The Arrival at Sinai
19: 1-2

In the third month, late May or early June, after the Israelites left Egypt – on the very day – they came to the Desert of Sinai. Moses’ journey had come full circle. It was here that God’s promise to Moshe was fulfilled. The LORD had said to His servant: I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain (3:12). Moses met God on Mount Horeb at the burning bush (3:1-11), and he had returned to Him with the recently redeemed Israelites.341

It took them three months to get there because they were not traveling every day. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Isra’el camped in front of the mountain. It would be their schoolhouse for the next year. The mountain they camped in front of was Mount Sinai, traditionally identified with modern Jebel Musa, or Mountain of Moses in Arabic. At Mount Sinai they received the Torah, ratified the Mosaic Covenant and prepared the Tabernacle.