_THE ISRAELITES COME TO MOUNT SINAI IN THE THIRD MONTH: THEY ARE COMMANDED TO SANCTIFY THEMSELVES: THE LORD DESCENDS UPON THE MOUNTAIN IN THE MIDST OF THUNDERS AND LIGHTNINGS, AND TALKS WITH MOSES._ _Before Christ 1491._... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE THIRD MONTH—THE SAME DAY— Houbigant shews clearly, that this means the first day of the month; for the Jews, says he, celebrate the 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... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY WERE DEPARTED— Houbigant renders this, _For they had departed from Rephidim, that they might come into the wilderness of Sinai, and encamp there: there, therefore, Israel encamped before the Mountain._... [ Continue Reading ]
MOSES WENT UP UNTO GOD— The Deity having made his presence known by the usual symbol, Moses ascended to that part of the Mountain where the Lord manifested himself, and from whence he issued his sacred mandates. We have so frequently observed, that the Divine Person, who is called _God,_ and also _L... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW I BARE YOU ON EAGLES' WINGS— See Deuteronomy 32:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL BE A PECULIAR TREASURE— The word סגלה _segulah,_ signifies a _peculium;_ an appropriated treasure, or peculiar propriety: GOD, to whom belong all the people upon earth, being determined to select and set apart one nation, as the repository of his law, and the subjects of his most immediate... [ Continue Reading ]
A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS, AND, &C.— The latter clause seems explicative of the former; and might be rendered, _even an holy nation;_ a nation separated and set apart by me, and for my service, as _priests_ are separated; and so, from their relation to GOD, called _holy:_ and, as priests were to be holy... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES—CALLED THE ELDERS OF THE PEOPLE— The Lord having proposed to Moses to institute a theocracy, to separate the Israelites from the rest of the world, and to become, in a peculiar sense, _their God_ and _King;_ Moses summons _the elders of the people,_ as the representatives of the whole body... [ Continue Reading ]
I COME UNTO THEE IN A THICK CLOUD— This _thick cloud,_ as appears from Exodus 19:16, &c. implies all those awful demonstrations which accompanied the Divine Presence; and, in this view, the reason here subjoined for God's coming in this _thick cloud,_ is manifest: that the people, hearing the Almigh... [ Continue Reading ]
SANCTIFY THEM TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW— What is meant by _sanctification, i.e_. a _separating_ and _setting apart to holy uses,_ has been often explained. And here the context very fully informs us, what was to be the mode of the present sanctification of the Israelites: they were to _wash their clothes... [ Continue Reading ]
COME DOWN IN THE SIGHT OF ALL THE PEOPLE— i.e. The _cloud_ and _darkness,_ declarative of the Divine Presence, will come down upon the mountain. For Jehovah himself was not otherwise visible to them. Compare Exodus 19:18; Exodus 19:20 and see Deuteronomy 4:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER TOUCHETH THE MOUNT, &C.— Houbigant, from the Samaritan, renders the first part of the 12th verse, _Thou shalt set bounds round about the mountain, and shalt command the people, saying,_ &c. What striking circumstances of terror attended the giving of the law! How different from the manner... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WERE THUNDERS AND LIGHTNINGS— The most formidable agents in nature, _air, fire,_ and _light,_ in their most dreadful exertions, attended the Divinity on this solemn occasion: a retinue of glorious angels, bright as the living flame, surrounded him, Deuteronomy 32:2. All nature expressed the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
MOSES SPAKE, AND GOD ANSWERED HIM— In Exodus 19:9 the Lord tells Moses, that _he would come in a thick cloud, that the people might hear him speak with him:_ accordingly, being descended in all his terrors, he replied to Moses, speaking to him with _a voice, i.e_. a human voice, with which he condes... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD CAME DOWN, &C.— Houbigant renders this, _But the Lord, as he descended upon Mount Sinai, called Moses to the top of the Mount._ It must be understood in some such manner as this; as it is plain from Exodus 19:18 that the Lord had before descended; unless we will read that verse, _becaus... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, GO DOWN, &C.— When Moses was advanced upon the mountain, the Lord, to shew the care he had for the people, and his desire to preserve them from destruction, orders Moses to _go down_ again, _and charge the people_ (whose curiosity, very likely, when the first awful impressi... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE PRIESTS ALSO— It is very extraordinary to observe how some expositors have perplexed themselves and others, in settling what is meant by the word _priests_ here: for, as Aaron and his sons were not consecrated to the priestly office, or the tribe of Levi set apart, they have imagined, that t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE CANNOT COME UP TO MOUNT SINAI— To be consistent with the other parts of this chapter, especially Exodus 19:13 these words must signify, that the people, though advanced _to_ the mount, could not ascend up _upon_ it; as being restrained by those _bounds_ which God himself had strictly enjo... [ Continue Reading ]