Exodus 19:1

CHAPTER XIX

The children of Israel, having departed from Rephidim, come to the

wilderness of Sinai in the third month, 1, 2.

Moses goes up into the mount to God, and receives a message which

he is to deliver to the people, 3-6.

He returns and delivers it to the people before the elders, 7.

The people promise obedience, 8.

The Lord proposes to meet Moses in the cloud, 9.

He commands him to sanctify the people, and promises to come down

visibly on Mount Sinai on the third day, 10, 11.

He commands him also to set bounds, to prevent the people or any

of the cattle from touching the mount, on pain of being stoned or

shot through with a dart, 12, 13.

Moses goes down and delivers this message, 14, 15.

The third day is ushered in with the appearance of the thick cloud

upon the mount, and with thunders, lightning, and the sound of a

trumpet! at which the people are greatly terrified, 16

NOTES ON CHAP. XIX

Verse Exodus 19:1. In the third month] This was called Sivan, and answers to our May. For the Jewish months, years, c., see the tables at the end of Deuteronomy.

The same day] There are three opinions concerning the meaning of this place, which are supported by respectable arguments.

1. The same day means the same day of the third month with that, viz., the 15th, on which the Israelites had left Egypt.

2. The same day signifies here a day of the same number with the month to which it is applied, viz., the third day of the third month.

3. By the same day, the first day of the month is intended.

The Jews celebrate the feast of pentecost fifty days after the passover: from the departure out of Egypt to the coming to Sinai were forty-five days for they came out the fifteenth day of the first month, from which day to the first of the third month forty-five days are numbered. On the 2d day of this third month Moses went up into the mountain, when three days were given to the people to purify themselves; this gives the fourth day of the third month, or the forty-ninth from the departure out of Egypt. On the next day, which was the fiftieth from the celebration of the passover, the glory of God appeared on the mount; in commemoration of which the Jews celebrate the feast of pentecost. This is the opinion of St. Augustine and of several moderns, and is defended at large by Houbigant. As the word חדש chodesh, month, is put for new moon, which is with the Jews the first day of the month, this may be considered an additional confirmation of the above opinion.

The wilderness of Sinai.] Mount Sinai is called by the Arabs Jibel Mousa or the Mount of Moses, or, by way of eminence, El Tor, THE Mount. It is one hill, with two peaks or summits; one is called Horeb, the other Sinai. Horeb was probably its most ancient name, and might designate the whole mountain; but as the Lord had appeared to Moses on this mountain in a bush סנה seneh, Exodus 3:2, from this circumstance it might have received the name of Sinai or הר סיני har Sinai, the mount of the bush or the mount of bushes; for it is possible that it was not in a single bush, but in a thicket of bushes, that the Angel of God made his appearance. The word bush is often used for woods or forests.