Exodus 19 commentary

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 solemn manner in which the law was delivered, was to impress the people with a right sense of the Divine majesty. Also to convince them of their own guilt, and to show that they could not stand in judgment before God by their own obedience. In the law, the sinner discovers what he ought to be, what he is, and what he wants. There he learns the nature, necessity, and glory of redemption, and of being made holy. Having been taught to flee to Christ, and to love him, the law is the rule of his obedience and faith.

Never was there such a sermon preached, before or since, as this which was preached to the church in the wilderness. It might be supposed that the terrors would have checked presumption and curiosity in the people; but the hard heart of an unawakened sinner can trifle with the most terrible threatenings and judgments. In drawing near to God, we must never forget his holiness and greatness, nor our own meanness and pollution. We cannot stand in judgment before him according to his righteous law. The convinced transgressor asks, What must I do to be saved? and he hears the voice, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. The Holy Ghost, who made the law to convince of sin, now takes of the things of Christ, and shows them to us. In the gospel we read, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. We have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Through him we are justified from all things, from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. But the Divine law is binding as a rule of life. The Son of God came down from heaven, and suffered poverty, shame, agony, and death, not only to redeem us from its curse, but to bind us more closely to keep its commands.

1. In the third month. This chapter informs us by what means God rendered the people attentive and teachable when He would promulgate His laws. He had, indeed, previously delivered the rule of a just and pious life, but by writing the Law on tables, and by then adding its exposition, He not only embraced the perfect doctrine of piety and righteousness, but ratified it by a solemn rite, so that the recognition of it might remain and flourish in future times. And this is the main and principal thing which the prophets celebrate in the redemption of the people; and in this, as in a mirror, propose for consideration the image of the renewed Church, that God made known His testimonies to His redeemed, and bound the people, whom He had purchased, to Himself by a new covenant. He had indeed made with Abraham an eternal, and inviolable covenant; but because it had grown into disregard from the lapse of time, and the carelessness of mankind, it became needful that it should be again renewed. To this end, then, it was engraved upon the tables of stone, and written in a book, that the marvelous grace, which God had conferred on the race of Abraham, should never sink into oblivion. But in the first place we must observe that, although the Law is a testimony of God’s gratuitous adoption, and teaches that salvation is based upon His mercy, and invites men to call upon God with sure confidence, yet it has this peculiar property, that it; covenants conditionally. Therefore it is worth while to distinguish between the general doctrine, which was delivered by Moses, and the special command which he received. Moses everywhere exhorts men, by holding forth the hope of pardon, to reconcile themselves to God; and, whenever he prescribes expiatory rites, he doubtless encourages miserable sinners to have a good hope, and bears witness that God will be merciful to them. Meanwhile this office was separately imposed upon him, to demand perfect; righteousness of the people, and to promise them a reward, as if by compact, upon no other condition than that they should fulfill whatever was enjoined them, but to threaten and to denounce vengeance against them if ever they wandered from the way. It is certain indeed that the same covenant, of which Abraham had been the minister and keeper, was repeated to his descendants by the instrumentality of Moses; and yet Paul declares, that the Law “was added because of transgressions,” (Galatians 3:19,) and opposes it to the promise given to Abraham; because, as he is treating of the peculiar office, power, and end of the Law, he separates it from the promises of grace. With the same import, he elsewhere calls it “the ministration of death,” and “the letter that killeth.” (2 Corinthians 3:6, 7.) Again, in another place, he states that it “worketh wrath,” (Romans 4:15;) as if by its arraignment it inflicted a deadly wound on the human race, and left them no hope of salvation. In this preparation, then, wherein God instructed the people to reverence and fear, a twofold object may be perceived; for, since men’s minds are partly swollen with pride and haughtiness, and partly stupified by indifference, they must needs be either humbled or awakened, in order to their reception of divine teaching with the attention it deserves; nor can any be prepared to obey God, except he be bowed down and subdued by fear. Moreover, they then begin to be afraid when God’s majesty is displayed to inspire them with terror. Thus, therefore, let the fact that the authority of the Law was ratified by many signs and wonders, teach us that this is the beginning of piety and faith in God’s children. To this end also did God shake the earth, to arouse men’s hearts from their slumber, or to correct them by taming their pride. This object is common to the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel, and to the whole sum of divine teaching, to which due honor is never paid, unless God’s majesty first shines forth, whereby He casts down all the haughtiness of the world. But we must not pass over what I lately asserted to be peculiar to the Law, via, to fill men’s minds with fear, and by setting forth its terrible curse, to cut off the hope of salvation; for, whilst it consists of three parts, each of them tends to the same end, that all should acknowledge themselves deserving of the judgment of eternal death, because in it God sustains no other character than that of a Judge, who, after having rigidly exacted what is due to Him, promises only a just reward, and threatens the transgressors with vengeance. But who will be found to be a perfect keeper of the Law? Nay, it is certain that all, from the least to the greatest, are guilty of transgression, wherefore God’s wrath overhangs them all This is what Paul means, when he writes that believers

“have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but the spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father,” (Romans 8:15;)

showing how much better is our condition than that of the old fathers, because the Law kept them enslaved in its bondage, whilst the Gospel delivers us from anxiety, and frees us from the stings of conscience; for all must necessarily tremble, and finally be overwhelmed by despair, who seek for salvation by works; but peace and rest only exist in the mercy of God. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews pursues this idea at greater length, where he says,

“Ye are not come unto the mount that must be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words: which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more, etc., (whence Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake:) but ye are come unto Mount Sion,” etc. (Hebrews 12:18-22.)

The antithesis here proves, that what was entrusted to Moses is separate and distinct from the Gospel; because God, who appeared in the Law as an avenger, now with fatherly kindness gently invites us unto salvation, and soothes our troubled minds by offering us the forgiveness of our sins. Now, Paul shows us that there is no contradiction in this diversity, because the people were taught by the Law not to seek for salvation anywhere but in the grace of Christ, and being convinced of the horrible condemnation under which they lay, were driven by fear to implore God’s mercy; for, as men are apt to Se pardonnent et dispensent aisement. — Fr. allow themselves in sin, “sin (as Paul says, Romans 5:13) is not imputed, where there is no law;” but those, who delight themselves in darkness, are by the teaching of the Law brought before God’s tribunal, that they may fully perceive their filthiness and be ashamed. Thus is Paul’s saying fulfilled, that the life of the Law is man’s death. (Romans 7:9.) Now we understand why the promulgation of the Law was ratified by so many miracles; viz., because, in general, the authority of the divine teaching was to be established among the dull and careless, or the proud and rebellious; and, secondly, because the Law was propounded to men, who sought the means of flattering themselves, as the mirror of the curse, so that, in themselves lost, they might fly to the refuge of pardon. I have thought it advisable to say thus much by way of preface, for the purpose of directing my readers to the proper object of the history, which is here related. But Moses first recounts that the people came, at a single march, from Rephidim into the region of Sinai; for so I interpret it, that there was no intervening station; for their interpretation is forced and unnatural, who take “the same day” for the beginning of the month.

3. And Moses went up. It is probable that Moses sought, as he was wont, retirement., in order to take counsel of God; for he speaks not as of some new or unusual circumstance, but of a custom previously observed; because he dared not stop anywhere, nor make any further advances, except as far as was prescribed him by the mouth of God. His going up to God signifies no more than that he went; out of the camp, that afar from the multitude, and from all distractions he might in secrecy and quiet inquire of God, what was His pleasure; for he did not, like the superstitious, choose a lofty position, that he might be nearer to God; but he withdrew himself from every disturbance, that he might engage all his senses in the occupation of learning. Afterwards, however, he adds, that he had obtained more than he had hoped for, because God, beyond what was customary with Him, addressed him respecting the renewal of His covenant. And to this the opening words have reference — “Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;” wherein the repetition and diversity of expression is emphatic, as though He would speak of a very serious matter, and would thus awaken greater attention.

4. Ye have seen. With the view of gently inviting the people to obedience, He first recalls to their recollection the blessing of their deliverance, and then promises that the blessings of the future would be not inferior, if they on their part honored their deliverer with the piety and gratitude which belong to Him. He recounts the two parts of His loving-kindness, first that He had exerted His tremendous power against the Egyptians, and secondly, that He had marvelously brought His redeemed people through the sea, and the mighty wilderness, as through the clouds and the air; for this was an instance of His inestimable grace, that He had made war against a most powerful king, had afflicted a most flourishing nation, and had devastated a land remarkable for its extreme fertility, in order to succor a body of despised slaves. For there was no dignity in them, who first of all were strangers, and moreover abject herdsmen, and devoted to base and shameful slavery, whereby God might be incited for their sakes to destroy the Egyptians, who were illustrious in glory, in wealth, in the richness of their land, and in the splendor of their empire. Wherefore it would have been detestable ingratitude not to acknowledge their great obligations to God. What He adds in the second place, that He bare them as eagles are wont to carry their young, has reference to the constant course of His paternal care. Moses will hereafter use the same comparison in his song, and it often occurs in the prophets. But He mentions the eagle rather than other birds, in my opinion, that He may magnify their difficulties, and thus commend His grace; for eagles lift up their young ones upon high places, and accustom them to look at the sun; thus the people, as if carried above the clouds on the wings of God, had surmounted every obstacle, however great. For the notion which some have, that eagles are mentioned instead of other birds, because they alone bear up their young ones on their wings, is a foolish and truly Rabbinical gloss. This Rabbinical comment is thus briefly stated in S. M., — I bare you as it were on my shoulders, as an eagle carries her young ones upon her wings, and not after the manner of other birds, who bear up their young ones with their feet wherever they wish to carry them. — W See Illustrated Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:11.

5. Now, therefore. God declares that He will ever be the same, and will constantly persevere Added from Fr. (in blessing them), provided the Israelites do not degenerate, but remain devoted to their Deliverer; at the same time, He reminds them also, wherefore he has been so bountiful to them, viz., that they may continually aspire unto the end of their calling; for He had not willed to perform toward them a single act of liberality, but to purchase them as His peculiar, people. This privilege he sets before them in the word סגלה, סגלה, S. M. says this is equivalent to אוצר חביב, a beloved treasure, The root סגל does not occur in Hebrew, but in Arabic it signifies to mark with the owner’s seal; so that the noun should mean, a possession on which the owner has stamped his mark. Comp. 2 Timothy 2:19, and Ezekiel 9:4-6. — W segullah, which means all things most precious, whatever, in fact, is deposited in a treasury; although the word “peculium,” a peculiar possession, by which the old interpreter i.e., The Vulgate. Our A.V. combines both ideas. has rendered it, is not unsuitable to the passage; because it is plain from the immediate context, that it denotes the separation of this people from all others; since these words directly follow: “for,” or, although “all the earth is mine;” the particle כי, ki, being often taken adversatively, and there is no doubt but that God would more exalt His grace, by comparing this one nation with the whole world, as it is said in the song of Moses,

“When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel; for the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 32:8.)

The sum then is, that whilst the whole earth is in God’s dominion, yet the race of Israel has been chosen by Him to excel all nations. Whence it is evident, that whereas the condition of all is alike, some are not distinguished from others by nature, but by gratuitous adoption; but, in order that they should abide in the possession of so great a blessing, fidelity towards God is required on their part. And, first, they are commanded to listen to his voice, (since no sacrifice is more pleasing to him than obedience, 1 Samuel 15:22;) and then a definition of obedience is added, viz., to keep His covenant.

6. And ye shall be unto me. He points out more clearly, and more at length, how the Israelites will be precious unto God; viz., because they will be for “a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” By these words, he implies that they will be endowed with sacerdotal as well as royal honors; as much as to say, that they would not only be free, but also like kings, if they persevered in faith and obedience, since no kingdom is more desirable, or more happy, than to be the subjects of God. Moreover, he calls this “an holy kingdom,” because all the kingdoms of the world were then in heathenism; for the genitive, according to the usual idiom of the language, is put for an adjective, as if he had said, that they would enjoy not merely an earthly and transitory dominion, but also a sacred and heavenly one. Others understand it passively, that God would be their king; whilst mortals, and for the most part cruel tyrants, would rule over other nations. Though I do not altogether reject this sense, yet I rather prefer the other, to which also St. Peter leads us: for when the Jews, who by their refusal of Christ had departed from the covenant, still improperly gloried in this title, he claims this honor for the members of Christ only, saying, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,” etc. (1 Peter 2:9.) But the passive sense would not accord with these words, viz., that believers are subject to the priesthood of God, for the Apostle gracefully applies the words to take away the unacceptableness of novelty; as if he had said, God formerly promised to our fathers that they should be to Him for a royal priesthood. This privilege all, who separate themselves from Christ the Head, falsely lay claim to, since He alone makes us a royal priesthood. Meanwhile he teaches, by this apparent adaptation of the words, that what had been spoken by Moses is actually fulfilled. And, in fact, Christ appeared invested with the kingdom and the priesthood, that He might confer both of these privileges upon His members; whence it follows, that whosoever divorce themselves from Him, are unworthy of either honor, and are justly deprived of them. The nation is here called holy, not with reference to their piety or personal holiness, but as set apart from others by God by special privilege. Yet on this kind of sanctification the other depends, viz., that they who are exalted by God’s favor should cultivate holiness, and thus on their part sanctify God.

8. And all the people answered. We shall see in its proper place why God employed Moses as a messenger to carry backwards and forwards the commands and replies; now he merely relates what all the people answered, viz., that they would be obedient in all things. It was not a part, but the whole of the people who promised this, and the reply was unreserved, declaring that they would do whatsoever God required. Yet soon after they relapsed into their natural mind, and kept not their promise even in the smallest degree. Still we may believe that they spoke without dissembling; but that, although without any intention of deceiving God, they were carried away by a kind of headlong zeal, and deceived themselves. Nor was it the object of Moses to tell them in reproach that they had lied to God, or deceitfully boasted with their lips what they did not feel in their hearts; but, by stating how ready they were to obey, he deprives them hereafter of all pretense of ignorance. Nor is there any doubt that God inclined their minds to this docility, in order to establish the doctrine of His law. Meanwhile, let us learn from their example, that we must not merely obey God’s word by some earnest impulse; and that a hasty feeling is of no use, unless it be followed by constant perseverance; and, therefore, let us learn to sift; ourselves well, lest: we rashly promise, without serious self-examination, more, than we are able to perform. Yet we must not forget what. I have already said, that they were all made willing by the secret inspiration of God, in order that they might be witnesses both to themselves and others of the many signs, by which the truth and faithfulness of the La Loy. — Fr. heavenly doctrine was then confirmed.

Exodus 19:9-15

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.

9. Tunc ait Jehova ad Mosen, Ecce, ego venio ad te in densa nube, ut audiat populus quum loquar tecum, atque etiam tibi credant in perpetuum. Indicaverat autem Moses Jehovae verba populi.

10. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes,

10. Et dixit Jehova ad Mosen, Vade ad populum, et sanctifica eos hodie et cras, laventque vestimenta sua.

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.

11. Et sint parati in diem tertium: quoniam die tertio descendet Jehova coram oculis totius populi super montem 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:

12. Et praescribet terminum populo per circuitum, dicendo, Cavete vobis ne ascendatis in montem, neque contingatis terminum ejus. Quicunque tetigerit montem, moriendo morietur.

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 trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

13. Non tanget eum manus, sed lapidando lapidabitur, aut jaculis ferietur: sive jumentum fuerit, sive homo, non vivet, quum protraxerit buccina, ipsi ascendcut in montem.

14. And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.

14. Descendit autem Moses e monte ad populum, et sanctificavit populum, et laverunt vestimenta sua.

15. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

15. Dixitque populo, Sitis parati in diem tertium, et ne accedatis ad uxores.

9. And the Lord said unto Moses. God here proclaims, that by a manifest symbol of His glory, He will make it evident that the Law proceeded not from Moses, but that he merely delivered faithfully what he received from heaven; for God was so covered with the cloud, as with a veil that He still upraised their minds as by a certain sign of His presence. On this was the authority of Moses founded, that the Israelites knew God to be the author of the doctrine, of which he was the minister. And this is especially worth remarking, because we gather from hence that there is no other mode of proving a doctrine, except by the assurance that it comes not from elsewhere, but from God alone; and thus is every mortal brought down to his level, lest any one, however excellent in wisdom, should dare to advance his own imaginations. For if the mightiest of prophets, Moses, obtained credit in the Church on no other grounds than because he bore the commands of God, and only taught what he had heard, how foolish and impudent will it be in teachers, who sink down far beneath him, to endeavor to attain a higher point! In fine, this passage shows that we must believe in God alone, but that at the same time we must listen to the prophets, who spoke out of His mouth. Besides this, it appears that God did not wish to obtain credit for His servant Moses during a short period of time, but that posterity should pay him the same reverence even after his death. The call of some is temporary; and it may happen that God takes away the spirit of prophecy from those to whom He has given it; but so did He appear to Moses, as to ratify, and, as it were, consecrate the truth of his doctrine in all ages. Thence it follows, that the brightness of God’s glory, which was shown to his ancient people in the thick cloud, is not yet extinct, but that it ought to illuminate the minds of all the godly, reverently to submit themselves to Moses. What follows at the end of the verse is a repetition from the last; for there was no intervening reply of the people which Moses could report. The meaning is, that although the Israelites had voluntarily promised to abide in the path of duty, yet that this confirmation was added, like a spur to those who are running, that they may proceed more nimbly.

10. And the Lord said unto Moses. Before propounding His law, it is not unreasonable that God should command the people to be sanctified, lest He should cast pearls before swine, or give that which is holy unto dogs; for although by right of adoption they were holy, yet, as regarded themselves, the filthiness of their nature unfitted them for participating in so great a blessing. It was by no means right or just that the inestimable treasure should be polluted by foul and stinking vessels. Therefore, in the injunction that they should be sanctified, two things were pointed out, — that the sacred doctrine of God was not to be handled by unwashen hands, and that the whole human race is impure and polluted, and, consequently, that none can duly enter God’s school save those who are cleansed from their filthiness. And, doubtless, it is the just reward of their unworthy profanation that so many readers or hearers profit not by heavenly doctrine, because they rush in without fear or reverence, as to some ridiculous stage play. This preparation, then, is seasonably commanded, to make ready God’s scholars and render them fit to be taught. But while the inward purity of the heart is chiefly demanded, this ceremony was not without its use to accustom an ignorant people to meditate upon true holiness. That they should wash their clothes and abstain from the nuptial bed were things of naught in themselves; but when external rites are referred to their proper end, viz., to be exercises unto spiritual worship, they are useful aids to piety; and we know that God, in consideration of the times, before Christ’s coming, employed such figures which now have no place under the brightness of the Gospel. But although the use of them be grown obsolete, yet the truth, which I spoke of, still remains, viz., that if we desire to be admitted to a participation in heavenly doctrine, we should

“cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.” (2 Corinthians 7:1.)

But here a question arises; for if, as Peter bears witness, faith purifies the heart, (Acts 15:9,) and understanding of the doctrine goes before faith, since Paul declares that it “cometh by hearing,” (Romans 10:17,) the consequence is, that the order of things is inverted if the people are to be sanctified before they hear the Law, because in this way the means of sanctification is wanting. My reply is, that albeit faith, in so far as it embraces the offer of reconciliation and the Spirit of regeneration, can alone truly purify us; yet this by no means prevents the fear of God from going before to prepare a place for the word in our minds. And, properly speaking, a pious desire of learning, humility, and reverence should be accounted the commencement of faith, since it is from these elements that God begins to perfect faith in us by certain progressive steps. On this account James exhorts us to “receive with meekness the engrafted word,” because the door of the entrance is shut against it by pride, and obstinacy, and profane contempt. As to the meaning of the passage, to be “sanctified,” and to “wash their clothes,” are not spoken of as different things, but the second is added as the symbol Comme marque visible. — Fr. of the first; for under the Law the rite of ablution reminded the ancient people that no one can please God, except he both seek for expiation in the blood of Christ, and labor to purify himself from the pollution’s of the flesh. Abstinence from cohabitation had the same object; for although there is nothing polluting or contaminating in the marriage bed, yet the Israelites were to be reminded that all earthly cares were, as much as possible, to be renounced, and all carnal affections to be put away, that they might give their entire attention to the hearing of the Law. The sanctity of marriage veils and covers whatever of sin there is in the cohabitation of man and wife; yet it is certain that it in some degree distracts them from having their whole minds occupied by spiritual affections. Therefore Paul makes this exception in the mutual obligation of the marriage bed, that couples may be separated for “fasting and prayer.” (1 Corinthians 7:5.) Yet the moderation which God prescribed is to be observed; for God did not enjoin perpetual celibacy, but so arranged the time that the Israelites might be disengaged from all earthly preoccupations, and might more freely apply their whole minds to the reverent reception of the Law.

12. And thou shalt set bounds. By this symbol the Israelites were admonished to restrain their natural inquisitiveness, that they may be sober in their desires after knowledge, because God, by the teaching of His Law, only enlightens those who are as “little children.” We know how great is men’s natural curiosity, how forwardly they seek to penetrate the secrets of God, how daringly they indulge themselves, and how, by their irreverence, all religion and fear of God is extinguished in them; wherefore there was good cause why He should set these bounds, and restrain this perverse longing after unlawful knowledge. All would have wished to come, like Moses, to familiar converse with God; but they are commanded to stand within the boundaries, that they may obey God speaking to them by an interpreter. Thus are their modesty and docility proved, when they desire no more than is permitted them, and keep themselves within the bounds of revelation. What was then enjoined upon His ancient people is extended also to us, that in reading and hearing we should not overpass the limits which God assigns us, but, content with the form of doctrine which He delivers to us, should let alone what He would have concealed from us; and, although He speaks to us from afar, should not be offended by the distance. Yet does He not prohibit the people from ascending, as though he grudged them a nearer prospect of His glory; but because it is expedient that the proud and improperly arrogant should be kept within His narrow limit, that they may be reminded of their weakness. To alarm them yet more, He commands that the men themselves, “Or, pour plus estonner les hommes, il commande que les bestes memes,” etc.; now, to alarm men more, He commands that even the beasts. etc. — Fr. and even beasts, though harmless, should be killed if they passed over the borders. We have just before explained what is meant by God’s descending, viz., the manifestation of His power; since His essence which fills heaven and earth moves not from its place.

13. There shall not a hand touch it. There shall not a hand touch him, (eum.) — Lat.

Curiously enough, the French translation contradicts the Commentary, — “Nulle main ne la touchera (i.e., la montagne) autrement il sera lapide, etc.” Our translation, too, seems to carry this meaning. Dathe’s Version is in accordance with Calvin’s view, — “Nec tamen ejusmodi transgressorem mann esse tangendum (sc. ut vi adhibita ejiceretur e cancellis) sed lapidibus obruendum, etc.” Hugo de S. Victor, in Willet, gives yet another conjecture, — “The hand of man shall not need to be upon him; sed intelligitur lapidum ictibus in eum divinitus volitantibus necandus.” They ignorantly pervert the meaning who resolve the particle ב, be, into the adversative else; as if Moses forbade them to touch the mountain with the hand, under penalty of stoning. Aben-Ezra sic exponit: Qui praescriptum terminum transierit in hunc nemo injiciat manus, nemo illum sequatur intra constitutos limites, sed projiciant ad eum lapides, aut feriant eum jaculis. S. M. — W. Those also are far from the truth who think that what is ordained is, that one should not follow the other, or that none should stretch forth his hand to the transgressors for their help. Moses referred to something altogether different; for in order to render more detestable those who, by rash advances, should violate the limits placed by God, he commanded them to be killed afar off by stones or darts; as if whosoever should touch them, even with a finger, would contract pollution. It is, then, as if he commanded them to be avoided as being accursed, lest they should infect others by their contagion. Therefore there is an antithesis between different kinds of death, viz., to smite with the sword or to shoot through with darts, and to strike with the hand. But lest the people should consider themselves rejected, and thus being offended by the ignominy of their repulse, should abandon their love and desire for the Law, He permits their ascent conditionally, viz., when the sound of the trumpet shall have been protracted for a long time, or it shall have done sounding. Thus there was no ground for complaining of the limitation which God had appointed for their safety.

Exodus 19:16-20

16. And it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunders and lightning’s, 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.

16. Et fuit die tertia, quum factum esset mane, facta sunt tonitrua, et fulgura, et nubes densissima super montem, et clangor tubae intentissimus, expavitque universus populus qui erat in castris.

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.

17. Et eduxit Moses populum in occursum Dei e castris: qui steterunt in inferiore parte montis.

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.

18. Mons autem Sinai fumabat totus, eo quod descendisset super eum Jehova in igne: ascendebatque fumus ejus: sicut fumus fornacis, et commotus est universus mons vehementer.

19. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

19. Erat praeterea clangor buccinae procedens, et invalescebat valde: Moses loquebatur, et Deus respondebat ei in voce.

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.

20. Descenderat autem Jehova supra montem Sinai, super verticem montis: et vocavit Jehova Mosen ad verticem montis, ascenditque Moses.

16. And it came to pass on the third day. We must bear in mind what I have already adverted to, that this terrible spectacle was partly to set the presence of God before their eyes, that His majesty might urge the beholders to obedience, and vindicate His doctrine from contempt, and partly to express the nature of the Law, which in itself produces nothing but mere terror. The air was disturbed by thunder and lightning’s, and the sound of the trumpet; the mountain was wrapped in smoke and darkness, that the people might humbly prostrate themselves before God, and solemnly embrace the covenant proposed to them; since religion never penetrates the mind so that it seriously receives God’s word until its vices are cleansed and corrected, and it is really subdued. And this fear is common also to the Gospel; for as in the promulgation of the Law God shook the earth, so when He speaks by the Prophet of the coming of Christ, and the restoration of His Church, He says, “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth,” etc. (Haggai 2:6.) Thus, too, David, when he would point to God as the avenger of His Church, describes Him under this image; for no doubt when, in Psalm 18:7-9, he says, “Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, — there went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured; he bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet,” he alludes to the history which Moses here relates. Habakkuk 3:3 yet more plainly does so, — “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.” Meanwhile the other point remains, that the awful prodigies, at which the people needs must tremble, were added as seals to the promulgation of the Law, because the Law was given to cite slumbering consciences to the judgment-seat, that, through fear of eternal death, they might flee for refuge to God’s mercy.

17. And Moses brought forth the people. We learn from these words that the prodigies were not intended to drive the people from God’s sight, and that they were not smitten with fear to exasperate and disgust them with the doctrine, but that God’s covenant was no less lovely than alarming; for they are commanded to go and “meet God,” presenting themselves with minds ready unto obedience. But this could not be unless they heard in the Law something besides precepts and threatenings. Yet in the smoke and fire, and other signs, some fear was added, in accordance with the office of the Law, because the sinner will never be capable of pardon until he learns to tremble from consciousness of his guilt, nay, until confounded with dread he lies like one dead before the tribunal of God. In the two following verses, Moses explains what he had briefly touched upon respecting the meeting with God; for he shows that God was near, since His majesty appeared upon the top of Sinai. He adds that he stood within the bounds, because he went up by himself alone, and that by invitation; for he clears himself from the accusation of temerity, by expressly stating that he passed over the limits assigned to the people, not voluntarily, but at the command and call of God. This sentence is omitted in the Fr. I presume the allusion here is to verse 20, which the V. translates “descendit, and not as C., “descenderat.” Corn. a Lapide defends the V., with which our A.V. agrees, conceiving that a still closer descent “in a thicker cloud, and with greater glory,” upon the very top of the mountain, over which the fire had only hovered before, is here described. It may be so; but his reasoning, founded on the word “super,” which is used in both cases, does not prove it. It appears from the context itself that the order of the narration is inverted, which the old translator does not perceive, and perverts the sense. God’s answering him “by a voice,” means that He spoke aloud and clearly, viz., so that the people might hear, as we shall see hereafter in Deuteronomy 4.

Exodus 19:21-25

21. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.

21. Dixitque Jehova ad Mosen, Descende: contestare populum ne perrumpatad Jehovam videndicausa, et cadat ex eis multitudo.

22. And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.

22. Quinetiam sacerdotes qui appropinquant ad Jehovam sanctificent se, ne forte rupturam illis faciat Jehova.

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.

23. Et ait Moses ad Jehovam, Non peterit populus ascendere in montem Sinai: quia tu nos contestatus es, dicendo, Distermina montem, et sanctifica illum.

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.

24. Et dixit ei Jehova, Vade, descende, et ascendes tu et Aaron tecum, sacerdotes autem et populus non perrumpant ut ascendant ad Jehovam, ne forte rupturam in illis faciat.

25. So Moses went down unto the people, and spoke unto them.

25. Descendit itaque Moses ad populum, et loquutus est apud eos.

18. And all the people saw the thunderings. Because in the parallel passage Au passage de Deuteronome, que nous verrons tantost. — Fr. Moses more largely pursues what he here only touches upon briefly, I shall also defer my full exposition of it. If he had been the only spectator of God’s glory, the credit of his testimony would be lighter; after having, then, reported the ten commandments, which God Himself spoke with His own sacred lips in the hearing of the people, he adds, at the same time, that the lightning’s shone openly, the mountain smoked, the trumpets sounded, and the thunder rolled. It follows, therefore, that by these conspicuous and illustrious signs, the law was ratified before all the people, from the greatest even to the least. The confession of the whole people is added; when, overwhelmed with alarm, they supplicate God to go on speaking no more. For no longer could they now despise the voice of the man, whom they had of their own accord desired to be given them as their mediator, lest they should be consumed by the awful voice of God. He lays before them the object, for which those signs had appeared to terrify them, viz., that God might subdue them to obedience. They were terrified, then, not that they might be stupified with astonishment, but only that they might be humbled and submit themselves to God. And this is a peculiar privilege, that the majesty of God, before whom heaven and earth tremble, does not There is a play on the words in the Latin here: “Non exanimet, sed tantum examinet.” destroy but only proves and searches His children.

DEUTERONOMY 5

THE REPETITION OF THE SAME HISTORY

Deuteronomy 5:22-31

22. These words the Lord spoke unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and he added no more: and he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.

22. Verba haec loquutus est Jehova ad cunctam congregationem vestram in monte e medio ignis nubis et caliginis, voce magna, et non addidit: scripsitque illa in duabus tabulis lapideis, et dedit ills mihi.

23. And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

23. Fuit autem quum audivissetis vocem e medio tenebrarum, (mons enim ardebat igne,) accessistis ad me omnes duces tribuum vestrarum, et seniores vestri.

24. And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath showed us his glory, and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.

24. Et dixistis, En ostendit nobis Jehova Deus noster gloriam suam, et magnitudinem suam, et vocem ejus audivimus e medio ignis: hodie vidimus quod loquutus est Deus cum homine, et vixit.

25. Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die.

25. Nunc igitur quare moriemur? consumet enim nos ignis magnus iste: si iterum audierimus vocem Dei nostri, moriemur.

26. For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

26. Nam quae ulla fuit caro, ut audiat vocem Dei viventis, loquentis e medio ignis, sicut nos, et vivat?

27. Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say; and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it, and do it.

27. Accede tu, et audi omnia quae dixerit Jehova Deus noster: tu autem loqueris ad nos quaecunque dixerit Jehova Deus noster tibi, et audiemus atque faciemus.

28. And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke unto me; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken.

28. Audivitque Jehova vocem verborum vestrorum quum loqueremini ad me. Et dixit Jehova mihi, Audivi vocem verborum populi hujus quae dixerunt tibi: bene dixerunt quaecunque loquuti sunt.

29. Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

29. Quis det ut sit cor eorum istud illis, ut timeant me, et custodiant omnia praecepta mea omnibus diebus, ut bene sit illis et filiis eorum in saeculum?

30. Go say to them, Get you into your tents again.

30. Vade, dic eis, Revertimini in tabernacula vestra.

31. But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

31. Tu vero hic sta apud me, et proferam tibi omnia praecepta et statuta et judicia quae illos docebis, ut faciant in terra quam ego do illis possidendam.

21. And the Lord said unto Moses. By God’s command the same prohibition is repeated, that the people should not pass over the bounds, because, without doubt, it was not enough to have forbidden them once, as we may gather from the reply of Moses; for he thought that since they were all admonished, there was no necessity for a new prohibition. But God insists with greater vehemence, and again with threatenings, orders them to be charged that they take diligent heed to themselves. He knew, forsooth, that He had to do with the rebellious, for whose subjugation a sorer dread of punishment would be necessary. Now, since we are no better than they, let us not be surprised if God often spurs us on by the application of many exhortations, and redoubles His threats, for else forgetfulness of all which He has once enjoined would creep over us. This passage also confirms the fact, that the curiosity which influences men’s minds is greatly displeasing to God; for He expressly commands that they should not break through to gaze, — not because He would have anything concealed or hidden which it was profitable for them to know, but because their inquiries ought to be sober; and this is the legitimate limit of knowledge, humbly to learn at God’s mouth what He voluntarily teaches, — not to advance with too anxious longings, but to follow Him as He leads us.

23. And Moses said unto the Lord. Because Moses was persuaded that the people would be obedient, he rejoins that the decree which had already been pronounced would be sufficient, and that the repetition of it would be in some degree supererogatory; for when he says that “the people cannot come up,” he replies that he puts himself forward in the name of all as their surety. And this he does honestly, and in accordance with the rule of charity; yet it appears from God’s reply that he was deceived, whilst judging of others by his own feelings. Whilst, however, he unhesitatingly executes the task allotted to him, it is plain that he preferred the command of God to his own preconceived opinion; and thus taught us by his example, that whatever may be the imaginations which come into our minds, they must still be submitted to this yoke, that God’s authority alone may have the pre-eminence. A doubt may arise because He names “the priests;” since the priestly office was not yet committed to the Levites. Some, therefore, understand it to mean all the first-born, because, by ancient and common consent, it is allowed that they were always invested with the honor of the priesthood. But although I readily admit that they were chosen from the first-born, yet I do not think it probable that out of that immense multitude there were special priests for every house. In the meantime we may conjecture that since no heathen nations were then without priests, there was no less method amongst the chosen people; for what common sense dictated to the blind, assuredly a purer religion more clearly showed, viz., that God’s worship should not be separated from the priesthood.

EXODUS 20

Exodus 20:18-21

18. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightning’s, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and, when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

18. Omnis populus videbant tonitrua et lampades, et clamorem buccinae, et montem fumantem, vidit inquam populus, et commoti sunt, steteruntque procul.

19. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

19. Atque dixerunt Mosi, Loquere tu nobiscum, et obsequemur: et ne loquatur nobiscum Deus, ne forte moriamur.

20. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

20. Respondit autem Moses populo, Ne timeatis: quia ut tentaret vos venit Deus, et ut sit timor ejus ante conspectum vestrum, ut non peccetis.

21. And the people stood afar off: and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

21. Stetit igitur populus procul, Moses autem appropinquavit ad caliginem, in qua erat Deus.

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).

2. were come to the desert of Sinai--The desert has its provinces, or divisions, distinguished by a variety of names; and the "desert of Sinai" is that wild and desolate region which occupies the very center of the peninsula, comprising the lofty range to which the mount of God belongs. It is a wilderness of shaggy rocks of porphyry and red granite, and of valleys for the most part bare of verdure.

and there Israel camped before the mount--Sinai, so called from Seneh, or acacia bush. It is now called Jebel Musa. Their way into the interior of the gigantic cluster was by Wady Feiran, which would lead the bulk of the hosts with their flocks and herds into the high valleys of Jebel Musa, with their abundant springs, especially into the great thoroughfare of the desert--the longest, widest, and most continuous of all the valleys, the Wady-es-Sheikh, while many would be scattered among the adjacent valleys; so that thus secluded from the world in a wild and sublime amphitheatre of rocks, they "camped before the mount." "In this valley--a long flat valley--about a quarter of a mile in breadth, winding northwards, Israel would find ample room for their encampment. Of all the wadys in that region, it seems the most suitable for a prolonged sojourn. The 'goodly tents' of Israel could spread themselves without limit" [Bonar].

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; He 12:24].

7-8. Moses came and called for the elders of the people--The message was conveyed to the mighty multitude through their elders, who, doubtless, instructed them in the conditions required. Their unanimous acceptance was conveyed through the same channel to Moses, and by him reported to the Lord. Ah! how much self-confidence did their language betray! How little did they know what spirit they were of!

9-15. The Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come ... in a thick cloud, &c.--The deepest impressions are made on the mind through the medium of the senses; and so He who knew what was in man signalized His descent at the inauguration of the ancient church, by all the sensible tokens of august majesty that were fitted to produce the conviction that He is the great and terrible God. The whole multitude must have anticipated the event with feelings of intense solemnity and awe. The extraordinary preparations enjoined, the ablutions and rigid abstinence they were required to observe, the barriers erected all round the base of the mount, and the stern penalties annexed to the breach of any of the conditions, all tended to create an earnest and solemn expectation which increased as the appointed day drew near.

16. on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, &c.--The descent of God was signalized by every object imagination can conceive connected with the ideas of grandeur and of awe. But all was in keeping with the character of the law about to be proclaimed. As the mountain burned with fire, God was exhibited as a consuming fire to the transgressors of His law. The thunder and lightning, more awful amid the deep stillness of the region and reverberating with terrific peals among the mountains, would rouse the universal attention; a thick cloud was an apt emblem of the dark and shadowy dispensation (compare Mt 17:5).

the voice of a trumpet--This gave the scene the character of a miraculous transaction, in which other elements than those of nature were at work, and some other than material trumpet was blown by other means than human breath.

17. Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God--Wady-er-Raheh, where they stood, has a spacious sandy plain; immediately in front of Es Suksafeh, considered by Robinson to be the mount from which the law was given. "We measured it, and estimate the whole plain at two geographical miles long, and ranging in breadth from one-third to two-thirds of a mile, or as equivalent to a surface of one square mile. This space is nearly doubled by the recess on the west, and by the broad and level area of Wady-es-Sheikh on the east, which issues at right angles to the plain, and is equally in view of the front and summit of the mount. The examination convinced us that here was space enough to satisfy all the requisitions of the Scripture narrative, so far as it relates to the assembling of the congregation to receive the law. Here, too, one can see the fitness of the injunction to set bounds around the mount, that neither man nor beast might approach too near, for it rises like a perpendicular wall." But Jebel Musa, the old traditional Sinai, and the highest peak, has also a spacious valley, Wady Sebaiyeh, capable of holding the people. It is not certain on which of these two they stood.

21. the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people--No sooner had Moses proceeded a little up the mount, than he was suddenly ordered to return, in order to keep the people from breaking through to gaze--a course adopted to heighten the impressive solemnity of the scene. The strict injunctions renewed to all, whatever their condition, at a time and in circumstances when the whole multitude of Israel were standing at the base of the mount, was calculated in the highest degree to solemnize and awe every heart.

In the third month - This was called Sivan, and answers to our May. For the Jewish months, years, etc.

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, Exo 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.

Moses went up unto God - It is likely that the cloud which had conducted the Israelitish camp had now removed to the top of Sinai; and as this was the symbol of the Divine presence, Moses went up to the place, there to meet the Lord.

The Lord called unto him - This, according to St. Stephen, was the Angel of the Lord, Act 7:38. And from several scriptures we have seen that the Lord Jesus was the person intended; see Clarke's note on Gen 16:7; see Clarke's note on Gen 18:13; see Clarke's note on Exo 3:2.

How I bare you on eagles' wings - Mr. Bruce contends that the word נשר nesher does not mean the bird we term eagle; but a bird which the Arabs, from its kind and merciful disposition, call rachama, which is noted for its care of its young, and its carrying them upon its back. See his Travels, vol. vii., pl. 33. It is not unlikely that from this part of the sacred history the heathens borrowed their fable of the eagle being a bird sacred to Jupiter, and which was employed to carry the souls of departed heroes, kings, etc., into the celestial regions. The Romans have struck several medals with this device, which may be seen in different cabinets, among which are the following: one of Faustina, daughter of Antoninus Pius, on the reverse of which she is represented ascending to heaven on the back of an eagle; and another of Salonia, daughter of the Emperor Galienus, on the reverse of which she is represented on the back of an eagle, with a scepter in her hand, ascending to heaven. Jupiter himself is sometimes represented on the back of an eagle also, with his thunder in his hand, as on a medal of Licinus. This brings us nearer to the letter of the text, where it appears that the heathens confounded the figure made use of by the sacred penman, I bare you on eagles' wings, with the manifestation of God in thunder and lightning on Mount Sinai. And it might be in reference to all this that the Romans took the eagle for their ensign. See Scheuchzer, Fusellius, etc.

Brought you unto myself - In this and the two following verses, we see the design of God in selecting a people for himself.

1. They were to obey his voice, Exo 19:5, to receive a revelation from him, and to act according to that revelation, and not according to their reason or fancy, in opposition to his declarations.

2. They were to obey his voice indeed, שמוע תשמעו shamoa tishmeu, in hearing they should hear; they should consult his testimonies, hear them whenever read or proclaimed, and obey them as soon as heard, affectionately and steadily.

3. They must keep his covenant - not only copy in their lives the ten commandments, but they must receive and preserve the grand agreement made between God and man by sacrifice, in reference to the incarnation and death of Christ; for from the foundation of the world the covenant of God ratified by sacrifices referred to this, and now the sacrificial system was to be more fully opened by the giving of the law.

4. They should then be God's peculiar treasure, סגלה segullah, his own patrimony, a people in whom he should have all right, and over whom he should have exclusive authority above all the people of the earth; for though all the inhabitants of the world were his by his right of creation and providence, yet these should be peculiarly his, as receiving his revelation and entering into his covenant.

5. They should be a kingdom of priests, Exo 19:6. Their state should be a theocracy; and as God should be the sole governor, being king in Jeshurun, so all his subjects should be priests, all worshippers, all sacrificers, every individual offering up the victim for himself. A beautiful representation of the Gospel dispensation, to which the Apostles Peter and John apply it, 1Pet 2:5, 1Pet 2:9; Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10, and Rev 20:6; under which dispensation every believing soul offers up for himself that Lamb of God which was slain for and which takes away the sin of the world, and through which alone a man can have access to God.

And a holy nation - They should be a nation, one people; firmly united among themselves, living under their own laws; and powerful, because united, and acting under the direction and blessing of God. They should be a holy nation, saved from their sins, righteous in their conduct, holy in their hearts; every external rite being not only a significant ceremony, but also a means of conveying light and life, grace and peace, to every person who conscientiously used it. Thus they should be both a kingdom, having God for their governor; and a nation, a multitude of peoples connected together; not a scattered, disordered, and disorganized people, but a royal nation, using their own rites, living under their own laws, subject in religious matters only to God, and in things civil, to every ordinance of man for God's sake.

This was the spirit and design of this wonderful institution, which could not receive its perfection but under the Gospel, and has its full accomplishment in every member of the mystical body of Christ.

The elders of the people - The head of each tribe, and the chief of each family, by whose ministry this gracious purpose of God was speedily communicated to the whole camp.

And all the people answered, etc. - The people, having such gracious advantages laid before them, most cheerfully consented to take God for their portion; as he had graciously promised to take them for his people. Thus a covenant was made, the parties being mutually bound to each other.

Moses returned the words - When the people had on their part consented to the covenant, Moses appears to have gone immediately up to the mountain and related to God the success of his mission; for he was now on the mount, as appears from Exo 19:14.

A thick cloud - This is interpreted by Exo 19:18 : And Mount Sinai was altogether on a Smoke - and the Smoke thereof ascended as the Smoke of a furnace; his usual appearance was in the cloudy pillar, which we may suppose was generally clear and luminous. That the people may hear - See Clarke's note on Exo 15:9. The Jews consider this as the fullest evidence their fathers had of the Divine mission of Moses; themselves were permitted to see this awfully glorious sight, and to hear God himself speak out of the thick darkness: for before this, as Rabbi Maymon remarks, they might have thought that Moses wrought his miracles by sorcery or enchantment; but now, hearing the voice of God himself, they could no longer disbelieve nor even doubt.

Sanctify them - See the meaning of this term, Exo 13:2.

Let them wash their clothes - And consequently bathe their bodies; for, according to the testimony of the Jews, these always went together.

It was necessary that, as they were about to appear in the presence of God, every thing should be clean and pure about them; that they might be admonished by this of the necessity of inward purity, of which the outward washing was the emblem.

From these institutions the heathens appear to have borrowed their precepts relative to washings and purifications previously to their offering sacrifice to their gods, examples of which abound in the Greek and Latin writers. They washed their hands and clothes, and bathed their bodies in pure water, before they performed any act of religious worship; and in a variety of cases, abstinence from all matrimonial connections was positively required, before a person was permitted to perform any religious rite, or assist at the performance.

Thou shalt set bounds - Whether this was a line marked out on the ground, beyond which they were not to go, or whether a fence was actually made to keep them off, we cannot tell; or whether this fence was made all round the mountain, or only at that part to which one wing of the camp extended, is not evident.

This verse strictly forbids the people from coming near and touching Mount Sinai, which was burning with Fire. The words therefore in Exo 19:15, אל תגשו אל אשה al tiggeshu el ishshah, come not at your wives, seem rather to mean, come not near unto the Fire; especially as the other phrase is not at all probable: but the fire is, on this occasion, spoken of so emphatically (see Deu 5:4, Deu 5:5, Deu 5:22-25) that we are naturally led to consider אשה ishshah here as האש ha-esh transposed, or to say, with Simon in his Lexicon, אשה faem, idem quod masc. אש ignis. So among other instances, we have אבר and אברה a wing; אור and אורה light; אמץ and אמצה strength; and אמר and אמרה a speech - Burt. See Kennicott's Remarks.

Whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death - The place was awfully sacred, because the dreadful majesty of God was displayed on it. And this taught them that God is a consuming fire, and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

There shall not a hand touch it - בו bo, Him, not the mountain, but the man who had presumed to touch the mountain. He should be considered altogether as an unclean and accursed thing, not to be touched for fear of conveying defilement; but should be immediately stoned or pierced through with a dart, Heb 12:20.

Thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud - and the voice of the trumpet - The thunders, lightnings, etc., announced the coming, as they proclaimed the majesty, of God. Of the thunders and lightnings, and the deep, dark, dismal, electric cloud, from which the thunders and lightnings proceeded, we can form a tolerable apprehension; but of the loud, long-sounding trumpet, we can scarcely form a conjecture. Such were the appearances and the noise that all the people in the camp trembled, and Moses himself was constrained to say, "I exceedingly fear and quake," Heb 12:21. Probably the sound of the trumpet was something similar to that which shall be blown by the angel when he sweareth, by Him that liveth for ever, There shall be time no longer!

And Moses brought forth the people - to meet with God - For though they might not touch the mount till they had permission, yet when the trumpet sounded long, it appears they might come up to the nether part of the mount, (see Exo 19:13, and Deu 4:11); and when the trumpet had ceased to sound, they might then go up unto the mountain, as to any other place.

It was absolutely necessary that God should give the people at large some particular evidence of his being and power, that they might be saved from idolatry, to which they were most deplorably prone; and that they might the more readily credit Moses, who was to be the constant mediator between God and them. God, therefore, in his indescribable majesty, descended on the mount; and, by the thick dark cloud, the violent thunders, the vivid lightnings, the long and loud blasts of the trumpet, the smoke encompassing the whole mountain, and the excessive earthquake, proclaimed his power, his glory, and his holiness; so that the people, however unfaithful and disobedient afterwards, never once doubted the Divine interference, or suspected Moses of any cheat or imposture. Indeed, so absolute and unequivocal were the proofs of supernatural agency, that it was impossible these appearances could be attributed to any cause but the unlimited power of the author of Nature.

It is worthy of remark that the people were informed three days before, Exo 19:9-11, that such an appearance was to take place; and this answered two excellent purposes:

1. They had time to sanctify and prepare themselves for this solemn transaction; and,

2. Those who might be skeptical had sufficient opportunity to make use of every precaution to prevent and detect an imposture; so this previous warning strongly serves the cause of Divine revelation.

Their being at first prohibited from touching the mount on the most awful penalties, and secondly, being permitted to see manifestations of the Divine majesty, and hear the words of God, subserved the same great purposes. Their being prohibited in the first instance would naturally whet their curiosity, make them cautious of being deceived, and ultimately impress them with a due sense of God's justice and their own sinfulness; and their being permitted afterwards to go up to the mount, must have deepened the conviction that all was fair and real, that there could be no imposture in the case, and that though the justice and purity of God forbade them to draw nigh for a time, yet his mercy, which had prescribed the means of purification, had permitted an access to his presence. The directions given from Exo 19:10-15 inclusive show, not only the holiness of God, but the purity he requires in his worshippers.

Besides, the whole scope and design of the chapter prove that no soul can possibly approach this holy and terrible Being but through a mediator; and this is the use made of this whole transaction by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 12:18-24.

The Lord came down - This was undoubtedly done in a visible manner, that the people might witness the awful appearance. We may suppose that every thing was arranged thus: the glory of the Lord occupied the top of the mountain, and near to this Moses was permitted to approach. Aaron and the seventy elders were permitted to advance some way up the mountain, while the people were only permitted to come up to its base. Moses, as the lawgiver, was to receive the statutes and judgments from God's mouth; Aaron and the elders were to receive them from Moses, and deliver them to the people; and the people were to act according to the direction received. Nothing can be imagined more glorious, terrible, majestic, and impressive, than the whole of this transaction; but it was chiefly calculated to impress deep reverence, religious fear, and sacred awe; and he who attempts to worship God uninfluenced by these, has neither a proper sense of the Divine majesty, nor of the sinfulness of sin. It seems in reference to this that the apostle says, Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear: for our God is a Consuming Fire; Heb 12:28, Heb 12:29. Who then shall dare to approach him in his own name and without a mediator?

Let the priests also - sanctify themselves - That there were priests among the Hebrews before the consecration of Aaron and his sons, cannot be doubted; though their functions might be in a considerable measure suspended while under persecution in Egypt, yet the persons existed whose right and duty it was to offer sacrifices to God. Moses requested liberty from Pharaoh to go into the wilderness to sacrifice; and had there not been among the people both sacrifices and priests, the request itself must have appeared nugatory and absurd. Sacrifices from the beginning had constituted an essential part of the worship of God, and there certainly were priests whose business it was to offer them to God before the giving of the law; though this, for especial reasons, was restricted to Aaron and his sons after the law had been given. As sacrifices had not been offered for a considerable time, the priests themselves were considered in a state of impurity; and therefore God requires that they also should be purified for the purpose of approaching the mountain, and hearing their Maker promulgate his laws. See Clarke's note on Exo 28:1.

The people cannot come up - Either because they had been so solemnly forbidden that they would not dare, with the penalty of instant death before their eyes, to transgress the Divine command; or the bounds which were set about the mount were such as rendered their passing them physically impossible.

And sanctify it - וקדשהי vekiddashio. Here the word קדש kadash is taken in its proper literal sense, signifying the separating of a thing, person or place, from all profane or common uses, and devoting it to sacred purposes.

Let not the priests and the people break through - God knew that they were heedless, criminally curious, and stupidly obstinate; and therefore his mercy saw it right to give them line upon line, that they might not transgress to their own destruction.

From the very solemn and awful manner in which the Law was introduced, we may behold it as the ministration of terror and death, 2Cor 3:7, appearing rather to exclude men from God than to bring them nigh; and from this we may learn that an approach to God would have been for ever impossible, had not infinite mercy found out the Gospel scheme of salvation. By this, and this alone, we draw nigh to God; for we have an entrance into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Heb 10:19. "For," says the apostle, "ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire; nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and to the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more, (for they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake): but ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven; and to God, the Judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel;" Heb 12:18-24. Reader, art thou still under the influence and condemning power of that fiery law which proceeded from his right hand? Art thou yet afar off? Remember, thou canst only come nigh by the blood of sprinkling; and till justified by his blood, thou art under the curse. Consider the terrible majesty of God. If thou have his favor thou hast life; if his frown, death. Be instantly reconciled to God, for though thou hast deeply sinned, and he is just, yet he is the justifier of him that believeth in Christ Jesus. Believe on him, receive his salvation, Obey his voice indeed, and Keep his covenant, and Then shalt thou be a king and a priest unto God and the Lamb, and be finally saved with all the power of an endless life. Amen.

In the third month after they came out of Egypt. 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 over - spread it.

Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and the children of Israel - The people are called by the names both of Jacob and Israel, to mind them that they who had lately 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.

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on Eagle's wings - An high expression of the wonderful tenderness God shewed for them. It notes great speed; God not only came upon the wing for their deliverance, but he hastened them out, as it were upon the wing. Also that he did it with great ease, with the strength as well as with the swiftness of an eagle. They that faint not, nor are weary, are said to mount up with wings as eagles, Isa 40:31. Especially it notes God's particular care of them, and affection to them. Even Egypt was the nest in which these young ones were first formed as the embryo of a nation: when by the increase of their numbers they grew to some maturity, they were carried out of that nest. I brought you unto myself - They were brought not only into a state of liberty, but into covenant and communion with God. This, God aims at in all the gracious methods of his providence and grace, to bring us back to himself, from whom we have revolted, and to bring us home to himself, in whom alone we can be happy.

Then ye shall be a peculiar treasure to me - He doth not instance in any one particular favour, but expresseth it in that which was inclusive of all happiness, that he would be to them a God in covenant, and they should be to him a people. Nay you shall be a peculiar treasure: not that God was enriched by them, as a man is by his treasure, but he was pleased to value and esteem them as a man doth his treasure; they were precious in his sight. He took them under his special care and protection, as a treasure that is kept under lock and key. He distinguished them from, and dignified them above all people, as a people devoted to him, and to his service.

A kingdom of priests, a holy nation - All the Israelites, if compared with other people, were priests unto God, so near were they to him, so much employed in his immediate service, and such intimate communion they had with him. The tendency of the laws given them was to distinguish them from others, and engage them for God as a holy nation. Thus all believers are, through Christ, made to our God kings and priests, Rev 1:6, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 1Pet 2:9.

And Moses laid before their faces all these words - He not only explained to them what God had given him in charge, but put it to their choice, whether they would accept these promises upon these terms or no. His laying it to their faces speaks his laying it to their consciences.

And they answered together; all that the Lord hath spoken we will do - Thus accepting the Lord to be to them a God, and giving up themselves to be to him a people.

Sanctify the people - As Job before sent and sanctified his sons, Job 1:5. Sanctify them, that is, call them off from their worldly business, and call them to religious exercises, meditation and prayer, that they may receive the law from God's mouth with reverence and devotion. Two things particularly were prescribed as instances of their preparation. 1st, In token of cleansing of themselves from all sinful pollutions, they must wash their clothes. Not that God regards our clothes, but while they were washing their clothes, he would have them think of washing their souls by repentance. It becomes us to appear in clean clothes when we wait upon great men; so clean hearts are required in our attendance on the great God. 2dly, In token of their devoting themselves entirely to religious exercises upon this occasion they must abstain even from lawful enjoyments during these three days, and not come at their wives.

In the sight of all the people - Though they should see no manner of similitude, yet they should see so much as would convince them, that God was among them of a truth. And so high was the top of Mount Sinai, that it is supposed not only the camp of Israel, but even the countries about might discern some extraordinary appearance of glory upon it.

Set bounds - Probably he drew a ditch round at the foot of the hill, which none were to pass upon pain of death. This was to intimate, 1st, That awful reverence which ought to possess the minds of all that worship God. 2dly, The distance which worshippers were kept at under that dispensation, which we ought to take notice of, that we may the more value our privilege under the gospel, having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Heb 10:19.

When the trumpet soundeth long - Then let them take their places at the foot of the mount. Never was so great a congregation called together and preached to at once as this was here. No one man's voice could have reached so many, but the voice of God did.

Now at length is come that memorable day, in which Israel heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst of the fire and lived, Deu 4:33. Never was there such a sermon preached before or since, as this, which was here preached to the church in the wilderness. For, the preacher was God himself, Ex 19:17, The Lord descended in fire; and Ex 19:18. The Lord came down upon mount Sinai. The Shechinah, or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of all the people; he shined forth from mount Paran with ten thousand of his saints, attended with a multitude of the holy angels. Hence the law is said to be given by the disposition of angels, Acts 7:53. He spake from mount Sinai, hung with a thick cloud, Ex 19:16, covered with smoke, Ex 19:18, and made to quake greatly. Now it was that the earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, and the mountains skipped like rams, Psa 114:4,7, that Sinai itself, though rough and rocky, melted from before the Lord God of Israel, Jud 5:5. The congregation was called together by the sound of a trumpet exceeding loud, Ex 19:16, and waxing louder and louder, Ex 19:19. This was done by the ministry of the angels, and made all the people tremble. The introductions to the service were thunders and lightnings, Ex 19:16. These have natural causes; but the scripture directs us in a particular manner to take notice of the power of God, and his terror in them. Thunder is the voice of God, and lightning the fire of God, proper to engage both the learning senses of seeing and hearing.

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.

Heb. Third new moon, called Sivan, including the latter part of May, and the former part of Iune.

Heb. in that day, to wit, when the moneth or new-moon began, and when they departed from Rephidim, to note, that there was no Station between these two. This is set down thus accurately, because it gives an account of the original of the feast of Pentecost, because the giving of the Law, which was 3 or 4 days after this time, was 50 days after the Passeover, whereof 46 or 47 were past at their first coming to Sinai, reckoning from the 15th. day of the first moneth, when they came out of Egypt, to this time.

Marginal references: Num. 33. 15.

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.

(i. e.) To that part of the desert which adjoyned to mount Sinai, as Rephidim, from whence they came, was in that part of the wilderness adjoyning to Horeb, which was another part of the same mountain. See Exod. 17. 6. So they seem to have fetched a large compass and to have come from one side of the mountain to the other.

3 And Moses went up to 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:

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.

Marginal references: Act. 7. 38.

4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on Eagles wings , and brought you unto my self .

(i. e.) safely, out of the reach of danger, and strongly, against all opposition. Compare Deut. 32. 11. Isa. 63. 9. Rev. 12. 14.

Into my presence and favour and fellowship, to be my peculiar people, to serve and worship me as your onely Lord and King.

Marginal references: Deut. 29. 2.

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 .

Heb. obeying ye will obey, i. e. if ye will obey me sincerely, diligently, and constantly.

Highly prized and loved and carefully kept by me, as mens treasures generally are.

For all people upon earth are mine by creation and dominion, and I can dispose of them all as I please, and either chuse or refuse any of them as I think [illegible: 1+ letters]t, and therefore though I might refuse you, as well as any others, yet it is my pleasure to single you out of all the world, upon whom to confer my chiefest and peculiar blessings. Or, though all the earth be [illegible: 1 word], by general right, yet you onely are mine by special title [illegible: 1 word] priviledge.

Marginal references: Deut. 5. 2.; Deut. 4. 20. 7. 6. an[illegible: 1+ letters] 14. 2. & 26. [illegible: 1 word] & 3[illegible: 1+ letters]. 8, 9. Psa[illegible: 1+ letters]. 135. 4. Can[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ 12. Isa. 43. 1. Jer. 10. 16. Mal. 3. 17. T[illegible: 1+ letters]. 2. 14.; Deut. 10. 1[illegible: 1+ letters] Psal. 24. 1.

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.

So they are called in regard, 1. of their exemption and separation from all the people of the world, as Priests are taken out of the multitude of men. 2. of their consecration to the worship and service of God, every subject of this Kingdom being in some sort a Priest to offer up some kind of sacrifices to God. 3. of their priviledges, because God conferred upon them singular honour, safety and immunity, and liberty of coming near to him, as Priests among all nations have been esteemed priviledged persons.

Purged from the Idolatry and other abominations of the heathen world, and separated from them by a wall of partition, allied to me by an holy covenant, and consecrated to my use and service.

Marginal references: 1 Pet. 2. 9. Rev. 1. 6. & [illegible: 1+ letters] 10. & 20. 6.

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 .

Not for Gods information, but for the peoples greater obligation, and to learn what answer he should return from God to them.

Marginal references: chap. 24. 3[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ Deut. 5. 27. and 26. 17.

9 And the LORD said unto Moses, [illegible: 1+ letters]o, 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.

As to the mediatour between me and them and the interpreter of my mind to them.

See ver. 16. and compare 1 King. 8. 12. 2 Chron. 6. 1.

Those mentioned ver. 8. This is here repeated, because Gods answer to them now follows.

Marginal references: chap. 14. 3[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and Sanctifie them to day; and to morrow, and let them wash their cloaths .

(i. e.) Command them to sanctifie and cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and to prepare their hearts for the right receiving of my laws and solemn entring into covenant with me. Compare Lev. 11. 45. Ios. 3. 5. and 7. 13.

By which external washing, which was agreeable to that state of the Church, they were taught to cleanse their inward man.

Marginal references: Gen. 35. 2.

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.

From this time, and the fiftieth day from the Passeover, as was noted before.

In a visible and glorious manifestation of his presence.

Marginal references: chap. 34. 5. Deut. 33. 2.

12 And thou shalt set bounds to the people round about, saying, Take heed to your selves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount, shall be surely put to death .

By this symbolical injunction God designed. 1. to restrain mens curious and bold enquiries into the things of God. 2. to possess the Israelites then present and all succeeding generations with the dread and reverence of the Divine Majesty, and of his holy law. 3. to prepare and inure the people to the obedience of Gods commands, even when they discern not the reasons of them. 4. to make them sensible of their own impurity and infirmity, and of their absolute need of a Mediatour through whom they might have access to God. See Gal. 3. 19.

Marginal references: Heb. 12. 22.

13 There shall not a hand touch it , but he shall surely be stoned or shot through, whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long , they shall come up to the mount .

(i. e.) The mountain. But 1. This seems to be a gross tautology, for it was twice forbidden in the words next foregoing. 2. So the word hand would seem to be ascribed both to man and beast. Others therefore render it, touch him, i. e. they shall look upon such an impudent transgressor of my express command as an abominable person, whom they cannot touch without defilement, and therefore he shall be put to death in such a manner as may be performed without touching him.

For though the beasts are not capable of a law, yet they might be threatned for mans caution, and punished for the fault of their owners in not keeping them at a distance from the mount.

(i. e.) With one continued, equal and gentle sound, as is usual in the end of the Musick-song, which is opposed to a rough and loud and unequal sound. There was no real trumpet here, but an Angel made a sound like that of a trumpet.

Obj. This was forbidden to them ver. 12. Ans. 1. They were forbidden to come up to the mount whilest God was delivering his laws, but allowed it afterwards when that action ceased, which was signified by the long sound of the trumpet. 2. They might not come into the mount or towards the top of it, but they might come to the bottom or lower parts of it, where the bounds were set, or at lest towards or near it, as the Hebrew preposition, beth, is sometimes used. So the mount may be understood more strictly, ver. 12. for an eminent part or top of it, where the thick cloud appeared, and where Moses was, and here more largely for the whole mountain.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word].

14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people , and they washed their cloaths.

By commanding them to sanctify themselves, and directing them how to do it.

15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day, come not at your wives .

Abstain from the use of the marriage-bed; partly because your wives may haply have their uncleanness upon them though unknown to themselves at lest to you, whereby you may be legally defiled; See Lev. 15. 18. and partly that your minds may be abstracted from all sensual delights and wholely employed about this great and holy work and service. There is a like command 1 Cor. 7. 5. but both this and that do indifferently concern both ministers and people and are limited to a certain time, and therefore are very impertinently alledged for the perpetual celibacy of Ministers. See also 1 Sam. 21. 5.

Marginal references: 1 Sam. 21. 4, 5. Zech. 7. 3. 1 Cor. 7. 5.

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.

Sent partly as evidences and tokens both of Gods glorious presence, and of the anger of God and the dreadful punishments due to the transgressours of the law now to be delivered, and partly as means to humble and awaken and convince and terrify proud and secure sinners that they might more reverently attend to the words and commands of God▪ more willingly yield obedience to them, and be more afraid of the violation of them.

Which was both a▪fit mean for the production and reception of the thunders and lightnings, and a signification as well of the invisible and unconceivable nature of God, as of the obscurity of the legal dispensation in regard of its types and shadows, &c. 2 Cor. 3. 13, 18. and 4. 6.

A fit instrument both for the promulgation of Gods law, and for the signification of that war that is between God and sinners.

Moses himself not excepted, as appears from Heb. 12. 21.

Marginal references: Heb. 12. 18.

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 .

Therefore one part of the mount they might come to, though not to another, to wit, the higher: which may clear the difficulty and seeming contradiction betwixt ver. 12. and 13.

Marginal references: Deut. 4. 10.

18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoak, because the LORD descended upon it in fire , and the smoak thereof ascended as the smoak of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly .

For further terrour to obstinate sinners. Hence this law is called a fiery law. Deut. 33. 2.

By an earthquake, as appears from Psal. 60. 2. and 104. 32.

Marginal references: Deut. 4. 11. and 33. 2. Judg. 5. 4. Hab▪ 3. 3.; Heb. 12. 26.

19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder , Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice .

Heb. went on or increased and grew very strong or vehement or loud. This is opposed to the s[illegible: 1+ letters]unding long, ver. 13.

(i. e.) By plain, distinct and audible words, as Psal. 81. 7. Ioh. 12. 29. so as the people also might hear, as appears from ver. 9. See Deut. 5. 24. 1 King. 19▪ 12, 13. Heb. 12. 19.

Marginal references: Neh. 9. 13▪

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.

So here are three parts of the mount manifestly distinguished, the top, where the cloud was, the middle part, where Moses now stood, and about which the bounds seem to have been put, and the nether or lower part, where the people were.

21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, le[illegible: 1+ letters]t they break through unto the LORD to gaze , and many of them perish.

Through curiosity to know in what form or manner I appear to thee.

Marginal references: Heb. contest.

22 And let the Priests also which come near to the LORD sanctifie themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

For though the Aaronical Priesthood was not yet appointed, it is certain, that as there were sacrifices before, so there were Priests to offer them, which were either the first born who were consecrated [illegible: 1+ letters]o God and did execute the office of Priests, as may be gathered from Exod. 13. 2. and 24. 5. Numb. 3. 12. and 8. 26. or some other persons appointed by God for doing that work till the office was settled in Aarons family.

Not at this time, for both Priests and people are now kept at equal distance, ver. 22. but usually, q. d. whose duty and priviledge it is to approach unto God and to present the peoples prayers and sacrifices to him and therefore are here particularly admonished, because they above all others are obliged to this care, and because they might seem to claim this priviledge by their function.

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 sanctifie it.

The people are sufficiently admonished in that particular, because as thou didst command this same thing before ver. 12. so I have informed and warned them of it, so that it may seem superfluous for me to go down again to acquaint them herewith. But God who better knew the dulness and the hardness of their hearts than Moses did, saw it necessary to repeat the same command again and again. Some read the words interrogatively, Lo for halo; as it is 2 Sam. 13. 26. 2 King. 5. 26. Iob 2. 10. Mal. 2. 15. May not the people (i. e. some of the people, the priests at lest, which, as thou hast now said, may come near to the Lord) go up? Is this an universal prohibition? To this answer is given by a distinction in the next verse, that he and Aaron might come up, but no other.

Exo 19:1-2

In the third month after their departure from Egypt, the Israelites arrived at Sinai, proceeding from Rephidim into the desert of Sinai, and encamping there before the mountain. On what day of the month, the received text does not state. The striking expression הזּה בּיּום (“the same day”), without any previous notice of the day, cannot signify the first day of the month; nor can השּׁלישׁי החדשׁ signify the third new moon in the year, and be understood as referring to the first day of the third month. For although, according to the etymology of חדשׁ (from חדשׁ to be new), it might denote the new moon, yet in chronological data it is never used in this sense; but the day of the month is invariably appended after the month itself has been given (e.g., לחדשׁ אחד Exo 40:2, Exo 40:17; Gen 8:5, Gen 8:13; Num 1:1; Num 29:1; Num 33:38, etc.). Moreover, in the Pentateuch the word חדשׁ never signifies new moon; but the new moons are called חדשׁים ראשׁי (Num 10:10; Num 28:11, cf. Hengstenberg, Dissertations, vol. ii. 297). And even in such passages as 1Sa 20:5; 1Sa 18:24; 2Ki 4:23; Amo 8:5; Isa 1:13, etc., where חדשׁ is mentioned as a feast along with the Sabbaths and other feasts, the meaning new moon appears neither demonstrable nor necessary, as חדשׁ in this case denotes the feast of the month, the celebration of the beginning of the month. If, therefore, the text is genuine, and the date of the month has not dropt out (and the agreement of the ancient versions with the Masoretic text favours this conclusion), there is no other course open, than to understand יום, as in Gen 2:4 and Num 3:1, and probably also in the unusual expression החדשׁ יום, Exo 40:2, in the general sense of time; so that here, and also in Num 9:1; Num 20:1, the month only is given, and not the day of the month, and it is altogether uncertain whether the arrival in the desert of Sinai took place on one of the first, one of the middle, or one of the last days of the month. The Jewish tradition, which assigns the giving of the law to the fiftieth day after the Passover, is of far too recent a date to pass for historical (see my Archäologie, §83, 6).

The desert of Sinai is not the plain of er Rahah to the north of Horeb, but the desert in front (נגד) of the mountain, upon the summit of which Jehovah came down, whilst Moses ascended it to receive the law (Exo 19:20 and Exo 34:2). This mountain is constantly called Sinai so long as Israel stayed there (Exo 19:18, Exo 19:20, Exo 19:23, Exo 24:16; Exo 34:2, Exo 34:4, Exo 34:29, Exo 34:32; Lev 7:38; Lev 25:1; Lev 26:46; Lev 27:34; Num 3:1; see also Num 28:6 and Deu 33:2); and the place of their encampment by the mountain is also called the “desert of Sinai,” never the desert of Horeb (Lev 7:38; Num 1:1, Num 1:19; Num 3:14; Num 9:1; Num 10:12; Num 26:64; Num 33:15). But in Exo 33:6 this spot is designated as “Mount Horeb,” and in Deuteronomy, as a rule, it is spoken of briefly as “Horeb” (Deu 1:2, Deu 1:6, Deu 1:19; Deu 4:10, Deu 4:15; Deu 5:2; Deu 9:8; Deu 18:16; Deu 29:1). And whilst the general identity of Sinai and Horeb may be inferred from this; the fact, that wherever the intention of the writer is to give a precise and geographical description of the place where the law was given, the name Sinai is employed, leads to the conclusion that the term Horeb was more general and comprehensive than that of Sinai; in other words, that Horeb was the range of which Sinai was one particular mountain, which only came prominently out to view when Israel had arrived at the mount of legislation. This distinction between the two names, which Hengstenberg was the first to point out and establish (in his Dissertations, vol. ii. p. 325), is now generally admitted; so that the only room that is left for any difference of opinion is with reference to the extent of the Horeb range. There is no ground for supposing that the name Horeb includes the whole of the mountains in the Arabian peninsula. Sufficient justice is done to all the statements in the Bible, if we restrict this name to the southern and highest range of the central mountains-to the exclusion, therefore, of the Serbal group.This hypothesis advocated by Lepsius, that Sinai or Horeb is to be sought for in Serbal, has very properly met with no favour. For the objections to this, see Ritter, Erdkunde 14, pp. 738ff.; and Kurtz, History of O.C., vol. iii. p. 94ff.

This southern range, which Arabian geographers and the Bedouins call Jebel Tur or Jebel Tur Sina, consists of three summits: (1) a central one, called by the Arabs Jebel Musa (Moses’ Mountain), and by Christians either Horeb or else Horeb-Sinai, in which case the northern and lower peak, or Ras es Sufsafeh, is called Horeb, and the southern and loftier one Sinai; (2) a western one, called Jebel Humr, with Mount Catherine on the south, the loftiest point in the whole range; and (3) an eastern one, called Jebel el Deir (Convent Mountain) or Episteme (vide Ritter, 14, pp. 527ff.). - Near this range there are two plains, which furnish space enough for a large encampment. One of these is the plain of er Rahah, on the north and north-west of Horeb-Sinai, with a level space of an English square mile, which is considerably enlarged by the Sheikh valley that opens into it from the east. At its southern extremity Horeb, with its granite rocks, runs almost precipitously to the height of 1200 or 1500 feet; and towards the west it is also shut in as with a wall by the equally precipitous spurs of Jebel Humr. The other plain, which is called Sebayeh, lies to the south-east of Sinai, or Jebel Musa in the more restricted sense; it is from 1400 to 1800 feet broad, 12,000 feet long, and is shut in towards the south and east by mountains, which rise very gently, and do not reach any considerable height. There are three wadys leading to this plain from er Rahah and the Sheikh valley. The most westerly of these, which separates Horeb-Sinai from Jebel Humr with Mount Catherine on the south, is called el Leja, and is a narrow defile full of great blocks of stone, and shut in towards the south like a cul de sac by Mount Catherine. The central one, which separates Horeb from Jebel Deir, is Wady Shoeib (Jethro valley), with the convent of Sinai in it, which is also called the Convent Valley in consequence. This is less confined, and not so much strewed with stones; towards the south it is not quite shut in, and yet not quite open, but bounded by a steep pass and a grassy mountain-saddle, viz., the easily accessible Jebel Sebayeh. The third and most easterly is the Wady es Sebayeh, which is from 400 to 600 feet broad, and leads form the Sheikh valley, in a southern and south-westerly direction, to the plain of the same name, which stretches like an amphitheatre to the southern slope of Sinai, or Jebel Musa, in the more restricted sense. When seen from this plain, “Jebel Musa has the appearance of a lofty and splendid mountain cone, towering far above the lower gravelly hills by which it is surrounded” (Ritter, pp. 540, 541).

Since Robinson, who was the first to describe the plain of er Rahah, and its fitness for the encampment of Israel, visited Sinai, this plain has generally been regarded as the site where Israel encamped in the “desert of Sinai.” Robinson supposed that he had discovered the Sinai of the Bible in the northern peak of Mount Horeb, viz., Ras es Sufsafeh. But Ritter, Kurtz, and others have followed Laborde and Fa. A. Strauss, who were the first to point out the suitableness of the plain of Sebayeh to receive a great number of people, in fixing upon Jebel Musa in the stricter sense, the southern peak of the central group, which tradition had already indicated as the scene of the giving of the law, as the true Mount Sinai, where Moses received the laws from God, and the plain of Sebayeh as the spot to which Moses led the people (i.e., the men) on the third day, out of the camp of God and through the Sebayeh valley (Exo 19:16). For this plain is far better adapted to be the scene of such a display of the nation, than the plain of er Rahah: first, because the hills in the background slope gradually upwards in the form of an amphitheatre, and could therefore hold a larger number of people;“Sinai falls towards the south for about 2000 feet into low granite hills, and then into a large plain, which is about 1600 feet broad and nearly five miles long, and rises like an amphitheatre opposite to the mountain both on the south and east. It is a plain that seems made to accommodate a large number gathered round the foot of the mountain” (Strauss, p. 135). whereas the mountains which surround the plain of er Rahah are so steep and rugged, that they could not be made use of in arranging the people: - and secondly, because the gradual sloping of the plain upwards, both on the east and south, would enable even the furthest rows to see Mount Sinai in all its majestic grandeur; whereas the plain of er Rahah slopes downwards towards the north, so that persons standing in the background would be completely prevented by those in front from seeing Ras es Sufsafeh. - If, however, the plain of es Sebayeh so entirely answers to all the topographical data of the Bible, that we must undoubtedly regard it as the spot where the people of God were led up to the foot of the mountain, we cannot possibly fix upon the plain of er Rahah as the place of encampment in the desert of Sinai. The very expression “desert of Sinai,” which is applied to the place of encampment, is hardly reconcilable with this opinion. For example, if the Sinai of the Old Testament is identical with the present Jebel Musa, and the whole group of mountains bore the name of Horeb, the plain of er Rahah could not with propriety be called the desert of Sinai, for Sinai cannot even be seen from it, but is completely hidden by the Ras es Sufsafeh of Horeb. Moreover, the road from the plain of er Rahah into the plain of es Sebayeh through the Sebayeh valley is so long and so narrow, that the people of Israel, who numbered more than 600,000 men, could not possibly have been conducted from the camp in er Rahah into the Sebayeh plain, and so up to Mount Sinai, and then, after being placed in order there, and listening to the promulgation of the law, have returned to the camp again, all in a single day. The Sebayeh valley, or the road from the Sheikh valley to the commencement of the plain of Sebayeh, is, it is true, only an hour long. But we have to add to this the distance from the point at which the Sebayeh valley opens into the Sheikh valley to the western end of the plain of er Rahah, viz., two hours’ journey, and the length of the plain of Sebayeh itself, which is more than five miles long; so that the Israelites, at least those who were encamped in the western part of the plain of er Rahah, would have to travel four or five hours before they could be posted at the foot of Sinai.Some Englishmen who accompanied F. A. Strauss “had taken three-quarters of an hour for a fast walk from the Sebayeh plain to Wady es Sheikh;” so that it is not too much to reckon an hour for ordinary walking. Döbel tool quite six hours to go round Horeb-Sinai, which is only a little larger than Jebel Deir; so that at least three hours must be reckoned as necessary to accomplish the walk from the eastern end of the plain of er Rahah through the Wady Sebayeh to the foot of Sinai. And Robinson took fifty minutes to go with camels from the commencement of the Sheikh valley, at the end of the Convent Valley, to the point at which it is joined by the valley of Sebayeh (Palestine i. p. 215).Tischendorf calls this a narrow, bad road, which the Israelites were obliged to pass through to Sinai, when they came out of the Sheikh valley. At any rate, this is true of the southern end of the valley of Sebayeh, from the point at which it enters the plain of Sebayeh, where we can hardly picture it to ourselves as broad enough for two hundred men to walk abreast in an orderly procession through the valley;We are still in want of exact information from travellers as to the breadth of the southern end of the valley of Sebayeh. Ritter merely states, on the ground of MS notes in Strauss’ diary, that “at first it is somewhat contracted on account of projections in the heights by which it is bounded towards the south, but it still remains more than 500 feet broad.” And “when it turns towards the north-west, the wady is considerably widened; so that at the narrowest points it is more than 600 feet broad. And very frequently, at the different curves in the valley, large basins are formed, which would hold a considerable number of people.” consequently, 600,000 men would have required two hours’ time simply to pass through the narrow southern end of the valley of Sebayeh. Now, it is clear enough from the narrative itself that Moses did not take merely the elders, as the representatives of the nation, from the camp to the mountain to meet with God (Exo 19:17), but took the whole nation, that is to say, all the adult males of 20 years old and upwards; and this is especially evident from the command so emphatically and repeatedly given, that no one was to break through the hedge placed round the mountain. It may also be inferred from the design of the revelation itself, which was intended to make the deepest impression upon the whole nation of that majesty of Jehovah and the holiness of His law.

Under these circumstances, if the people had been encamped in the plain of er Rahah and the Sheikh valley, they could not have been conducted to the foot of Sinai and stationed in the plain of Sebayeh in the course of six hours, and then, after hearing the revelation of the law, have returned to their tents on the same day; even assuming, as Kurtz does (iii. p. 117), that “the people were overpowered by the majesty of the promulgation of the law, and fled away in panic;” for flight through so narrow a valley would have caused inevitable confusion, and therefore would have prevented rather than facilitated rapidity of movement. There is not a word, however, in the original text about a panic, or about the people flying (see Exo 20:18): it is merely stated, that as soon as the people witnessed the alarming phenomena connected with the descent of God upon the mountain, they trembled in the camp (Exo 19:16), and that when they were conducted to the foot of the mountain, and “saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking,” and heard the solemn promulgation of the decalogue, they trembled (ינעוּ, Exo 19:16), and said to Moses, through their elders and the heads of tribes, that they did not wish God to speak directly to them any more, but wished Moses to speak to God and listen to His words; whereupon, after God had expressed His approval of these words of the people, Moses directed the people to return to their tents (Exo 20:18.; Deu 5:23-30). If, again, we take into consideration, that after Moses had stationed the people at the foot of the mountain, he went up to God to the summit of Sinai, and came down again at the command of God to repeat the charge to the people, not to break through the hedge round the mountain (Exo 19:20-25), and it was not till after this, that God proclaimed the decalogue, and that this going up and down must also have taken up time, it cannot have been for so very short a time that the people continued standing round the bottom of the mountain. But if all these difficulties be regarded as trivial, and we include the evening and part of the night in order to afford time for the people to return to their tents; not only is there nothing in the biblical text to require the hypothesis which assigns the encampment to the plain of er Rahah, and the posting of the people at Sinai to the plain of Sebayeh, but there are various allusions which seem rather to show that such a hypothesis is inadmissible. It is very obvious from Exo 24:17, that the glory of the Lord upon the top of the mountain could be seen from the camp; and from Exo 34:1-3, that the camp, with both the people and their cattle in it, was so immediately in the neighbourhood of Sinai, that the people could easily have ascended the mountain, and the cattle could have grazed upon it. Now this does not apply in the least to the plain of er Rahah, from which not even the top of Jebel Musa can be seen, and where the cattle could not possibly have grazed upon it, but only to the plain of Sebayeh; and therefore proves that the camp in “the desert of Sinai” is not to be sought for in the plain of er Rahah, but in the plain of Sebayeh, which reaches to the foot of Sinai. If it should be objected, on the other hand, that there is not room in this plain for the camp of the whole nation, this objection is quite as applicable to the plain of er Rahah, which is not large enough in itself to take in the entire camp, without including a large portion of the Sheikh valley; and it loses all its force from the fact, that the mountains by which the plain of Sebayeh is bounded, both on the south and east, rise so gently and gradually, that they could be made use of for the camp, and on these sides therefore the space is altogether unlimited, and would allow of the widest dispersion of the people and their flocks.

Exo 19:3-4

Moses had known from the time of his call that Israel would serve God on this mountain (Exo 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 (Exo 19:4-9); and then ordering him to sanctify the people for this revelation of the Lord (Exo 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 (Exo 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. Deu 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.

Exo 19:5-6

This manifestation of the love of God to Israel formed only the prelude, however, to that gracious union which Jehovah was now about to establish between the Israelites and Himself. If they would hear His voice, and keep the covenant which as about to be established with them, they should be a costly possession to Him out of all nations (cf. Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 26:18). סגלּה does not signify property in general, but valuable property, that which is laid by, or put aside (סגל), hence a treasure of silver and gold (1Ch 29:3; Ecc 2:8). In the Sept. the expression is rendered λαὸς περιούσιος, which the Scholiast in Octat. interprets ἐξαίρετος, and in Mal 3:17 εἰς περιποίησιν: hence the two phrases in the New Testament, λαὸς περιούσιος in Tit 2:14, and λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν in 1Pe 2:9. Jehovah had chosen Israel as His costly possession out of all the nations of the earth, because the whole earth was His possession, and all nations belonged to Him as Creator and Preserver. The reason thus assigned for the selection of Israel precludes at the very outset the exclusiveness which would regard Jehovah as merely a national deity. The idea of the segullah is explained in Exo 19:6 : “Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests.” ממלכה signifies both kingship, as the embodiment of royal supremacy, exaltation, and dignity, and the kingdom, or the union of both king and subjects, i.e., the land and nation, together with its king. In the passage before us, the word has been understood by most of the early commentators, both Jewish and Christian, and also in the ancient versions,lxx: βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, a royal priesthood, i.e., a priestly nation of royal power and glory. כּהנין מלכין: Kings-priests (Onkelos). - “Eritis coram me reges coronati (כלילא קטירי vincti coronis) et sacerdotes ministrantes” (Jonathan). - “Eritis meo nomini reges et sacerdotes” (Jer. Targ.). in the first or active sense, so that the expression contains the idea, “Ye shall be all priests and kings” (Luther); praeditos fore tam sacerdotali quam regio honore (Calvin); quod reges et sacerdotes sunt in republica, id vos eritis mihi (Drusius). This explanation is required by both the passage itself and the context. For apart from the fact that kingship is the primary and most general meaning of the word ממלכה (cf. דּוד ממלכת, the kingship, or government of David), the other (passive) meaning would not be at all suitable here; for a kingdom of priests could never denote the fellowship existing in a kingdom between the king and the priests, but only a kingdom or commonwealth consisting of priests, i.e., a kingdom the members and citizens of which were priests, and as priests constituted the ממלכה, in other words, were possessed of royal dignity and power; for ממלכה, βασιλεία, always includes the idea of מלך or ruling (βασιλεύειν). The lxx have quite hit the meaning in their rendering: βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα. Israel was to be a regal body of priests to Jehovah, and not merely a nation of priests governed by Jehovah. The idea of the theocracy, or government of God, as founded by the establishment of the Sinaitic covenant institution in Israel, is not at all involved in the term “kingdom of priests.” The theocracy established by the conclusion of the covenant (Exo 24) was only the means adopted by Jehovah for making His chosen people a royal body of priests; and the maintenance of this covenant was the indispensable subjective condition, upon which their attainment of this divinely appointed destiny and glory depended. This promise of Jehovah expressed the design of the call of Israel, to which it was to be fully conducted by the covenant institution of the theocracy, if it maintained the covenant with Jehovah. The object of Israel’s kingship and priesthood was to be found in the nations of the earth, out of which Jehovah had chosen Israel as a costly possession. This great and glorious promise, the fulfilment of which could not be attained till the completion of the kingdom of God, when the Israel of God, the Church of the Lord, which Jesus Christ, the first-begotten from the dead, and prince (ἄρχων, ruler) of the kings of the earth, has made a “kingdom,” “priests unto God and His Father” (Rev 1:6 and Rev 5:10, where the reading should be βασιλεῖς καὶ ἱερεῖς), is exalted to glory with Christ as the first-born among many brethren, and sits upon His throne and reigns, has not been introduced abruptly here. On the contrary, the way was already prepared by the promises made to the patriarchs, of the blessing which Abraham would become to all the nations of the earth, and of the kings who were to spring from him and come out of the loins of Israel (Gen 12:3; Gen 17:6; Gen 35:11), and still more distinctly by Jacob’s prophecy of the sceptre of Judah, to whom, through Shiloh, the willing submission of the nations should be made (Gen 49:10). But these promises and prophecies are outshone by the clearness, with which kingship and priesthood over and for the nations are foretold of Israel here.

This kingship, however, is not merely of a spiritual kind, consisting, as Luther supposes, in the fact, that believers “are lords over death, the devil, hell, and all evil,” but culminates in the universal sway foretold by Balaam in Num 24:8 and Num 24:17., by Moses in his last words (Deu 33:29), and still more distinctly in Dan 7:27, to the people of the saints of the Most High, as the ultimate end of their calling from God. The spiritual attitude of Israel towards the nations was the result of its priestly character. As the priest is a mediator between God and man, so Israel was called to be the vehicle of the knowledge and salvation of God to the nations of the earth. By this it unquestionably acquired an intellectual and spiritual character; but this includes, rather than excludes, the government of the world. For spiritual and intellectual supremacy and rule must eventually ensure the government of the world, as certainly as spirit is the power that overcomes the world. And if the priesthood of Israel was the power which laid the foundation for its kingship, - in other words, if Israel obtained the ממלכה or government over the nations solely as a priestly nation, - the Apostle Peter, when taking up this promise (1Pe 2:9), might without hesitation follow the Septuagint rendering (βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα), and substitute in the place of the “priestly kingdom,” a “royal priesthood;” for there is no essential difference between the two, the kingship being founded upon the priesthood, and the priesthood completed by the kingship.

As a kingdom of priests, it was also necessary that Israel should be a “holy nation.” Gens sancta hic dicitur non respectu pietatis vel sanctimoniae, sed quam Deus singulari privilegio ab aliis separavit. Verum ab hac sanctificatione pendet altera, nempe ut sanctitatem colant, qui Dei gratia eximii sunt, atque ita vicissim Deum sanctificent (Calvin). This explanation is in general a correct one; for these words indicate the dignity to which Israel was to be elevated by Jehovah, the Holy One, through its separation from the nations of the earth. But it cannot be shown that קדושׁ ever means “separated.” Whether we suppose it to be related to חדשׁ, and חדשׁ the newly shining moonlight, or compare it with the Sanskrit dhûsch, to be splendid, or beautiful, in either case the primary meaning of the word is, “to be splendid, pure, untarnished.” Diestel has correctly observed, that the holiness of God and Israel is most closely connected with the covenant relationship; but he is wrong in the conclusion which lie draws from this, namely, that “holy” was originally only a “relative term,” and that a thing was holy “so far as it was the property of God.” For the whole earth is Jehovah’s property (Exo 19:5), but it is not holy on that account. Jehovah is not holy only “so far as within the covenant He is both possession and possessor, absolute life and the source of life, and above all, both the chief good and the chief model for His people” (Diestel), or “as the truly separate One, enclosed within Himself, who is self-existent, in contrast with the world to which He does not belong” (Hoffmann); but holiness pertains to God alone, and to those who participate in the divine holiness-not, however, to God as the Creator and Preserver of the world, but to God as the Redeemer of man. Light is the earthly reflection of His holy nature: the Holy One of Israel is the light of Israel (Isa 10:17, cf. 1Ti 6:16). The light, with its purity and splendour, is the most suitable earthly element to represent the brilliant and spotless purity of the Holy One, in whom there is no interchange of light and darkness (Jam 1:17). God is called the Holy One, because He is altogether pure, the clear and spotless light; so that in the idea of the holiness of God there are embodied the absolute moral purity and perfection of the divine nature, and His unclouded glory. Holiness and glory are inseparable attributes in God; but in His relation to the world they are so far distinguished, that the whole earth is full of His glory, whilst it is to and in Israel that His holiness is displayed (Isa 6:3); in other words, the glory of God is manifested in the creation and preservation of the world, and His holy name in the election and guidance of Israel (compare Ps 104 with Ps 103). God has displayed the glory of His name in the creation of the heavens and the earth (Psa 8:1-9); but His way in Israel (Psa 77:14), i.e., the work of God in His kingdom of grace, is holy; so that it might be said, that the glory of God which streams forth in the material creation is manifested as holiness in His saving work for a sinful world, to rescue it from the φθορά of sin and death and restore it to the glory of eternal life, and that it was manifested here in the fact, that by the counsels of His own spontaneous love (Deu 4:37) He chose Israel as His possession, to make of it a holy nation, if it hearkened to His voice and kept His covenant. It was not made this, however, by being separated from the other nations, for that was merely the means of attaining the divine end, but by the fact, that God placed the chosen people in the relation of covenant fellowship with Himself, founded His kingdom in Israel, established in the covenant relationship an institution of salvation, which furnished the covenant people with the means of obtaining the expiation of their sins, and securing righteousness before God and holiness of life with God, in order that by the discipline of His holy commandments, under the guidance of His holy arm, He might train and guide them to the holiness and glory of the divine life. But as sin opposes holiness, and the sinner resists sanctification, the work of the holiness of God reveals itself in His kingdom of grace, not only positively in the sanctification of those who suffer themselves to be sanctified and raised to newness of life, but negatively also, in the destruction of all those who obstinately refuse the guidance of His grace; so that the glory of the thrice Holy One (Isa 6:3) will be fully manifested both in the glorification of His chosen people and the deliverance of the whole creation from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:21), and also in the destruction of hardened sinners, the annihilation of everything that is ungodly in this world, the final overthrow of Satan and his kingdom, and the founding of the new heaven and new earth. Hence not only is every person, whom God receives into the sphere of His sin-destroying grace, קדושׁ, or holy; but everything which is applied to the realization of the divine work of salvation, or consecrated by God to this object. The opposite of קדושׁ, holy, is הל, κοινός, profanus (from חלל, to be loose, lit., the unbound), not devoted to holy purposes and uses (cf. Lev 10:10); and this term was applied, not only to what was sinful and unclean (טמא), but to everything earthly in its natural condition, because the whole earth, with all that is upon it, has been involved in the consequences of sin.

Exo 19:7-9

When Moses communicated to the people through their elders this incomparable promise of the Lord, they promised unanimously (יחדּו) to do all that Jehovah said; and when Moses reported to the Lord what the people had answered, He said to Moses, “I will come to thee in the darkness of the cloud, that the people may listen to My speaking to thee (בּ שׁמע, as in Gen 27:5, etc.), and also believe thee for ever.” As God knew the weakness of the sinful nation, and could not, as the Holy One, come into direct intercourse with it on account of its unholiness, but was about to conclude the covenant with it through the mediation of Moses, it was necessary, in order to accomplish the design of God, that the chosen mediator should receive special credentials; and these were to consists in the fact that Jehovah spoke to Moses in the sight and hearing of the people, that is to say, that He solemnly proclaimed the fundamental law of the covenant in the presence of the whole nation (Ex 19:16-20:18), and showed by this fact that Moses was the recipient and mediator of the revelation of God, in order that the people might believe him “for ever,” as the law was to possess everlasting validity (Mat 5:18).

Exo 19:10-15

God then commanded Moses to prepare the people for His appearing or speaking to them: (1) by their sanctification, through the washing of the body and clothes (see Gen 35:2), and abstinence from conjugal intercourse (Exo 19:15) on account of the defilement connected therewith (Lev 15:18); and (2) by setting bounds round the people, that they might not ascend or touch the mountain. The hedging or bounding (הגבּיל) of the people is spoken of in Exo 19:23 as setting bounds about the mountain, and consisted therefore in the erection of a barrier round the mountain, which was to prevent the people form ascending or touching it. Any one who touched it (קצהוּ, “its end,” i.e., the outermost or lowest part of the mountain) was to be put to death, whether man or beast. “No hand shall touch him” (the individual who passed the barrier and touched the mountain), i.e., no one was to follow him within the appointed boundaries, but he was to be killed from a distance either by stones or darts. (יּיּרה for יוּרה, see Gesenius, §69.) Not till “the drawing out of the trumpet blast,” or, as Luther renders it, “only when it sounded long,” could they ascend the mountain (Exo 19:13). היּבל, from יבל to stream violently with noise, is synonymous with היּבל קרן (Jos 6:5), and was really the same thing as the שׁופר, i.e., a long wind instrument shaped like a horn. היּבל משׁך is to draw the horn, i.e., to blow the horn with tones long drawn out. This was done either to give a signal to summon the people to war (Jdg 3:27; Jdg 6:34), or to call them to battle (Jdg 7:18; Job 39:24-25, etc.), or for other public proclamations. No one (this is the idea) was to ascend the mountain on pain of death, or even to touch its outermost edge; but when the horn was blown with a long blast, and the signal to approach was given thereby, then they might ascend it (see Exo 19:21), - of course not 600,000 men, which would have been physically impossible, but the people in the persons of their representatives the elders. בּהר עלות signifies to go up the mountain in Exo 19:13 as well as in Exo 19:12, and not merely to come to the foot of the mountain (see Deu 5:5).

Exo 19:16-25

After these preparations, on the morning of the third day (from the issuing of this divine command), Jehovah came down upon the top of Mount Sinai (Exo 19:20), manifesting His glory in fire as the mighty, jealous God, in the midst of thunders (קלת) and lightnings, so that the mountain burned with fire (Deu 4:11; Deu 5:20), and the smoke of the burning mountain ascended as the smoke (עשׁן for עשׁן), and the whole mountain trembled (Exo 19:18), at the same time veiling in a thick cloud the fire of His wrath and jealousy, by which the unholy are consumed. Thunder and lightning bursting forth from the thick cloud, and fire with smoke, were the elementary substrata, which rendered the glory of the divine nature visible to men, though in such a way that the eye of mortals beheld no form of the spiritual and invisible Deity. These natural phenomena were accompanied by a loud trumpet blast, which “blew long and waxed louder and louder” (Exo 19:16 and Exo 19:19; see Gen 8:3), and was, as it were, the herald’s call, announcing to the people the appearance of the Lord, and summoning them to assemble before Him and listen to His words, as they sounded forth from the fire and cloudy darkness. The blast (קול) of the shophar (Exo 19:19), i.e., the σάλπιγξ Θεοῦ, the trump of God, such a trumpet as is used in the service of God (in heaven, 1Th 4:16; see Winer's Grammar), is not “the voice of Jehovah,” but a sound resembling a trumpet blast. Whether this sound was produced by natural means, or, as some of the earlier commentators supposed, by angels, of whom myriads surrounded Jehovah when He came down upon Sinai (Deu 33:2), it is impossible to decide. At this alarming phenomenon, “all the people that was in the camp trembled” (Exo 19:16). For according to Exo 20:20 (17), it was intended to inspire them with a salutary fear of the majesty of God. Then Moses conducted the people (i.e., the men) out of the camp of God, and stationed them at the foot of the mountain outside the barrier (Exo 19:17); and “Moses spake” (Exo 19:19), i.e., asked the Lord for His commands, “and God answered loud” (בּקול), and told him to come up to the top of the mountain. He then commanded him to go down again, and impress upon the people that no one was to break through to Jehovah to see, i.e., to break down the barriers that were erected around the mountain as the sacred place of God, and attempt to penetrate into the presence of Jehovah. Even the priests, who were allowed to approach God by virtue of their office, were to sanctify themselves, that Jehovah might not break forth upon them (יפרץ), i.e., dash them to pieces. (On the form העדתה for העידת, see Ewald, §199 a). The priests were neither “the sons of Aaron,” i.e., Levitical priest, nor the first-born or principes populi, but “those who had hitherto discharged the duties of the priestly office according to natural right and custom” (Baumgarten). Even these priests were too unholy to be able to come into the presence of the holy God. This repeated enforcement of the command not to touch the mountain, and the special extension of it even to the priests, were intended to awaken in the people a consciousness of their own unholiness quite as much as of the unapproachable holiness of Jehovah. But this separation from God, which arose from the unholiness of the nation, did not extend to Moses and Aaron, who were to act as mediators, and were permitted to ascend the mountain. Moreover, the prospect of ascending the holy mountain “at the drawing of the blast” was still before the people (Exo 19:13). And the strict prohibition against breaking through the barrier, to come of their own accord into the presence of Jehovah, is by no means at variance with this. When God gave the sign to ascend the mountain, the people might and were to draw near to Him. This sign, viz., the long-drawn trumpet blast, was not to be given in any case till after the promulgation of the ten words of the fundamental law. But it was not given even after this promulgation; not, however, because “the development was altogether an abnormal one, and not in accordance with the divine appointment in Exo 19:13, inasmuch as at the thunder, the lightning, and the sound of the trumpet, with which the giving of the law was concluded, they lost all courage, and instead of waiting for the promised signal, were overcome with fear, and ran from the spot,” for there is not a word in the text about running away; but because the people were so terrified by the alarming phenomena which accompanied the coming down of Jehovah upon the mountain, that they gave up the right of speaking with God, and from a fear of death entreated Moses to undertake the intercourse with God in their behalf (Exo 20:18-21). Moreover, we cannot speak of an “abnormal development” of the drama, for the simple reason, that God not only foresaw the course and issue of the affair, but at the very outset only promised that He would come to Moses in a thick cloud (Exo 19:9), and merely announced and carried out His own descent upon Mount Sinai before the eyes of the people in the terrible glory of His sacred majesty (Exo 19:11), for the purpose of proving the people, that His fear might be before their eyes (Exo 20:20; cf. Deu 5:28-29). Consequently, apart from the physical impossibility of 600,000 ascending the mountain, it never was intended that all the people should do so.The idea of the people fleeing and running away must have been got by Kurtz from either Luther's or De Wette's translation. They have both of them rendered וגו ויּנעוּ, “they fled and went far off,” instead of “they trembled and stood far off.” And not only the supposed flight, but his idea that “thunder, lightning, and the trumpet blast (which were silent in any case during the utterance of the ten commandments), concluded the promulgation of the law, as they had already introduced it according to Exo 19:16,” also rests upon a misunderstanding of the text of the Bible. There is not a syllable in Exo 20:18 about the thunder, lightning, and trumpet blast bursting forth afresh after the proclamation of the ten commandments. There is simply an account of the impression, which the alarming phenomena, mentioned in Exo 19:16-19 as attending the descent of Jehovah upon the mountain (Exo 19:20), and preceding His speaking to Moses and the people, made upon the people, who had been brought out of the camp to meet with God.

What God really intended, came to pass. After the people had been received into fellowship with Jehovah through the atoning blood of the sacrifice, they were permitted to ascend the mountain in the persons of their representatives, and there to see God (Exo 24:9-11). Increase in the Number of the Israelites

Their Bondage in Egypt - Exodus 1

The promise which God gave to Jacob in his departure from Canaan (Gen 46:3) was perfectly fulfilled. The children of Israel settled down in the most fruitful province of the fertile land of Egypt, and grew there into a great nation (Exo 1:1-7). But the words which the Lord had spoken to Abram (Gen 15:13) were also fulfilled in relation to his seed in Egypt. The children of Israel were oppressed in a strange land, were compelled to serve the Egyptians (Exo 1:8-14), and were in great danger of being entirely crushed by them (Exo 1:15-22).

The Covenant of Sinai. (b. c. 1491.)

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 .

Here is, I. The date of that great charter by which Israel was incorporated. 1. The time when it bears date (v. 1)—in the third month after they came out of Egypt. 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. In Egypt they had spoken of a three days' journey into the wilderness to the place of their sacrifice (ch. v. 3), but it proved to be almost a two months' journey; so often are we out in the calculation of times, and things prove longer in the doing than we expected. 2. The place whence it bears date—from Mount Sinai, a place which nature, not art, had made eminent and conspicuous, for it was the highest in all that range of mountains. Thus God put contempt upon cities, and palaces, and magnificent structures, setting up his pavilion on the top of a high mountain, in a waste and barren desert, there to carry on this treaty. It is called Sinai, from the multitude of thorny bushes that overspread it.

II. The charter itself. Moses was called up the mountain (on the top of which God had pitched his tent, and at the foot of which Israel had pitched theirs), and was employed as the mediator, or rather no more than the messenger of the covenant: Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, v. 3. Here the learned bishop Patrick observes that the people are called by the names both of Jacob and Israel, to remind them that those who had lately been as low as Jacob when he went to Padan-aram had now grown as great as God made him when he came thence (justly enriched with the spoils of him that had oppressed him) and was called Israel. Now observe, 1. That the maker, and first mover, of the covenant, is God himself. Nothing was said nor done by this stupid unthinking people themselves towards this settlement; no motion made, no petition put up for God's favour, but this blessed charter was granted ex mero motu—purely out of God's own good-will. Note, In all our dealings with God, free grace anticipates us with the blessings of goodness, and all our comfort is owing, not to our knowing God, but rather to our being known of him, Gal. iv. 9. We love him, visit him, and covenant with him, because he first loved us, visited us, and covenanted with us. God is the Alpha, and therefore must be the Omega. 2. That the matter of the covenant is not only just and unexceptionable, and such as puts no hardship upon them, but kind and gracious, and such as gives them the greatest privileges and advantages imaginable. (1.) He reminds them of what he had done for them, v. 4. He had righted them, and avenged them upon their persecutors and oppressors: "You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, how many lives were sacrificed to Israel's honour and interests:" He had given them unparalleled instances of his favour to them, and his care of them: I bore you on eagles' wings, a high expression of the wonderful tenderness God had shown for them. It is explained, Deut. xxxii. 11, 12. It denotes great speed. God not only came upon the wing for their deliverance (when the set time was come, he rode on a cherub, and did fly), but he hastened them out, as it were, upon the wing. He did it also with great ease, with the strength as well as with the swiftness of an eagle: those that faint not, nor are weary, are said to mount up with wings as eagles, Isa. xl. 31. Especially, it denotes God's particular care of them and affection to them. Even Egypt, that iron furnace, was the nest in which these young ones were hatched, where they were first formed as the embryo of a nation; when, by the increase of their numbers, they grew to some maturity, they were carried out of that nest. Other birds carry their young in their talons, but the eagle (they say) upon her wings, so that even those archers who shoot flying cannot hurt the young ones, unless they first shoot through the old one. Thus, in the Red Sea, the pillar of cloud and fire, the token of God's presence, interposed itself between the Israelites and their pursuers (lines of defence which could not be forced, a wall which could not be penetrated): yet this was not all; their way so paved, so guarded, was glorious, but their end much more so: I brought you unto myself. They were brought not only into a state of liberty and honour, but into covenant and communion with God. This, this was the glory of their deliverance, as it is of ours by Christ, that he died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. This God aims at in all the gracious methods of his providence and grace, to bring us back to himself, from whom we have revolted, and to bring us home to himself, in whom alone we can be happy. He appeals to themselves, and their own observation and experience, for the truth of what is here insisted on: You have seen what I did; so that they could not disbelieve God, unless they would first disbelieve their own eyes. They saw how all that was done was purely the Lord's doing. It was not they that reached towards God, but it was he that brought them to himself. Some have well observed that the Old-Testament church is said to be borne upon eagles' wings, denoting the power of that dispensation, which was carried on with a high hand an out-stretched arm; but the New-Testament church is said to be gathered by the Lord Jesus, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings (Matt. xxiii. 37), denoting the grace and compassion of that dispensation, and the admirable condescension and humiliation of the Redeemer. (2.) He tells them plainly what he expected and required from them in one word, obedience (v. 5), that they should obey his voice indeed and keep his covenant. Being thus saved by him, that which he insisted upon was that they should be ruled by him. The reasonableness of this demand is, long after, pleaded with them, that in the day he brought them out of the land of Egypt this was the condition of the covenant, Obey my voice (Jer. vii. 23); and this he is said to protest earnestly to them, Jer. xi. 4, 7. Only obey indeed, not in profession and promise only, not in pretence, but in sincerity. God had shown them real favours, and therefore required real obedience. (3.) He assures them of the honour he would put upon them, and the kindness he would show them, in case they did thus keep his covenant (v. 5, 6): Then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me. He does not specify any one particular favour, as giving them the land of Canaan, or the like, but expresses it in that which was inclusive of all happiness, that he would be to them a God in covenant, and they should be to him a people. [1.] God here asserts his sovereignty over, and propriety in, the whole visible creation: All the earth is mine. Therefore he needed them not; he that had so vast a dominion was great enough, and happy enough, without concerning himself for so small a demesne as Israel was. All nations on the earth being his, he might choose which he pleased for his peculiar, and act in a way of sovereignty. [2.] He appropriates Israel to himself, First, As a people dear unto him. You shall be a peculiar treasure; not that God was enriched by them, as a man is by his treasure, but he was pleased to value and esteem them as a man does his treasure; they were precious in his sight and honourable (Isa. xliii. 4); he set his love upon them (Deut. vii. 7), took them under his special care and protection, as a treasure that is kept under lock and key. He looked upon the rest of the world but as trash and lumber in comparison with them. By giving them divine revelation, instituted ordinances, and promises inclusive of eternal life, by sending his prophets among them, and pouring out his Spirit upon them, he distinguished them from, and dignified them above, all people. And this honour have all the saints; they are unto God a peculiar people (Tit. ii. 14), his when he makes up his jewels. Secondly, As a people devoted to him, to his honour and service (v. 6), a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. All the Israelites, if compared with other people, were priests unto God, so near were they to him (Ps. cxlviii. 14), so much employed in his immediate service, and such intimate communion they had with him. When they were first made a free people it was that they might sacrifice to the Lord their God, as priests; they were under God's immediate government, and the tendency of the laws given them was to distinguish them from others, and engage them for God as a holy nation. Thus all believers are, through Christ, made to our God kings and priests (Rev. i. 6), a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 1 Pet. ii. 9.

III. Israel's acceptance of this charter, and consent to the conditions of it. 1. Moses faithfully delivered God's message to them (v. 7): He laid before their faces all those words; he not only explained to them what God had given him in charge, but he put it to their choice whether they would accept these promises upon these terms or no. His laying it to their faces denotes his laying it to their consciences. 2. They readily agreed to the covenant proposed. They would oblige themselves to obey the voice of God, and take it as a great favour to be made a kingdom of priests to him. They answered together as one man, nemine contradicente—without a dissentient voice (v. 8): All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. Thus they strike the bargain, accepting the Lord to be to them a God, and giving up themselves to be to him a people. O that there had been such a heart in them! 3. Moses, as a mediator, returned the words of the people to God, v. 8. Thus Christ, the Mediator between us and God, 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. Thus he is that blessed days-man who lays his hand upon us both.

The Approach of God Announced. (b. c. 1491.)

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 trumpet 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.

Here, I. God intimates to Moses his purpose of coming down upon Mount Sinai, in some visible appearance of his glory, in a thick cloud (v. 9); for he said that he would dwell in the thick darkness (2 Chron. vi. 1), and make this his pavilion (Ps. xviii. 11), holding back the face of his throne when he set it upon Mount Sinai, and spreading a cloud upon it, Job xxvi. 9. This thick cloud was to prohibit curious enquiries into things secret, and to command an awful adoration of that which was revealed. God would come down in the sight of all the people (v. 11); though they should see no manner of similitude, yet they should see so much as would convince them that God was among them of a truth. And so high was the top of Mount Sinai that it is supposed that not only the camp of Israel, but even the countries about, might discern some extraordinary appearance of glory upon it, which would strike a terror upon them. It seems also to have been particularly intended to put an honour upon Moses: That they may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever, v. 9. Thus the correspondence was to be first settled by a sensible appearance of the divine glory, which was afterwards to be carried on more silently by the ministry of Moses. In like manner, the Holy Ghost descended visibly upon Christ at his baptism, and all that were present heard God speak to him (Matt. iii. 17), that afterwards, without the repetition of such visible tokens, they might believe him. So likewise the Spirit descended in cloven tongues upon the apostles (Acts ii. 3), that they might be believed. Observe, When the people had declared themselves willing to obey the voice of God, then God promised they should hear his voice; for, if any man be resolved to do his will, he shall know it, John vii. 17.

II. He orders Moses to make preparation for this great solemnity, giving him two days' time for it.

1. He must sanctify the people (v. 10), as Job, before this, sent and sanctified his sons, Job i. 5. He must raise their expectation by giving them notice what God would do, and assist their preparation by directing them what they must do. "Sanctify them," that is, "Call them off from their worldly business, and call them to religious exercises, meditation and prayer, that they may receive the law from God's mouth with reverence and devotion. Let them be ready," v. 11. Note, When we are to attend upon God in solemn ordinances it concerns us to sanctify ourselves, and to get ready beforehand. Wandering thoughts must be gathered in, impure affections abandoned, disquieting passions suppressed, nay, and all cares about secular business, for the present, dismissed and laid by, that our hearts may be engaged to approach unto God. Two things particularly prescribed as signs and instances of their preparation:—(1.) In token of their cleansing themselves from all sinful pollutions, that they might be holy to God, they must wash their clothes (v. 10), and they did so (v. 14); not that God regards our clothes; but while they were washing their clothes he would have them think of washing their souls by repentance from the sins they had contracted in Egypt and since their deliverance. It becomes us to appear in clean clothes when we wait upon great men; so clean hearts are required in our attendance on the great God, who sees them as plainly as men see our clothes. This is absolutely necessary to our acceptably worshipping God. See Ps. xxvi. 6; Isa. i. 16-18; Heb. x. 22. (2.) In token of their devoting themselves entirely to religious exercises, upon this occasion, they must abstain even from lawful enjoyments during these three days, and not come at their wives, v. 15. See 1 Cor. vii. 5.

2. He must set bounds about the mountain, v. 12, 13. Probably he drew a line, or ditch, round at the foot of the hill, which none were to pass upon pain of death. This was to intimate, (1.) That humble awful reverence which ought to possess the minds of all those that worship God. We are mean creatures before a great Creator, vile sinners before a holy righteous Judge; and therefore a godly fear and shame well become us, Heb. xii. 28; Ps. ii. 11. (2.) The distance at which worshippers were kept, under that dispensation, which we ought to take notice of, that we may the more value our privilege under the gospel, having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Heb. x. 19.

3. He must order the people to attend upon the summons that should be given (v. 13): "When the trumpet soundeth long then let them take their places at the foot of the mount, and so sit down at God's feet," as it is explained, Deut. xxxiii. 3. Never was so great a congregation called together, and preached to, at once, as this was here. No one man's voice could have reached so many, but the voice of God did.

The Divine Presence on Mount Sinai. (b. c. 1491.)

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, charge 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.

Now, at length, comes that memorable day, that terrible day of the Lord, that day of judgment, in which Israel heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst of the fire, and lived, Deut. iv. 33. Never was there such a sermon preached, before nor since, as this which was here preached to the church in the wilderness. For,

I. The preacher was God himself (v. 18): The Lord descended in fire, and (v. 20), The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai. The shechinah, or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of all the people; he shone forth from mount Paran with ten thousands of his saints (Deut. xxxiii. 2), that is, attended, as the divine Majesty always is, by a multitude of the holy angels, who were both to grace the solemnity and to assist at it. Hence the law is said to be given by the disposition of angels, Acts vii. 53.

II. The pulpit (or throne rather) was mount Sinai, hung with a thick cloud (v. 16), covered with smoke (v. 18), and made to quake greatly. Now it was that the earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, and the mountains skipped like rams (Ps. cxiv. 4, 7), that Sinai itself, though rough and rocky, melted from before the Lord God of Israel, Judg. v. 5. Now it was that the mountains saw him, and trembled (Hab. iii. 10), and were witnesses against a hard-hearted unmoved people, whom nothing would influence.

III. The congregation was called together by the sound of a trumpet, exceedingly loud (v. 16), and waxing louder and louder, v. 19. This was done by the ministry of the angels, and we read of trumpets sounded by angels, Rev. viii. 6. It was the sound of the trumpet that made all the people tremble, as those who knew their own guilt, and who had reason to expect that the sound of this trumpet was to them the alarm of war.

IV. Moses brought the hearers to the place of meeting, v. 17. He that had led them out of the bondage of Egypt now led them to receive the law from God's mouth. Public persons are indeed public blessings when they lay out themselves in their places to promote the public worship of God. Moses, at the head of an assembly worshipping God, was as truly great as Moses at the head of an army in the field.

V. The introductions to the service were thunders and lightnings, v. 16. These were designed to strike an awe upon the people, and to raise and engage their attention. Were they asleep? The thunders would awaken them. Were they looking another way? The lightnings would engage them to turn their faces towards him that spoke to them. Thunder and lightning have natural causes, but the scripture directs us in a particular manner to take notice of the power of God, and his terror, in them. Thunder is the voice of God, and lightning the fire of God, proper to engage the senses of sight and hearing, those senses by which we receive so much of our information.

VI. Moses is God's minister, who is spoken to, to command silence, and keep the congregation in order: Moses spoke, v. 19. Some think it was now that he said, I exceedingly fear and quake (Heb. xii. 21); but God stilled his fear by his distinguishing favour to him, in calling him up to the top of the mount (v. 20), by which also he tried his faith and courage. No sooner had Moses got up a little way towards the top of the mount than he was sent down again to keep the people from breaking through to gaze, v. 21. Even the priests or princes, the heads of the houses of their fathers, who officiated for their respective families, and therefore are said to come near to the Lord at other times, must now keep their distance, and conduct themselves with a great deal of caution. Moses pleads that they needed not to have any further orders given them, effectual care being taken already to prevent any intrusions, v. 23. But God, who knew their wilfulness and presumption, and what was now in the hearts of some of them, hastens him down with this in charge, that neither the priests nor the people should offer to force the lines that were set, to come up unto the Lord, but Moses and Aaron on, the men whom God delighted to honour. Observe, 1. What it was that God forbade them—breaking through to gaze; enough was provided to awaken their consciences, but they were not allowed to gratify their vain curiosity. They might see, but not gaze. Some of them, probably, were desirous to see some similitude, that they might know how to make an image of God, which he took care to prevent, for they saw no manner of similitude, Deut. iv. 5. Note, In divine things we must not covet to know more than God would have us know; and he has allowed us as much as is good for us. A desire of forbidden knowledge was the ruin of our first parents. Those that would be wise above what is written, and intrude into those things which they have not seen, need this admonition, that they break not through to gaze. 2. Under what penalty it was forbidden: Lest the Lord break forth upon them (v. 22-24), and many of them perish. Note, (1.) The restraints and warnings of the divine law are all intended for our good, and to keep us out of that danger into which we should otherwise, by our own folly, run ourselves. (2.) It is at our peril if we break the bounds that God has set us, and intrude upon that which he has not allowed us; the Bethshemites and Uzzah paid dearly for their presumption. And, even when we are called to approach God, we must remember that he is in heaven and we upon earth, and therefore it behoves us to exercise reverence and godly fear.

CHAP. XIX.

IN the third Moneth, after the going forth of the sonnes of Israel, out of the land of Egypt; in the same day came they into the wildernesse of Sinai. For they had journied from Rephidim, and were come to the wildernesse of Sinai, and encamped in the wildernesse: and there Israel camped before the mountaine. And Moses went up unto God: and Iehovah called unto him out of the mountaine, saying; Thus shalt thou say to the house of Iakob, and tell the sonnes of Israel. You have seene what I did unto the Egyptians: and I have borne you upon Eagles wings, and brought you unto my selfe. And now, if hearkning ye will hearken unto my voice, and keepe my covenant, then yee shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all peoples; for all the earth is mine. And you shall be unto me a kingdome of priests, and an holy nation: These are the words which thou shalt speake unto the sonnes of Israel. And Moses came, and called for the Elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which Iehovah commanded him. And all the people answered together and said; All that Iehovah hath spoken wee will doe: And Moses returned the words of the people unto Iehovah. And Iehovah said unto Moses, Loe I come unto thee in the thicke cloud; that the people may heare, when I speake with thee, and may beleeve in thee also for ever: And Moses told the words of the people unto Iehovah. And Iehovah said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctifie them to day & to morrow: and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready against the third day: for in the third day Iehovah will come downe, in the eyes of all the people upon mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying; Take heed to your selves, that yee goe not up into the mountaine, or touch the border of it: all that toucheth the mountaine shall die the death. There shall not a hand touch it, but hee shall be stoned with stones, or shot through with a shot: whether it bee beast or man, it shall not live: when the sound of the trumpet is drawne long, they shall goe up into the mountaine. And Moses went downe from the mountaine unto the people: and hee sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And hee sayd unto the people; Be ye ready against the third day: come not yee nigh unto a Wife. And it was in the third day, when it was morning, that there was voices, and lightnings, and a heavy cloud upon the mountaine; and the voice of the trumpet exceeding strong: and all the people that was in the Campe trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the Campe, to meet with God: and they stood at the nether part of the mountaine. And mount Sinai was all of it on a smoke, because that Iehovah descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace; and all the mruntaine trembled exceedingly. And the voice of the trumpet was giong and waxing strong exceedingly: Moses spake; and God answered him by a voice. And Iehovah descended upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mountaine: and Iehovah called for Moses unto the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And Iehovah said unto Moses; Goe downe, testifie unto the people; lest they breake thorow unto Iehovah, to see, and many of them fall. And the priests also, which come neere unto Iehovah, let them sanctifie themselves; lest Iehovah breake forth upon them. And Moses said unto Iehovah; The people cannot come up unto mount Sinai: for thou hast testified unto us saying; Set bounds about the mountaine and sanctifie it. And Iehovah said unto him, Goe downe, and come up thou & Aaron with thee: but the priests and the people, let not them breake through to come up unto Iehovah, lest he breake forth upon them. And Moses went downe unto the people, and said it unto them.

Annotations. MOneth] or, new moone; which was the first day of every moneth among the Hebrews: therefore here followeth in the same day, to signifie not the Moneth onely, but the first day thereof to be meant. Or (as some thinke) the same day meaneth the third day, as it was the third moneth, and this was 430. yeeres after the promise made unto Abraham: but the covenant of the Law now given, could not disanull the covenant (of grace) that was confirmed afore of God, in respect of Christ, Gal. 3. 17. Sines] in Greeke, the Holy Ghost writeth it Sina: which is a mountaine in Arabia, situate in the wildernesse, called thereupon, the wildernesse of mount Sina. Gal. 4. 25. Acts 7. 30. Vers. 3. unto God] the Greeke saith, unto the mountaine of God: the Chaldee, into the presence of the word of the Lord: this was Christ, who is called the Angel, Act. 7. 38. the Angel of Gods Face, (or presence) Esay 63. 9. It seemeth that the cloud by which God conducted them, now rested upon that mount. See Numb. 9. 17. &c. Vers. 4. you] or your selves have seene, &c. This speech was to prepare them to receive Gods covenant now to be made: and the like was spoken at the renewing of the covenant, Deut. 29. 2. &c. Eagles wings] to cary you out of your place of bondage, openly, safely, speedily; as the Eagle doth her yong ones, from their sluggish nest. This similitude is more explained in Deut. 32. 11. And as the Church of Israel here, fled from the dragon Pharaoh, (as he is called in Ezek. 29. 3.) so the Christian Church fled from the Serpent, (or Dragon) into the wildernesse, with two wings of a great Eagle, Rev. 12. 14. The Greeke and Chaldee here translate, as upon Eagles wings. unto my selfe,] to serve me at this mount, (as was promised in Exod. 3. 12) and for ever: so the Chaldee explaineth it, to my service; and Thargum Ierusalemy saith, to the doctrine of my Law. Vers. 5. my voice] the voice of my Word, saith Thargum Ierusalemy. a peculiar treasure] or jewell. The Hebrew Segullah, signifieth ones own proper good, which he loveth and keepeth in store for himselfe, and for speciall use, 1 Chron. 29. 3. Eceles. 2. 8. Here it is applyed to Gods Church, and translated in Greeke a peculiar people, which phrase Paul followeth, in Tit. 2. 14. but Peter expresseth it by another word, a people for peculiar possession, 1 Pet. 2. 9. as the Greek version is in Mal. 3. 17. The Chaldee translateth it, beloved: so doe other Hebrews, saying, Segullah, signifieth that they should be beloved before him, as a desirable treasure, which a king delivereth not into the hand of any of his officers, but keepeth it himselfe. And such is the case of Israel, of whom it is said, (in Deut. 32. 9.) For the Lords portion is his people &c. R. Menachem on Exo. 19. This grace (which the Apostles shew we have obtained by Christ) is sundry times mentioned to the praise of God, Deut. 7. 6. and 14. 2. and 26. 18. For Iah hath chosen Iakob unto himselfe: Israel for his peculiar treasure, Psal. 135 4. the earth] with the plenty thereof is mine, yet my delight is in you, to love you, and to chuse you and your seed above all peoples; So Moses openeth this speech, in Deut. 10. 14. 15. and other Prophets; as, Thou Israel art my servant; Iakob, whom I have chosen; the seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chiefe men thereof, and said unto thee; Thou art my servant, &c. Esay 41. 8. 9. Vers. 6. a kingdome of priests,] which the Apostle (following the Greeke version) calleth a kingly priesthood, 1 Pet. 2. 9. The Chaldee saith ye shall be before mee, kings, priests, and an holy people. Such Christ hath made us, unto God his father, Rev. 1. 6. Kings, to reigne on the earth, Rev. 5. 10. and priests Mosser up spirituall sacrifices, 1 Pet. 2. 5. Rom. 12. 1. Vers. 7. Elders] by them to communicate these thing, with the people: see Exod. 3. 16. laid] or proposed; Hebrew put. Vers. 8. together] with one accord, as the Greeke [illegible: 1 span]laineth it; and elsewhere Moses saith, with one [illegible: 1 word] Exod. 24. [illegible: 1 word]. The people not yet knowing the unpossibilitie of the law, which is weak through the flesh, Rom. 8. 3. make promise of more than they were able to performe. After, when the law [illegible: 2 words] ▪ they fea[illegible: 1 letter]e and flee away, Exod. [illegible: 1 word] 1[illegible: 1 letter]. 1[illegible: 1 letter] ▪ And it [illegible: 2 words], but either men not understanding the [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1 word] presume of their [illegible: 1 word] strength, or understanding it, doe despaire, [illegible: 1 span]e the grace of God in Christ doe sustaine [illegible: 1 span] Rom. 7, 9, 10, 24. 25. [illegible: 1 span] [illegible: 1 span]. in the thicke cloud▪ Hebrew in the thicknesse of the cloud: which the Greeke explaineth, the pillar of the cloud: the Ierusalemy Thargum expoundeth it, my Word shall bee revealed unto thee in the thicke cloud, in thee] see Exodus 14. 31. This confidence in Moses the Iewes alwaies retained, and said they were Moses disciples, they knew that God spake with Moses, Iohn 9. 28. 29. They write of him thus: Moses our Master, Israel beleevod not in him because of the signes which he did: for hee that beleeveth because of signes, there is in his heart a suspicion that the signe may possibly bee done by inchantment or sorcerie. But all the signes which Moses did in the wildernesse, hee did them upon necessity, &c. we needed food; hee brought us downe Manna. They were a thirst; hee clave the rocke for them. The congregation of Korah rebelled against him; the earth swallowed them: and so all other signes. But wherefore beleeved we in him? For that standing at mount Sinai, which our owne eyes did see and not a stranger; and our eares did heare and not another; the fire, and the thunders, and the lightnings, and he went neere into the thicke darknesse, and a voice spake unto him and we heard it; Moses, Moses, goe say unto them thus and thus. And so it is said, face to face the Lord spake with you, (Deut. 5. 4.) &c. This standing at mount Sinai, it selfe alone was an evident confirmation of his prophesie, that it was truth, and without all suspicion in it; as it is written, Lo I come unto thee in the thicke cloud, that the people may heare when I speake with thee, and may beleeve in thee for ever, (Exodus 19. 9.) So that before this thing, they beleeved not in him, with such a beleefe as continueth for ever; but with a beleefe that had [doubtfull] conceits and thoughts after it. Maimony in Misn. in Iesudei hatorah, ch. 8. S. 1. Vers. 10. sanctifie them] that is, bid them, and looke that they doe sanctifie, and holily prepare themselves, that they may be humbled at my feet, to receive my words; as Deut. 33. 3. This was by cleansing themselves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit, 2 Cor. 7. 1. inwardly by faith, Act. 15. 9. outwardly by washing their garments, (whereof see Gen. 35. 2.) and their bodies, as appeareth by other places that shew the sanctifying of the priests and people, Levit, 8. 6. and 15. 5. 6. 8. 13. 16. 18. 21. 22. &c. and abstaining from their wives, as after followeth here, verse. 15. Which things figured our sanctification and cleansing by Christ Iesus, with the washing of water, by the Word, even the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the holy Ghost. Ephes. 5 26. Tit. 3. 5. From this precept the Hebrew Doctors gather their doctrine and practice, for baptizing all whom they admit unto their Church and covenant: as Maimony sheweth in Asurei Biah, ch. 13. and is more fully set downe in the annotations on Gen. 17. 12. V. 11. the third day] which is thought to be the day that after was called Pentecost, the 50. day after the Passeover; then was a yeerly feast, Exo. 23. 16. Lev. 23. 15. 16. &c. Act. 20. 16. On this day the fiery law was now given on mount Sina: on this day the fiery tongues were after given for preaching the Gospell in Ierusalem, Acts 2. 1. 2. &c. And many mysteries are of the third day, in the Scriptures: see the notes on Gen. 22. 4. Vers. 13. touch it] or, touch him; that is, the man or beast that shall touch the mountaine, shall be so execrable unto you, as yee shall not touch it with hand, but stone it, or shoot it through. These ordinances were outward, concerning the mount that might be touched; terrible, that the people could unbeare that which was commanded; and shewed the nature and use of the law, contrary to the Gospell on mount Sion, as Paul explaineth it, Heb. 12. 18. 20. 22. &c. with a shot] with arrow (or dart,) as the Apostle in Greek openeth the Hebrew phrase shooting, shot through, Heb. 12. 20. the sound of the trumpet] or, the sounding trumpet: called in Hebrew Iobel, translated in Greeke, voices and trumpets; but the Apostle seemeth to expresse it by the sound (or eccho) of the trumpet, Hebr. 12. 19. the Chaldee turneth it the trumpet. Every 50. yeare was of the sounding of trumpets called Iobel (the Iubilee,) Levit. 25. 10. see the annotations there, and Ios. 6. 4. 5. is drawne long] or, draweth (that is, continueth) the sound: and so there be an end of the trumpets sounding. shall goe up] that is, as the Chaldee paraphraseth, when the trumpet shall be withdrawne, they shall have leave to goe up: and as the Gr. translateth, when the voyces, & the trumpets, & the cloud, are departed from the mountaine, they shal goe up. So that whiles the signes of Gods Majestie were on the mount, the people were forbidden to approach: but when they were ceased, the people might goe up as to any other common mount; wheras untill that time the mountaine was sanctified, verse 23. Vers. 15. unto a wife] or to a woman; that is, any of you unto his wife, to lie with her; as the Ierusalemy Thargum expoundeth it, the ministerie of the bed. A like speech passed betweene Achimelech the priest and David, about eating of the holy bread, 1 Sam. 21. 4. 5. This was for the more humiliation and preparing of the people: as Paul teacheth that man & wife may abstaine with consent for a time, that they may give themselves to fasting and prayer, 1 Cor. 7. 5. It seemeth also by the Law in Levit. 15. 18. that there was a figurative uneleannesse by all such copulation: see the annotations on that place. Vers. 16. voyces] that is, thunders; see Exod. 9. 23. heavy] that is, very thicke cloud, the Greeke translateth, darkesome clouds. These were signes of Gods glorious presence, and of his judgements against the breakers of his Law: the Prophets use the like words to signifie his Majestie, Psal. 18. 9. 10. 12. 14. and 97. 2. 4. And these things were now done by the ministery of Angels, Act. 7. 53. Gal. 3. 19. for God came, with ten thousands of saints, Deut. 33. 2. trumpet] shewing the nature of the Law, to manifest Gods will, mens transgressions, and to warne them of the wrath deserved, Esay 58. 1. Ezek. 33. 3. Rom. 3. 20. and 4. 15. trembled] or was afraid. The spirit of bondage which was in the people, caused them to feare, Rom. [illegible: 1 word]. 15. for they were not perfect in the love of God, 1 Iohn 4. 18. Vers. 17. to meet with God] as the Chaldee paraphraseth, with the Word of the Lord. Thus Moses as a Mediatour stood betweene the Lord and the people; because they were afraid, Deut. 5. 5. Gal. 3. 19. at the nether part] without the bounds that Moses had limited, vers. 12. They flood here (as the Hebrews write) after the order that Moses mentioneth (in Deut. 29. 10. 11.) when after 40. yeeres he renewed the covenant; First there were the firstborne (the priests, Exod. 19. 22.) which came neare unto the Lord: after them the Heads of the Tribes, the Rulers: after them the Elders: then the officers: after them all the men of Israel: then the little ones: after them the women: and then the strangers. Aben Ezra on Exod. 19. Vers. 18. on a smoke] With clouds and smoke, God often manifested his glorious presence to his people, Exod. 40. 34. 35. 2 Chro. 5. 14. and 6. 1. and 7. 1. 2. Esay 6. 4. Rev. 15. 8. there was the hiding of his power, Hab. 3. 4. descended] God who filleth heaven and earth, Ier. 23. 24. is said to descend or come downe to certaine places, when hee there manifesteth his glory: and it is spoken of him after the manner of men. See the notes on Gen. 6. 6. and 11. 5. in fire] for Gods Word is like to fire, Ier. 23. 29. and his law was firie, Deut. 33. 2. as hee himselfe is a consuming fire, Deutro. 4. 24. Thargum Ierusalemy explaineth it thus, because the glorie of the Majestie of the Lord was revealed upon it, in a flame of fire. The mountaine burnt with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darknesse, clouds, and thicke darknesse, Deut. 4. 11. all the mount] the mountaines saw the Lord, and trembled, Hab. 3. 10. they leaped like rammes, Psal. 114. 4. the earth quaked, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God; even Sinai it selfe, at the presence of God, the God of Israel, Psal. 68. 6. Iudg. 5. 5. The Greek translateth, all the people was astonied. Vers. 19. going and waxing strong] that is, continually proceeding and increasing in londnesse and strength more and more. See a like phrase in Gen. 8. 3. Moses spake] so fearfull was the sight, that Moses said, I am sore afraid and tremble, Heb. 12. 21. by a voyce] by a more gentle meane than the thunder, or loud shrilling trumpet: that Moses might be confirmed and not affrighted. (So Daniel being daunted with a vision, was strengthned by the Angels words, Dan. 10. 8. 16. 17. 19.) And this voyce was heard of the people; as is likely by that promise unto Moses, in verse 9. It signified also, that onely the Lords voyce takes away the terrors of the Law: for by Moses the Law was given, but by Christ (who answered the Law and fulfilled it,) commeth grace and truth, Ioh. 1. 17. Vers. 21. testifie unto] or, charge (contest) the people. Paul used to contest (or charge) before God and his Angels, 1 Tim. 5. 21. 2 Tim. 2. 14. and 4. 1. lest they breake] or, that they breake not through, to wit, the bounds set them. to see] as Moses did at the first, till he was stayed of God, Exodus 3. 3. Curiositie is forbidden, that men might walke by faith, not by sight, 2 Cor. 5. 7. and learne humility, Rom. 12. 3. The Greeke here translateth, Lest they draw neare unto God, to consider; (or to behold) and Luke useth the word in that sense, in Stephens speech of: Moses, Act. 7. 31. fall] that is, be killed of the Lord, verse 12. as 50. thousand and 70 men of Berhshemeth were slaine for looking into the Arke of God, 1 Sam. 6. 19. So falling is used for staine, in Gen. 14. 10. 1 Cor. 10. 8. Vers 22. which come neare] that is, as the Chaldee explaineth, which come neare to minister before the Lord. These priests are after called yong men of the sonnes of Israel, Exodus 24. 5. and were the first borne of the people whom God had sanctified to him-selfe, Exodus 13. 2. in whose place hee afterward tooke the tribe of Levi, Numb. 8. 14. 15. 17. 18. sanctifie themselves] that is, prepare, wash, and keepe themselves from being defiled with sinne, by touching the mount, as vers. 24. 12. breake forth] which the Chaldee expoundeth, bee strong, (that is, very angry) but it implieth death also, when God breaketh forth as the breach of waters upon men to destroy them; as 2 Sam. 5. 20. and 6. 6. 7. 8. Vers. 23. cannot] or, shall not be able to come up, by reason of the former charge and limitation. It seemeth therefore that Moses thought it needlesse to speake so often and instantly to the people: but God urgeth it againe, verse 24. so restraining the curiositie of the people; and shewing the end of the Law, to be rather to exclude men from God, (by reason of their sinnes,) than to justifie or give them life, as doth the Gospell; for it was the ministration of death, 2 Cor. 3. 7. Gal. 3. 10. 11. 19. 21. 22. 23. 24. Mount Sina, is in bondage with her children, Gal. 4. 25. Vers. 24. breake through] the Greeke here translateth, let them not violently presse to come up: but that which the Law suffereth not, the Gospell admitteth, Mat. 11. 12. Luke 16. 16. Heb. 12. 18. 22. 23. 24.