The prophet Moses was now called upon to act as the mediator between God and the encamped people. Jehovah now proposed a covenant between Himself and the people and set forth the purpose of the covenant. To Moses, up on Mount Horeb, He said:

And now if you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’”—Exodus 19:3-6.

17. What procedure shows whether Jehovah forced the covenant upon the saved Israelites?

¹⁷ The Most High God did not force this covenant upon the Israelites. He left them free to choose whether to enter a covenant with him or not, even though he had saved them from Egypt and the Red Sea. Become a “special property” to Jehovah? Become “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” to Him? Yes, that is what the Israelites then desired to do.