E
X O D U S
CHAP. XIX.
This
chapter introduces the solemnity of the giving of the law upon mount Sinai,
which was one of the most striking appearances of the divine glory that ever
was in this lower world. We have here, I. The circumstances of time and place,
ver. 1, 2. II. The covenant between God and
Israel
settled in general. The
gracious proposal God made to them (ver. 3-6), and their consent to the
proposal, ver. 7, 8. III. Notice given three days before of God's design to
give the law out of a thick cloud, ver. 9. Orders given to prepare the people
to receive the law (ver. 10-13), and care taken to execute those orders, ver.
14, 15. IV. A terrible appearance of God's glory upon mount Sinai, ver. 16-20.
V. Silence proclaimed, and strict charges given to the people to observe
decorum while God spoke to them, ver. 21, &c.
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The
Covenant of Sinai.
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B.
C. 1491.
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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.
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The
Approach of God Announced.
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B.
C. 1491.
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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.
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The
Divine Presence on Mount Sinai.
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B.
C. 1491.
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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.
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