Exodus 19:1-25
1 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.
10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.
12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:
13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpeta soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, chargeb the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.
22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
23 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.
24 And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.
25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
Exodus 19:1. The third month. On the fourteenth day at night the paschal lamb was slain. The two months contain sixty days, and on the fourth day of the third month the law was given, or the sixty fourth day of the Hebrew ecclesiastical year. From these we deduct the fourteen days before the passover, which leave exactly fifty days, the last of which was the day of Pentecost, a festival when the first fruits were offered, which lasted but one day. Thus a perfect type was given of the Lord's descent on the holy apostles, “when the day of Pentecost was fully come.” Acts 2.
Exodus 19:2. The desert of Sinai. This desert lay on the side of the mount, opposite to Rephidim. Hence their journey was but a short removal round the hill. The time also is noticed; it was the first day of Sivan, or of the third moon, after their departure out of Egypt, making in all forty seven days. Three days after, the law was published, agreeing in figure with the christian pentecost, or fiftieth day. What a proof that our most holy religion is built on the foundation of the law and the prophets?
Exodus 19:6. A kingdom of priests, holy in body, and pure in heart. An apostle calls the christian church a royal priesthood, a consecrated generation. 1 Peter 2:9. All Shem's race, to the present age, affect purity. Shungee, of New Zealand, when going to murder his neighbours, was so pure that he could neither feed himself, nor enter the Mission-house.
Exodus 19:15. Come not, &c. This abstinence, before sacrifice, was generally observed by the Israelites. 1 Samuel 21:5; Ecclesiastes 3:5. It was likewise observed by the heathens, as appears from many expressions of their poets. Vide Poli Syn. in Loc.
Exodus 19:22. The priests. Some understand here the seventy elders, or presbyters, who were mostly the firstborn, and consequently priests by the rights of birth. The Levites were afterwards substituted. Numbers 3:12.
REFLECTIONS.
We are here presented with the preparations and arrangements of heaven for the promulgation of the law. The people assembled in their encampments, and approached in order. The seventy rulers stood at the foot of the mount, and the mixed multitude surrounded the skirts of the assembly.
Mark next the introductory steps which had been taken, three days before the national convocation. The Lord had given them an epitome of the blessings of the covenant, with its great condition, “If ye will obey my voice.” Therefore they approached with an enlightened mind to accept the covenant, and prepared to subscribe it with a willing heart. The christian is called in like manner to receive the yoke of Christ, that his soul may delight in the law of God, and find his service to be perfect freedom.
In the characteristics of the lawgiver, who says “All the earth is mine;” who promises the highest privileges to obedience, and who punishes transgression with death; we see displayed the Godhead of Jehovah, the Angel. Who can avoid discovering the same person, when he said, veiled in the flesh, as his glory had been obscured in the cloud: A new commandment I give unto you: and again, if ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10. Surely this is the voice of the ratifier and guarantee of the new covenant, appointed in the hands of a Mediator.
Before the people received the law from God, and subscribed to his gracious covenant, their clothes and their persons were cleansed from every legal impurity: and the abstinence and washings of the people are figurative of that purity of heart and of purpose, with which we should draw near to God. In his presence we must lift up holy hands, without wrath or doubting. He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity in his worshippers; and he cut off the old world, because the thoughts and imaginations of their hearts were only evil continually. The dirt and filth of Egypt must be washed away in the laver of regeneration, and in the sincerest efforts to serve and please God, or he will spurn us in anger from his presence.
But although the people were now ceremonially pure, yet they were not suffered on pain of death to approach their God beyond certain limits and bounds. Moses the mediator, and Aaron the priest, were alone permitted to approach the skirts of the cloud. Thus Jesus, having exercised on earth the prophetic office, is now ascended to the throne of God to exercise for us the offices of Mediator and High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek, that in due time we may enter the holiest by his blood. In the cloud of impervious darkness, in the lightnings and thunders, in the voice of the trumpet with increasing sound, in the shaking of the mountain, and the trembling of the people, we discover the character of a holy God, covenanting with a guilty people. Ah, and more awful still shall be his wrath to punish the transgressors of his covenant, which graciously provided a sacrifice for sin. How awful the day when not only Sinai, but the whole heavens shall be enveloped in smoke and flame; when not only revolting Israel, but all nations that obey not the gospel, shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Wherefore, knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men. We entreat them to obey that voice, which then shook the earth, but now shall shake heaven also.