Exodus 19:3

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;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Moses went up unto God—i.e., ascended Sinai, where he expected that God would speak with him.

The Lord called unto him out of the mountain.—While he was still on his way, as it would seem, so that he was spared the toil of the ascent. God meets us half-way when we “arise and go” to Him.

Benson Commentary

Exodus 19:3. Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and Israel — The people are called by the names both of Jacob and Israel, to remind them that they who had been as low as Jacob when he went to Padan-aram, were now grown as great as God made him when he came from thence and was called Israel.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:1-8 Moses was called up the mountain, and was employed as the messenger of this covenant. The Maker and first Mover of the covenant, is God himself. This blessed charter was granted out of God's own free grace. The covenant here mentioned was the national covenant, by which the Israelites were a people under the government of Jehovah. It was a type of the new covenant made with true believers in Christ Jesus; but, like other types, it was only a shadow of good things to come. As a nation they broke this covenant; therefore the Lord declared that he would make a new covenant with Israel, writing his law, not upon tables of stone, but in their hearts, Jer 31:33; Heb 8:7-10. The covenant spoken of in these places as ready to vanish away, is the national covenant with Israel, which they forfeited by their sins. Unless we carefully attend to this, we shall fall into mistakes while reading the Old Testament. We must not suppose that the nation of the Jews were under the covenant of works, which knows nothing of repentance, faith in a Mediator, forgiveness of sins, or grace; nor yet that the whole nation of Israel bore the character, and possessed the privileges of true believers, as being actually sharers in the covenant of grace. They were all under a dispensation of mercy; they had outward privileges and advantages for salvation; but, like professing Christians, most rested therein, and went no further. Israel consented to the conditions. They answered as one man, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. Oh that there had been such a heart in them! Moses, as a mediator, returned the words of the people to God. Thus Christ, the Mediator, as a Prophet, reveals God's will to us, his precepts and promises; and then, as a Priest, offers up to God our spiritual sacrifices, not only of prayer and praise, but of devout affections, and pious resolutions, the work of his own Spirit in us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Moses went up unto God - This seems to imply that the voice was heard by Moses as he was ascending the mount.

House of Jacob - This expression does not occur elsewhere in the Pentateuch. It has a special fitness here, referring doubtless to the special promises made to the Patriarch.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3-6. Moses went up unto God—the Shekinah—within the cloud (Ex 33:20; Joh 1:18).

Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, &c.—The object for which Moses went up was to receive and convey to the people the message contained in these verses, and the purport of which was a general announcement of the terms on which God was to take the Israelites into a close and peculiar relation to Himself. In thus negotiating between God and His people, the highest post of duty which any mortal man was ever called to occupy, Moses was still but a servant. The only Mediator is Jesus Christ [1Ti 2:5; Heb 12:24].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Moses went up into the mount of God, to the place where God had now fixed his cloudy pillar, and where he was about to manifest himself in a glorious manner. So it is an anticipation.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Moses went up unto God,.... Who was in the pillar of cloud upon the top of the mount; this was on the second day, according to the Targum of Jonathan: "the Lord called unto him out of the mountain"; or had called unto him, as Aben Ezra, since without his leave he could not have gone up. He called to him out of the cloud upon the top of the mountain to come up, and being come near him, he called to him, and spoke with an articulate voice, as follows:

saying, thus shalt thou say, to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; which are the same, and are described as descending from the same person, who was called by both names; the one was his name in the former and lower state of his life, the other in the latter and more prosperous one; and his posterity are called by these two names, as Bishop Patrick observes, to put them in mind, that they who had lately been as low as Jacob, when he went to Padanaram, were now grown as great as God made him when he came from thence, and was called Israel.

Geneva Study Bible

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 {c} Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

(c) God called Jacob, Israel: therefore the house of Jacob and the people of Israel signify God's people.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3a (E). The mountain is the abode of God (cf. on v. 4): so Moses, immediately upon the Israelites’ arrival at Sinai, naturally goes up it to Him. The original sequel follows in v. 10.

3b–6. Jehovah calls to Moses ‘out of’ (or ‘from’) the mountain—so that he is apparently still below—and tells him of the exalted future which, if Israel will but be obedient, He has in store for it, and of the special relation to Himself in which, upon the same condition, it is His intention to place it. The words are (McNeile) ‘a very beautiful expression of God’s relations with His people, written by a religious thinker of the Deuteronomic school’; and (Di.) ‘the locus classicus of the OT. on the nature and aim of the theocratic covenant: they have, that least at the beginning, an elevated, poetical form; and the rhythmical articulation of v. 3b explains the expression “house of Jacob,” which occurs nowhere else in the Pent.’

3. Thus shalt thou say] Exodus 3:14-15, Exodus 20:22.

the house of Jacob] Isaiah 2:5-6; Isaiah 8:17; Isaiah 10:20, &c. ‘Jacob,’ as a poet. synonym of ‘Israel,’ occurs also often besides in the prophets; in the Pent., only in Genesis 49:7, Numbers 23:7; Numbers 23:10; Numbers 23:21; Numbers 23:23; Numbers 24:5; Numbers 24:17; Numbers 24:19, Deuteronomy 33:4; Deuteronomy 33:10; Deuteronomy 33:28.

3. The covenant concluded with Israel in the steppes of Moab, in the basis of the Deuteronomic legislation itself, Deuteronomy 29:1 a, 9, 12, 14, 21, 25 (cf. 2 Kings 23:2; 2 Kings 23:21, where this legislation is called the ‘book of the covenant’).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3-9. - THE FIRST COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL. AS Moses, having reached the foot of Sinai, was proceeding to ascend the mountain, where he looked to have special revelations from God, God called to him out of the mountain, and required a positive engagement on the part of the people, before he would condescend to enter into further direct relations with them. If, through gratitude for what had been done for them in the deliverance from Egypt, and since, they would solemnly engage to obey God and keep the covenant that he should make with them (verse 5), then a fresh revelation should be made, and fresh engagements entered into; but not otherwise. Moses communicated the message to the people through the alders, and received the solemn promise, which he carried back to God. "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." Verse 3. - Moses went up unto God. From the time of his call Moses had known that Israel was to serve God upon Sinai (Exodus 3:12), and had regarded either one special peak, or the whole range as "the mount of God" - a place dedicated and set apart to Jehovah. It was natural, therefore, that, so soon as he reached the near vicinity of the mount, he should ascend it. The Lord called to him out of the Mount. God often accepts the will for the deed, and spares his saints a needless toil. Here, as Moses was on his way, God anticipated him, and calling to him out of the mountain sent him back to the people with a message. The house of Jacob. This rare expression, familiar to no sacred writer but Isaiah, recalls the promises made to Jacob of a numerous seed, which should grow from a house to a nation (Genesis 28:14; Genesis 35:11). Exodus 19:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Moses had known from the time of his call that Israel would serve God on this mountain (Exodus 3:12); and as soon as the people were encamped opposite to it, he went up to God, i.e., up the mountain, to the top of which the cloud had probably withdrawn. There God gave him the necessary instructions for preparing for the covenant: first of all assuring him, that He had brought the Israelites to Himself to make them His own nation, and that He would speak to them from the mountain (Exodus 19:4-9); and then ordering him to sanctify the people for this revelation of the Lord (Exodus 19:10-15). The promise precedes the demand; for the grace of God always anticipates the wants of man, and does not demand before it has given. Jehovah spoke to Moses "from Mount Horeb." Moses had probably ascended one of the lower heights, whilst Jehovah is to be regarded as on the summit of the mountain. The words of God (Exodus 19:4.) refer first of all to what He had done for the Egyptians, and how He had borne the Israelites on eagles' wings; manifesting in this way not only the separation between Israel and the Egyptians, but the adoption of Israel as the nation of His especial grace and favour. The "eagles' wings" are figurative, and denote the strong and loving care of God. The eagle watches over its young in the most careful manner, flying under them when it leads them from the nest, least they should fall upon the rocks, and be injured or destroyed (cf. Deuteronomy 32:11, and for proofs from profane literature, Bochart, Hieroz, ii. pp. 762, 765ff.). "And brought you unto Myself:" i.e., not "led you to the dwelling-place of God on Sinai," as Knobel supposes; but took you into My protection and My especial care.