"All that the Lord has spoken we will do"

Reading yesterday (Ex 19-21) and today (Ex 22-24), I see that the Israelites said this three times: Ex 19:8; 24:3, and 24:7.

I've heard several preachers preach that this was bad; this was a foolish thing for them to say; that this was the wrong thing for them to say; that they were depending on themselves and should have been depending on God; that they said this, but within 40 days were worshiping a golden calf.

I disagree.

God was making a covenant with them, He gave them commandments. Their response should not have been "we can never obey these." The logical response was, "you're God, we're your creatures, you tell us what to do, we will agree to do it." And that is what they said. And God didn't reprove them for saying that, He didn't say "you said the wrong thing." He just went ahead with the program, He spoke the law and wrote it on stone and gave it to Moses.

Yes, the people (and us today) needed to understand that we can only obey with God's power, grace, only after crucifying self and having Jesus live within us.

But at the Exodus, they were just learning about God. He gave them His law at the beginning of their nationhood. And they said, "Whatever you say, Lord."

I think that is a good response.