tree. And when he had cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a decree and a law for them, and there He proved them. And He said, 'If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments…'" (vs 24-26).

God was preparing them all the way along from the Red Sea—that tremendous deliverance at the Red Sea—until they got to Mt. Sinai where He was going to give the Ten Commandments. So, he's preparing them!

Verse 26: "And He said, 'If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His laws, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD Who heals you.'" This is Yahweh 'rpha,' which is the Lord God is our healer! So, here was the promise that He gave.

Verse 27: "And they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees. And they camped there by the waters."

Exodus 16:1: "And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came into the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. And on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt."

Let's see another miracle that God did. Let's just rehearse the miracle of the manna:

• it was given every day, six days during the week—Sunday thru Friday—as we would count time today
• if they kept it over during the week it would breed worms and rot
• on the Sabbath, they could keep it over from the sixth day and it wouldn't breed worms and stink
• God sent no manna on the seventh day
• all during the 40 years, there was six days a manna and no manna on the seventh day, but there was twice as much on the sixth day

You would think after 40 years that they would get it through their heads that God meant what He said about the Sabbath. God wanted to give something for their generations to understand.

Now, here's another miracle; v 32: "And Moses said, 'This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, "Fill an omer of it… [the manna] …to be kept for your generations, so that you may see the bread with which I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out from the land of Egypt."'"

That's a tremendous miracle to be put in the Ark of the Covenant and kept there and it wouldn't read worms stink. That's another miracle beyond just what God did on a daily and weekly basis.

Verse 33: "And Moses said to Aaron, 'Take a pot and put an omer full of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD to be kept for your generations.'…. [that's tremendous] …As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept. And the children of Israel ate manna forty years until they came to a habitable land. They ate manna until they came into the borders of the land of Canaan. And an omer is the tenth part of an ephah" (vs 33-36). So, you would think all would be well! It wasn't!

Exodus 17:1: "And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim. And there was no water for the people to drink. And the people argued with Moses and said, 'Give us water that we may drink.' And Moses said to them, 'Why do you argue with me? Why do you tempt the LORD?' And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses and said, 'Why is this, that you brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?'" (vs 1-3).

Every time the sledding went bad, they accused Moses! That's why human nature is always have to look to someone else to blame something. Doesn't this remind you of Adam and Eve? Adam said the woman, the woman said the serpent; same thing! 'Why don't we have water? Well, Moses, you want to kill us!' NO! They could have said, 'We got here and there is no water here, but I remember just back here the last place we stopped at Marah—one of the last places that they stopped before they came to the Wilderness of Sin—God performed a miracle and made the water sweet. He gave us the flesh to eat. He gave us the manna to eat.'

Instead of getting mad at Moses, and getting mad at Aaron and getting mad at God, what they could have done was say, 'O God, we know that You provided all these things. Now we ended up here in this place, and there isn't any water. Would You please provide water for us, because we know that You can do it.'

Now that, brethren, would have been a faithful statement rather than a carnal, unfaithful, lusting, complaining, griping, just getting mad at Moses. But even Moses got all carried away with this and got a little carnal:

Verse 4: "And Moses cried to the LORD, saying, 'What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!'…. [that was quite a turn of events] …And the LORD said to Moses, 'Go on ahead of the people, and take with you the elders of Israel. And take your rod with which you struck the Nile. Take it in your hand and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb. And you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, so that the people may drink.' And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the arguing of the children of Israel and because they tempted the LORD, saying, 'Is the LORD among us or not?'" (vs 4-7).

Then they all had water? That would be something to see! You would think after seeing that great miracle. How many of you have ever walked up to a dry rock and then see it just open up and pour out water. Wouldn't you remember that? Wouldn't you think that God could do things for you? Certainly! But they didn't, so now we have the fight in the war that comes along with Amalek.

Amalek comes along you know the whole battle there. But as long as Moses' arms were held up in the air, the children of Israel prevailed. If these hands went down then the Amalekites would prevail. Moses got up there and he was so tired that they put a rock under him to sit on, and his arms were held up so they would be up until about sundown. I imagine those arms were real sore after that, but the Israelites won the battle

Verse 13: "And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Write this as a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven'" (vs 13-14).

In another place it says that there would be war in every generation between the people of God and Amalek (1-Sam. 10).

Verse 15: "And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it The LORD My Banner. And he said, 'Because the LORD has sworn that the LORD will have war against Amalek from generation to generation'" (vs 15-16)—and eventually be blotted out under heaven!

Exodus 18:1: "When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt, then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her two sons, of which the name of the one was Gershom (for he said, 'I have been a stranger in a strange land'), and the name of the other was Eliezer ('for the God of my father, my Helper, delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh'). And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he camped at the Mount of God" (vs 1-5). So, here they are right near the Mount of God ready to go, right there at Mt. Sinai!

Verse 6: "And he said to Moses, 'I, your father-in-law Jethro, have come to you, with your wife and her two sons with her.' He was a priest of Midian and as it says here:

• Who was Midian?
• Where did Midian and come from?
• What kind of religion did they have?

I think you're going to be a little surprised! Let's see where Midian came from.

Genesis 25:1: "Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah" (vs 1-2).

Midian was one of the sons of Abraham by a second wife Keturah. When we come here to Jethro who was the high priest or the priest of Midian, he probably had a patriarchal religion very similar to what he had learned from his father Abraham. So, it wasn't that far removed. It wasn't an awful, miserable and totally pagan religion, although it may have been somewhat paganized by this time when we come down to the time of Moses. You know the whole story here what happened:

Moses told them how God brought them out of the land. Jethro looked at when Moses was there trying to judge between the people and Jethro told them look, you got to organize this thing. Now what you need to do is get captains of tens, and captains hundreds, captains of thousands, and you need to get it organized and let them do the things of the small matters and let them bring the great matters to you.

(go to the next track)

In Exo. 19 we have a month and a day. Now, this day does not sound very specific. But we will see from the chart in just a minute exactly what that means.

Exodus 19:1: "In the third month when the children of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on the same day… [What does the same day mean?] …they came to the wilderness of Sinai; for they had journeyed from Rephidim, and came to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness. And Israel camped there in front of the mount" (vs 1-2).

Now let's look at the chart again here and see what does it mean "…the same day…" We're going to see that it means the same day that they left Egypt! The same day of the week they came into the wilderness of Sinai. Then we will see exactly what we have coming up to the Day of Pentecost. This time we'll go back and count all of Pentecost and show exactly how that works. Then come to those last three days, including Pentecost.

Now let's look at the chart again. Let's notice something very important. Let's first of all count toward Pentecost. Here is the regular weekly Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The command in Exo. 23 was 'on the morrow after the Sabbath usual count 50 days us shall count seven Sabbaths, 50 days, and on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you have a Holy convocation.' So, here's the day that would be the Wave Sheaf Offering. They obviously didn't offer the Wave Sheaf Offering here at this particular point because they weren't in the land. But nevertheless, this is where you begin.

• we have day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• the Sabbath and the weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• the days: 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, 28 days, 35 days, 42 days 49 days

plus

• on the morrow after the 7th Sabbath you shall have a Holy convocation. There's Pentecost right down here at the bottom.

Now we're going to refocus on the 2nd and 3rd month.

2nd month:

• the 15th day was a Sabbath
• the 28th day counting toward Pentecost
• ended the 4th week

3rd month:

• the days of the giving of manna
• the quail came after the Sabbath and they had the quail feast
• in the morning manna came—days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; twice as much on the 6th day and no manna on the 7th day
• the 35th day towards Pentecost
• The rest of the next week begins the 7th week counting toward Pentecost

How do we figure the same day of the 3rd month?
We're going to do is refocus things here in just a minute. But I want you to see, because we'll go back and we'll look at this again in a little bit. But we have 3 days, and the 3rd day is the Day of Pentecost and we will see that was when the Ten Commandments were given. But I want to focus in now on the same day they came into the wilderness, so we're going to refocus back to the chart.

Did we not have it said the self same day God brought the host out of the land of Egypt? Notice the 15th day in the 1st month. It is on the 5th day of the week or a Thursday. The 3rd month, the same day that was before Pentecost. Then the same day is referring to the day of the week in which they left Egypt.

There it is the 5th day of the week or Thursday. That's what it means.

Exodus 19:1: "…on the same day…" we will read some there and then we'll come back and look at the last three days leading up to Pentecost.

Exodus 19:3: "And Moses went up to God…" We'll see after that they came into the land. They arrived on the 5th day of the week, the same day of the week that they left Egypt.

Verse 3: "And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel'"

• here's the beginning of the covenant
• here's where God tells them the terms and conditions

Let's notice how it begins Notice that the terms of the covenant are very broad, just like it is in the New Covenant. The terms of the covenant are very broad because it includes everything that Jesus said, not just what we want to pick out. Same way with the terms of the Old Covenant, it's very broad.

Let's see what God tells them here in v 4: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself."

Now eagle's wings didn't mean that they flew there. That means that they were under God's protection! The way they got the Mt. Sinai was they walked.

Verse 5: "Now, therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed… [that's a broad statement; tat means anything God says] …and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine" (v 5).
That's the same way with us today! Here we learned in the account of 1-Peter that today we are 'a royal priesthood.' Let's see how that that has now been transferred to the Church; that instead of just being a nation of priests under the Old Covenant, the whole Church now is that nation! It's talking to us! So, this means that our calling is special! The work that God has given us to do:

• everything we do
• everybody has talent
• everybody has the ability
• everybody has something that they can do

It's not just reserved to ministers, or priests as the Catholics would say.

1-Peter 2:9: "But you are a chosen stock… [like God said of Israel] …a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people for a possession of God, that you might proclaim His excellent virtues, Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people, but now are the people of God; who had not received mercy, but now have received mercy" (vs 9-10).

That fits right in with what we're covering here when God began the Old Covenant with the children of Israel. Same thing! Same blessing!

Exodus 19:6: "'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."

That was a quick announcement! Moses went up on a mountain, wherever it was, maybe that was the where the burning bush was not too far up the mount, yet. God told him, gave him the message.

Verse 7: "And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words, which the LORD commanded him."

There are not too many words there, you can count them. This is just the outline of what God was going to give later.

Verse 8: "And all the people answered together and said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do.' And Moses returned the words of the people to the LORD. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Lo, I come to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.' And Moses told the words of the people to the LORD. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes'" (vs 8-10).

This obviously, was not every piece of clothing they had, but they were to wash the clothes in which they would come and stand at the base of the mountain, which they would wear when they came and stood at the base of the mountain to present themselves to God.

Verse 11: "And be ready for the third day…" We're going to see in just a little bit how those three days are calculated on the chart.

"'…for on the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And you shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, "Take heed to yourselves. Do not go up into the mountain, or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death. There shall not be a hand to touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through with an arrow… [that means with lightning from God] …whether beast or man, it shall not live." When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.' And Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people. And they washed their clothes" (vs 11-14)—that day, on the first day, all ready to go!

Verse 15: "And he said to the people, 'Be ready for the third day. Do not approach a woman.'"

Why? Because there would not be the time to be ritually clean after they had intercourse with their wives. And besides, the next day, the second day, was the regular Sabbath. Therefore, God was sanctifying them on that regular Sabbath and making sure they were Holy and not coming on to their wives.

Verse 16: "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain. And the sound of the trumpet was exceedingly loud so that all the people in the camp trembled." Something so loud and long and fearful that all the people were afraid and trembled!

Verse 17: "And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the base of the mountain. And Mt. Sinai was smoking, all of it because the LORD came down upon it in fire…." (vs 17-18). That must have been an awesome thing like standing right at the base of a volcano with all of this going on!

"…And the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the sound of the trumpet sounded long, and became very strong, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Go down…. [as soon as he got up he said to go down] …Command the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also, who come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them'" (vs 18-22).

Apparently, there were Levites stationed around the area where the people could not pass, and they were the ones keep them from passing.

Verse 23: "And Moses said to the LORD, 'The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You commanded us, saying, "Set bounds around the mountain, and sanctify it."' And the LORD said to him, 'Away! Get you down, and only you shall come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break forth upon them.' And Moses went down to the people, and spoke to them" (vs 23-25).

After Moses got down he did not go up on to the mountain until after all of these words were spoken. He went up and verified them, as we will see. But here's what happened:

Exodus 20:18: "And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled and stood afar off. And they said to Moses… [who was back down here now] …'You speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die'" (vs 18-19). So, we have the full events:

• Day one: washed their clothes on day-one
• Day two: was the Sabbath Day
• Day three: the Day of Pentecost when God gave the Ten Commandments

Look at the chart again, and we'll see that very clearly. We will see that the first Pentecost was not on the 6th of Sivan, but on the 7th, and we'll show you that it could have actually been on the 8th if that second month were indeed 29 days long instead of 30.

Let's just review the third month: in the same day is Thursday, the same day that they left Egypt, and they came to Mt. Sinai. The next day Moses went up, which is day one, and came back down and said to 'wash your clothes and sanctify yourself today and tomorrow. They couldn't wash their clothes on the Sabbath, so they did it on a Friday, the preparation day. Doesn't sound like that's very convenient that God would do it on the preparation day.

• Day one: they wash the clothes
• Day two: the regular Sabbath
• Day three: they all gathered around the mountain the seventh day of the third month

Here the third month is called Sivan today, 6th day was on the Sabbath. The 7th day of Sivan was the Day of Pentecost. This is the last day of the 2nd month being 30 days. However, if the 2nd month had 29 days, then we will have 6, 7 & 8.

So, the original Pentecost could not have been on the 6th of Sivan under any circumstances—period! But it had to be on the 7th at the soonest and possibly on the 8th if there were 29 days instead of 30 in the 2nd month. As you can see, I have the 50th day here.

Review of chart:

1st month:

• we know on the 10th day of the month they selected the lamb
• they killed the lamb at the beginning of the Passover, after the 13th had ended
• they kept the Passover
• they left at the end of the 14th beginning of the 15th—a Thursday
• they took their journey three days in the wilderness, which then was a Sabbath
• that would be the first opportunity to offer any sacrifices to God

On the morrow after the regular Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we begin counting day-one toward Pentecost!

We have 1 week, 2 weeks-3-4-5-6-7 weeks, and the day after the 7th Sabbath shall you have a Holy convocation. There it is, day 50!

We have within this: the seven days of Unleavened Bread, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. The last day of Unleavened Bread, they crossed the Red Sea. Then we come down here to the 15th day of the 2nd month, which is the key to the whole thing. Because you can go backward from here and you can go forward from here, and then you see exactly how everything comes.

We know that the 14th day of the 1st month was in the middle of the week. We have the same sequence as the week when Jesus was crucified, and I'm sure God planned it that way!

2nd month:

• from the 15th day we can count the days of manna: 1-2-3-4-5-6, two days of manna
• 7th day came, the Sabbath

3rd month:

• they came into Mt. Sinai on the same day of the week that they left Egypt—a Thursday—the 5th day of the week
• Moses goes up to God the next morning
• God says to tell the children of Israel, 'IF you obey My voice and keep My covenant' that I'll be a God to them and they'll be 'a peculiar people to Me.'
• wash their clothes and get ready
• sanctify them today and tomorrow—days 1 & 2
• the 3rd day being Pentecost, the Ten Commandments were given

This is the most complete chart I've ever done on this showing the sequence of these events!

Let's read the Ten Commandments, and then we'll summarize some of the other things in the statutes and judgments that God gave.

Exodus 20:1: "And God spoke all these words, saying…" Who did He speak them to? The children of Israel!

Later, Jewish tradition says, that all the 70 nations of the world heard the voice of God when He gave the Ten Commandments. Well, let me tell you something, that's not true! That was written after the New Testament. That was written after the Day of Pentecost when God spoke in all the languages there. That was their counterfeit, to try and show that the Old Covenant was as good as the New Covenant, but it isn't!

Verse 2: "I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." God surely didn't bring all nations out!

You know the Ten Commandments; you should memorize them:

• have no other gods before Me
• don't make any graven images, bow down to them or worship them
• do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
• remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy

Of course, they had the manna to convince them which day was the Sabbath. They knew it! God said, remember it! The most important thing concerning the Sabbath is that its based upon the fact of God's creation, because it remembers:

• the creation of God
• that God is God
• God has made everything that there is
• it is a day that God has set aside so that we can fellowship with Him

Then we go with the rest of the commandments:

• honor your father and mother
• you shall not kill
• you shall not commit adultery
• you shall not steal
• you shall not bear false witness
• you shall not covet

Verse 18: "And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, 'You speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die.' And Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear, for God has come to prove you and so that His fear may be before your faces, so that you may not sin.' And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was" (vs 18-21).

Moses wasn't yet up on a mountain, he just came up near where the clouds were!

Verse 22: "And the LORD said to Moses…" God gave all these commandments, statutes and judgments in Exo. 21-23! I'll let you go through and read every one of those commandments there, and you will see that those are nothing but good commandments and laws for us to have.

I want to reiterate something so that you will know and understand that God intended the Sabbath and the Holy Days to be included in the whole package of things that God gave before Moses went up on the mountain and stayed up there for the 40 days and 40 nights.

Exodus 23:12: "Six days you shall do your work..." So, this is a repeat—isn't it? All of these judgments and statutes are a Sabbath law, ordinance or statute from one of the Ten Commandments, everyone of them! Here's part of it:

"…and on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the stranger, may be rejuvenated. And be watchful in all that I have said to you. And make no mention of the name of other gods… [that has to do with the 2nd commandment] …neither let it be heard out of your mouth. You shall keep a Feast unto Me three times in the year" (vs 12-14). This is a sub-commandment of the Sabbath commandment!

Verse 15: "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And no one shall appear before Me empty. Also, the Feast of the Harvest of the Firstfruits of your labors… [Feast of Pentecost] …which you have sown in the field. And the Feast of Ingathering, in the end of the year…" (vs 15-16)—Feast of Tabernacles.

Exodus 24:1: "And He said to Moses, 'Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the LORD, but they shall not come near. Neither shall the people go up with him.' And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, 'All the words which the LORD has said, we will do.' And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning…" (vs 1-4).

On the day after Pentecost Moses went ahead and finished off the things concerning the Ten Commandments, the statutes, the judgments and wrote them all in the book.

"…and built an altar at the base of the mountain and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel who offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of bullocks to the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read in the ears of the people. And they said, 'All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.' And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words'" (vs 4-8).

After he was done with that, Moses went on up and took Nadab and Abihu; he was up there for 40 days and 40 nights.

Now there's a sequence of time where there were actually three periods of 40 days. The last one, Moses came down off Mt. Sinai on the Day of Atonement, and that's when his face shined!

This gives us all the events leading up to the time when they came to Mt. Sinai. That's why I entitled this From the Red Sea to Mt. Sinai. I hope that you understand it.

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Exodus 16:1-17, 22-29
• Exodus 12:1-6
• Deuteronomy 16:1
• Numbers 33:1-4
• Exodus 12:40-42
• Exodus 13:20-22
• Exodus 14:1-2
• Numbers 33:5-8
• Exodus 15:23-27
• Exodus 16:1, 32-36
• Exodus 17:1-7, 13-16
• Exodus 18:1-6
• Genesis 25:1-2
• Exodus 19:1-5
• 1 Peter 2:9-10
• Exodus 19:6-25
• Exodus 20:18-25, 1, 18-21
• Exodus 23:1-16
• Exodus 24:1-8

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• John 12
• 1 Samuel 10
• Exodus 21-22

Also referenced: Books:

• 101 Things Everyone Should Know About the Bible by John Trigilio
• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter

FRC:po/bo
Transcribed: 2/3/19