Exodus 19:22

_AND LET THE PRIESTS ALSO, WHICH COME NEAR TO THE LORD, SANCTIFY THEMSELVES, LEST THE LORD BREAK FORTH UPON THEM._ Let the priests also, which come hear to the Lord, sanctify themselves. Who these priests were-whether the first-born of families (cf. Exodus 24:5), or the sacerdotal office was at this transitional period conjoined with the exercise of their magisterial functions by the elders of Israel-is not known; but they were not to be so lifted up with pride by the official character which they possessed as to deem themselves better than others, and more worthy to approach the sacred shrine on the mount....

16-25 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,...

Verse Exodus 19:22. _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 ha...

THE PRIESTS ALSO - Sacrifices had hitherto been offered by firstborn, or the heads of families. See Genesis 14:18 note....

EXPOSITION _The further warning to the people and the priests_. It is very remarkable that, after all the directions given (Exodus 19:10-2), and all the pains taken by Moses and the Israelites themselves (Exodus 19:14, Exodus 19:15, Exodus 19:23), God should still have thought it necessary to interpose with a fresh warning, and to send Moses back from the top of the mount to the bottom, in order to communicate the renewed warning to the people. We can only suppose that, in spite of the instructions previously given and the precautions taken, there were those among the people who were prepared to "break through" the

AND LET THE PRIESTS ALSO, WHICH COME NEAR UNTO THE LORD,.... Either the firstborn, as the Jews generally interpret it, so Jarchi and Aben Ezra; who were sanctified to the Lord, and in whose stead afterwards the Levites were taken; or the sons of Aaron, who should be, and were potentially, though not actually priests, as Ben Gersom expresses it, from an ancient book of theirs called Mechilta; or rather some principal persons, as heads of families and the like, who, before the priesthood was settled in the family of Aaron, officiated as priests, and drew nigh to God, and offered up sacrifices for themselves and others, and were distinguished from others by this character, and therefore do not intend princes, as some interpret the word; for the description of them will not agree to them, but plainly points to a sort of men, to whom it was peculiar to perform that office. These Moses is bid...

EXODUS 19. AWFUL REVELATION OF GOD IN FIRE AND CLOUD. Exodus 19:1 a P, Exodus 19:2 b - Exodus 19:3 a E, Exodus 19:3 b - Exodus 19:6 Rd, Exodus 19:7 a E, Exodus 19:11 b - Exodus 19:13 J, Exodus 19:14 E,...

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 therefore the Israelites, though so vast a multitude, and though the descendants of those patriarchs who always possessed the true knowledge of God, had now no _priests_ or regular religious services; a notion, which the tenor of our observations serves amply to explode. And upon this supposition, that there were no priests before the consecration of Aaron, &c. some have absurdly imagined, that the priests here mentioned, were the _first-born_ devoted to God, ch. 13: Strange! that they did not recollect that this command, for the sanctification of the first-born, had not yet been in force fifty...

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 19 IN THE THIRD MONTH AFTER THE CHILDREN OF IS-RA-EL WERE GONE FORTH OUT OF THE LAND OF E-GYPT, THE SAME DAY CAME THEY INTO THE WILDERNESS OF SI-NAI. (2) AND WHEN THEY WERE DEPARTED FROM REPH-I-DIM, AND WERE COME TO THE WILDERNESS OF SI-NAI, THEY ENCAMPED IN THE WILDERNESS; AND THERE IS-RA-EL ENCAMPED BEFORE THE MOUNT. (3) AND MO-SES WENT UP UNTO GOD, AND JE-HO-VAH CALLED UNTO HIM OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN, SAYING, THUS SHALT THOU SAY TO THE HOUSE OF JACOB, AND TELL THE CHILDREN OF IS-RA-EL: (4) YE HAVE SEEN WHAT I DID UNTO THE E-GYP-TIANS, 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 MINE OWN POSSESSION FROM AMONG ALL PEOPLES: FOR ALL THE EARTH IS MINE: (6) AND YE SHALL BE UNTO ME A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS, AND A HOLY NATION. THESE ARE THE WORDS WHICH THO...

PREPARATION FOR THE GIVING OF THE LAW 1. The same day] the 15th day of the month: cp. Exodus 12:18; Exodus 12:29; Exodus 16:1. Marching slowly, with long halts at the various stations on the route, the host took two months to traverse the 150 m between Egypt and Sinai. Here they remained eleven months (see Numbers 10:11), during which time the nation entered into a formal covenant with Jehovah on the basis of the moral law received from God by Moses, and promulgated by him. WILDERNESS OF SINAI] This must not be confounded with the 'wilderness of Sin' (see on...