Kingdom of priests

God wanted the Israelites to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They would become these things if they were faithful to the Mount Sinai covenant. Like other people groups, they would become a kingdom and a nation. But God didn’t want them to live like other people groups. He wanted them to be a different kind of kingdom and nation. Every Israelite would know God closely and serve him. In this way they would be like priests. All together they would obey God and treat others the way God taught them to. This would show how different they were from other nations. In this way they would be set apart or holy like God was holy. That is how the Israelites would be a holy nation.