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. Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Calvin • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • KJT • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) Exodus 19:1. In the third month — After they came out of Egypt, including the latter part of May and the former part of June. It is computed that the law was given just fifty days after their coming out of Egypt, in remembrance of which the feast of pentecost was observed the fiftieth day after the passover, and in compliance with which the Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, at the feast of pentecost, fifty days after the death of Christ.Mount Sinai was a place which nature, not art, had made conspicuous, for it was the highest in all that range of mountains. Thus God put contempt upon cities and palaces, setting up his pavilion on the top of a mountain, in a barren desert. It is called Sinai, from the multitude of thorny bushes that overspread it.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.The wilderness ... the desert of Sinai - If the mount from which the law was delivered be the rock of Ras Safsafeh, then the spacious plain of Er Rahah would be the "desert" of Sinai (see Exodus 5:17). CHAPTER 19 Ex 19:1-25. Arrival at Sinai. 1. In the third month—according to Jewish usage, the first day of that month—"same day."—It is added, to mark the time more explicitly, that is, forty-five days after Egypt—one day spent on the mount (Ex 19:3), one returning the people's answer (Ex 19:7, 8), three days of preparation, making the whole time fifty days from the first passover to the promulgation of the law. Hence the feast of pentecost, that is, the fiftieth day, was the inauguration of the Old Testament church, and the divine wisdom is apparent in the selection of the same reason for the institution of the New Testament church (Joh 1:17; Ac 2:1).The people come to Sinai, Exodus 19:1,2. God’s proposal to them by Moses. Of the terms of the covenant, Exodus 19:3-6. Moses lays before them what God had commanded, Exodus 19:7. The people’s acceptance of the same, Exodus 19:8. God directeth Moses how to sanctify the people, Exodus 19:10,11; to set bounds to the people that they touch not the mount, Exodus 19:12. The punishment of those that did, Exodus 19:13. Moses sanctifying the people, Exodus 19:14; commands them to keep from their wives, Exodus 19:15. The manner of God’s appearing, Exodus 19:16,18,19. God talketh with Moses, Exodus 19:21-24. the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai; which had its name from the mountain situated in it, and that from the bushes which grew upon it. Justin (z) calls it Synan, which he says Moses occupied, and Strabo (a), Sinnan. Hither they came either on the same day they came from Rephidim; which, according to Bunting (b), were eight miles from it, or on the same day of the month, as to number, that is, on the third day of the third month; and so Jerom (c) and others say it was on the forty seventh day after their coming out of Egypt, three days after which they received the law on Mount Sinai, it being a generally received notion that the law was given fifty days after the passover; hence the feast of weeks is called from thence the feast of pentecost, or fifty days: or rather this was the first day of the month, as Jarchi and R. Moses; with which agrees the Targum of Jonathan; and so was the forty fifth of their coming out of Egypt, five days after which they received the law; it being a tradition with the Jews, as Aben Ezra observes, that that was given on the sixth of Sivan, and may be accounted for thus; on the first day they came to Sinai, and encamped there, on the day following Moses went up to God, Exodus 19:3, on the third day Moses gathered the elders together, Exodus 19:7, and declared to them the words of God, and on the third day after that, which was the sixth, the law was delivered to them. (z) E Trogo, l. 36. c. 2.((a) Geograph. l. 16. p. 520. (b) Travels, p. 82. (c) Epist. Fabiolae de 42 mansion. fol. 15. c. 1. tom. 3. In the {a} third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same {b} day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.(a) Which was in the beginning of the month of Sivan, containing part of May and part of June. (b) That they departed from Rephidim. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) 1. the same day] The day of the month must in some way have fallen out in the early part of the verse.the wilderness of Sinai] The area in front of the mountain, whether ‘Sinai’ be J. Serbâl or J. Mûsâ (see p. 186 ff.): so v. 2, Leviticus 7:38 b, Numbers 1:1; Num Exo 1:19; Numbers 3:14; Numbers 9:1; Numbers 10:12; Numbers 26:64; Numbers 33:15-16 (all P). If Sinai be J. Serbäl, the ‘wilderness’ will be the stretch of W. Feiran, ¾ mile long, between W. ‘Ajeleh and W. ‘Aleyat (cf. on Exodus 17:1 a), 3 miles N. of J. Serbâl, and separated from J. Serbǎl itself by a chaos of rugged hills (cf. p. 182, and see the map): if Sinai be J. Mûsâ, then the ‘wilderness’ will be the plain er-Râḥah, about 1½ mile long, and ½ mile broad, fronting it on the NW., and, according to the best route (p. 182), 37 miles above Feiran. Er-Râḥah, it may be added, is 3000 ft. above Feiran, and 5000 ft. above the sea. 1, 2.a (P). Arrival of the Israelites at Sinai. The ‘when’ in v. 2. is intended to remove a difficulty: the Heb. is, And they took their journey …, and came …, and pitched, &c.; these words, however, beginning with the departure from Rephidim, would naturally precede v. 1, which, stating the new fact of the date of their arrival at Sinai, would as naturally then follow. And this doubtless was the original order, viz.: And they took their journey (Exodus 16:1) from Rephidim, and came to the wilderness of Sinai, and pitched in the wilderness: in the third month after, &c., came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For the form of v. 2a, comp. now Exodus 16:1, Numbers 33:16.Verse 1. - In the third month. The month Sivan, corresponding nearly with our June. When the children of Israel were gone forth. Rather, "after the children of Israel had gone forth," or "after the departure of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt." Compare Exodus 16:1, where the expression used is the same. The same day. Literally, "on that day" - which can only mean "on the day that the month began" - on the 1st of Sivan. The wilderness of Sinai. The plain Er-Rahah; as is now generally allowed, since the true character of the Wady Sebaiyeh has been shown by Dean Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, p. 76) and others. The next day Jethro saw how Moses was occupied from morning till evening in judging the people, who brought all their disputes to him, that he might settle them according to the statutes of God. על עמד: as in Genesis 18:8. The people came to Moses "to seek or inquire of God" (Genesis 18:15), i.e., to ask for a decision from God: in most cases, this means to inquire through an oracle; here it signifies to desire a divine decision as to questions in dispute. By judging or deciding the cases brought before him, Moses made known to the people the ordinances and laws of God. For every decision was based upon some law, which, like all true justice here on earth, emanated first of all from God. This is the meaning of Genesis 18:16, and not, as Knobel supposes, that Moses made use of the questions in dispute, at the time they were decided, as good opportunities for giving laws to the people. Jethro condemned this plan (Genesis 18:18.) as exhausting, wearing out (נבל lit., to fade away, Psalm 37:2), both for Moses and the people: for the latter, inasmuch as they not only got wearied out through long waiting, but, judging from Genesis 18:23, very often began to take the law into their own hands on account of the delay in the judicial decision, and so undermined the well-being of the community at large; and for Moses, inasmuch as the work was necessarily too great for him, and he could not continue for any length of time to sustain such a burden alone (Genesis 18:18). The obsolete form of the inf. const. עשׂהוּ for עשׂתו is only used here, but is not without analogies in the Pentateuch. Jethro advised him (Genesis 18:19.) to appoint judged from the people for all the smaller matters in dispute, so that in future only the more difficult cases, which really needed a superior or divine decision, would be brought to him that he might lay them before God. "I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee (i.e., help thee to carry out this advice): Be thou to the people האלהים מוּל, towards God," i.e., lay their affairs before God, take the place of God in matters of judgment, or, as Luther expresses it, "take charge of the people before God." To this end, in the first place, he was to instruct the people in the commandments of God, and their own walk and conduct (הזהיר with a double accusative, to enlighten, instruct; שדרך the walk, the whole behaviour; מעשׂה particular actions); secondly, he was to select able men (חיל אנשׁי men of moral strength, 1 Kings 1:52) as judges, men who were God-fearing, sincere, and unselfish (gain-hating), and appoint them to administer justice to the people, by deciding the simpler matters themselves, and only referring the more difficult questions to him, and so to lighten his own duties by sharing the burden with these judges. מעליך הקל (Genesis 18:22) "make light of (that which lies) upon thee." If he would do this, and God would command him, he would be able to stand, and the people would come to their place, i.e., to Canaan, in good condition (בּשׁלום). The apodosis cannot begin with וצוּך, "then God will establish thee," for צוּה never has this meaning; but the idea is this, "if God should preside over the execution of the plan proposed." Links Exodus 19:1 InterlinearExodus 19:1 Parallel Texts Exodus 19:1 NIV Exodus 19:1 NLT Exodus 19:1 ESV Exodus 19:1 NASB Exodus 19:1 KJV Exodus 19:1 Bible Apps Exodus 19:1 Parallel Exodus 19:1 Biblia Paralela Exodus 19:1 Chinese Bible Exodus 19:1 French Bible Exodus 19:1 German Bible Bible Hub |
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