⁷ O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah ⁸ the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. (Psalm 68:7–8 ESV)

The Hebrew phrasing is a bit complicated, as reflected in the differing English translations. The NASB, which we normally use here, renders the phrase “Sinai itself quaked,” and the NKJV is similar, but the NIV, NET and NLT agree with the ESV, “the One of Sinai.” Translations aren’t always an exact science, so we praise God for being alerted by the variety of renderings among modern versions.

God is forever associated with Sinai, the place where He met Moses and gave what has come to be called “the Law of Moses.” Psalm 68:7-8 provides a brief synopsis of God’s phenomenal show of power leading up to and including that giving of the Law. The people of Israel had “marched through the wilderness” for 40 years after the exodus from Egypt. During that time they experienced earthquakes and all kinds of weather phenomena.

Early in that time period, Moses went up Mt. Sinai to meet God (Ex 20-23). The abbreviated version, what might be called the prologue to the Law, is found in the well-known “Ten Commandments” (Ex 20:2-17). After this, “All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance” (Ex 20:18). This volcanic-like activity put the fear of God in His people, to be sure.

Today, some attempt to tame God, limiting Him to the NT, as being a God of love and grace only, not a God who invokes fear and law. The God of the NT, they say, is different from the God of the OT. But God doesn’t change. The notion that He has fundamentally changed in His character and is no longer the God of Sinai denies His eternal, unchanging nature. If God’s character changes then all hope is gone, for we cannot be assured that He will not also change in the future? What if we were to arrive at the judgment of believers, and He announces that He has changed His mind about righteousness and will evaluate our eternal destiny of heaven or hell based on our deeds?

No, God is still the God of Sinai. We need to know Him as the Lawgiver first so that we can understand His love and grace in forgiving us. We were truly guilty—not because of culturally induced shame feelings or religious oppression, as society would have us believe, but because we had sinned against the God of the Law, the One of Sinai.

Lord, thank You for sending Your Son as a sacrifice to take away my guilt.