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The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:3-6
God's first message to the people at Sinai. The cloud going on before the people from Rephidim, brings them at last to what by pre-eminence is called the mount. The mount, not because it was higher, but because there th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:3-10
The covenant proposed. A characteristic difference is to be observed between the covenant made at Sinai and that formerly established with Abraham. In both, there is a wonderful act of Divine condescension. In both, God…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:3-9
EXPOSITION THE FIRST COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL. AS Moses, having reached the foot of Sinai, was proceeding to ascend the mountain, where he looked to have special revelations from God, God called to him out of the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:3
Moses went up unto God. From the time of his call Moses had known that Israel was to serve God upon Sinai (Exodus 3:12), and had regarded either one special peak, or the whole range as "the mount of God"—a place dedicat…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:4
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians. God prefaces his appeal to Israel with respect to the future, by reminding them of what he had done for them in the past. In the fewest possible words he recalls to their reco…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:5
Now therefore. Instead of asking the simple question—"Will ye promise to obey me and keep my covenant.—God graciously entices the Israelites to their own advantage by a most loving promise. If they will agree to obey hi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:5
My covenant. It may be proper at this stage to indicate briefly the nature of the constitution under which Israel was placed at Sinai, directing attention to some of the resemblances and contrasts between it and the new…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:6
Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests. Or "a royalty of priests"—at once a royal and a priestly race—all of you at once both priests and kings. (So the LXX. render, βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα; the Targums of Onkelos and…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:7-25
The revelation of Jehovah. I. WHAT IS DEMANDED ERE THE REVELATION CAN BE IMPARTED. 1. The will must be surrendered to God, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8). 2. The filthiness of the past must be…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:7
And Moses came. Moses descended from the point of the mountain which he had reached, and summoned a meeting of the elders of the people. When they were come together, he reported to them totidem verbis the message which…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:8
And all the people answered together. It would seem that the elders submitted to the whole congregation the question propounded by Moses; or at any rate submitted it to a popular meeting, fairly representing the congreg…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 19:9-15
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 Go…
The Approach of God Announced. (b. c. 1491.)
THE APPROACH OF GOD ANNOUNCED. (B. C. 1491.) 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 (Exodus 19:9); for he said that he woul…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:9
I came unto thee in a thick cloud. Literally, "in the thickness of a cloud." God must always veil himself when he speaks with man, for man could not bear "the brightness of his presence." If he takes a human form that f…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:9-25
The manifestation of God's glory at Sinai. I. THE PURPOSE OF THIS MANIFESTATION. God made this purpose known beforehand; and it was that the people who saw and heard these dreadful phenomena might believe Moses for ever…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:10-15
The awfulness of God's presence, and the preparation needed ere we approach him. I. THE AWFULNESS OF GOD'S PRESENCE. The presence of God is awful, even to those holy angels who are without spot or stain of sin, having d…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:10
Go unto the people. Moses had withdrawn himself from the people to report their words to God (Exodus 19:8, Exodus 19:9). He was now commanded to return to them. Sanctify them. Or "purify them." Purification in Egypt was…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:10-15
EXPOSITION THE PREPARATION OF THE PEOPLE AND OF THE MOUNTAIN FOR THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD UPON IT. The people having accepted God's terms, the time had come for the revelation in all its fulness of the covenant which Go…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:10-25
The mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire (Hebrews 12:18). It is interesting to observe that, with the latter part of this chapter, we enter on an entirely new phase in the history of God's revelation o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:11
The Lord win come down. Jehovah is regarded as dwelling in the heaven above, not exclusively (Psalms 139:7-10), but especially and therefore, when he appears on earth, he "comes down" (Genesis 11:5-7; Genesis 18:21; Exo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:12
Thou shalt set bounds. The erection of a fence or barrier, between the camp and the mountain—not necessarily all round the mountain—seems to be meant. This barrier may have run along the line of low alluvial mounds at t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:13
There shall not an hand touch it. Rather, "there shall not an hand touch him." The transgressor shall not be seized and apprehended, for that would involve the repetition of the offence by his arrester, who must overpas…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:14
In obedience to the commands which he had received (Exodus 19:10), Moses returned to the camp at the foot of Sinai, and issued the order that the people were to purify themselves and wash their garments during that day…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:15
Come not at your wives. Compare 1 Samuel 21:4, 1 Samuel 21:5; 1 Corinthians 7:5. A similar obligation lay on the Egyptian priests (Porphyr. De Abstin. 4.7); and the idea which underlies it was widespread in the ancient…