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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
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
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 19:5
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 19:6
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…
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 19:10-25
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 19:10-15
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
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
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 19:11
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…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:16-19
Sinai and Sion. In studying these verses we cannot but be reminded of the picture drawn by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews of the contrast in respect of Church state and privilege between believers of the Old a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:16-20
EXPOSITION THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD UPON SINAI. All was ready. The fence had been made (Exodus 19:23); the people had purified themselves—at least so far as externals went. The third day was come—there was a breathless…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:16
There were thunders. Literally, "voices," as in Exodus 9:23; but there can be no doubt that "thunder" is meant. A thick cloud. Compare above, Exodus 9:9, and the comment ad loc. The voice of the trumpet. Literally, "a t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:16-20
God's various modes of manifesting himself. It has been well said that "when God reveals himself it is in a manner suitable to the occasion." No revelation that he has made of himself has ever been so terrible in its ma…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:17
Moses brought forth the people out of the camp. The camp itself must have been withdrawn to some little distance from the foot of the mount, so that a vacant space intervened between the first tents and the "fence" whic…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 19:17
Prepare to meet thy God. God's revelation of himself to man is gradual, as man can bear it. [Cf. the way in which a parent reveals himself to his child, Isaiah 28:11, with stammering lips and a feigned tongue.] Israel h…