27 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Exodus 19 In this chapter we have an account of the coming of the children of Israel to Mount Sinai, Exodus 19:1, of the covenant made with them there, the proposal on the part of God, and their acceptance of it, Exodus 19:3, the previous notice God gave three days before of his appearance on the mount, the orders for their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt,.... Which was the month Sivan, and answers to part of May and part of June: the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai; which had its name from the mountain situated in it, and that from the bushes which grew upon it. Justin (z) calls it Synan, which...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For they were departed from Rephidim,.... After they had fought with Amalek, and came to the western part of the mount to Horeb, where the rock was smitten for them; and they were come from that now, and encamped at Sinai, after Jethro had paid a visit to Moses: and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in this wilderness; that is, of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses went up unto God,.... Who was in the pillar of cloud upon the top of the mount; this was on the second day, according to the Targum of Jonathan: "the Lord called unto him out of the mountain"; or had called unto him, as Aben Ezra, since without his leave he could not have gone up. He called to him out of the cloud upon the top of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians,.... The plagues he brought upon them in Egypt, and the destruction of them at the Red sea; these things they were eyewitnesses of, and needed no other proof or evidence to convince and assure them of them, and therefore must be under obligation to attend to what he was about to recommend unto them, for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now therefore,.... Since they had received such marks of his favour, and were laid under great obligations to him: if ye will obey my voice indeed; truly, sincerely, and heartily; or "in hearkening hearken", or "in obeying obey" (g); that is, closely and attentively hearken to what he should say to them, and thoroughly and constantly yield a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests,.... Instead of being in a state of servitude and bondage, as they had been in Egypt, they should be erected into a kingdom, become a body politic, a free state, a commonwealth governed by its own laws, and those laws of God's making; yea, they should be a kingdom to him, and he be more immediately the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses came and called for the elders of the people,.... After he had heard the above words from the mouth of God, he came down from the mount into the camp of Israel, and sent for the elders or principal men of the tribes and families of Israel to come to him: and, being gathered together, laid before their faces all these words which the Lord...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the people answered together,.... By their heads and representatives, the elders, summoned before Moses, to whom he declared the whole will of God; or this being communicated by them to their respective tribes and families, they were all of one mind; there was not a contradicting voice among them, they all gave the same answer, or all...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Moses,.... As the Targum of Jonathan, on the third day; though Jarchi says the fourth; which seems not so well to agree with his words on the preceding verse, since it seems to be at the same time that Moses returned the words of the people to the Lord, that he said what follows to him: lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Moses,.... On the fourth day, according to the Targum of Jonathan; go unto the people; go down from the mountain, from the top of it, where he now was, to the camp of Israel, which was pitched before it: and sanctify them today and tomorrow; the fourth and fifth days of the month; that is, he was, to instruct them how they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And be ready against the third day,.... Not the third day of the month, but the third day from hence, this being the fourth, and the morrow the fifth, and the third day, the day following that, the sixth, on which day it is generally agreed by the Jews that the law was given, [See comments on Exodus 19:16] for the third day the Lord will come down...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou shall set bounds to the people round about,.... That is, round about the mountain, by drawing a line, throwing up a foss or ditch, or else by laying up heaps of stones or sand, which might be come at easily, or bushes and branches of trees, which grew thick on the mount, from whence it had its name; but be it what will that were used,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
There shall not a hand touch it,.... The mountain or the border of it, which is repeated that it might be taken notice of; and to show that it would be resented if they were to stretch out their hand and only lightly touch it, much more should they set their feet upon it and attempt to ascend it: or rather, "shall not touch him" (o); that is, the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses went down from the mount unto the people,.... The same day that he went up, the fourth day of the month: and sanctified the people; instructed them and ordered them what they should do for their sanctification, in order to their hearing the law from the mouth of the Lord: and they washed their clothes; as the Lord had directed Moses to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto the people, be ready against the third day,.... The third day from thence, the sixth of the month Sivan, against which day they were to prepare themselves, by washing their garments, and all other outward acts of sanctification and purity they were directed to, that they might be ready for the service of that day, to hear and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, c:] The sixth of the month, according to the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi on which day, as the Jews generally say (t), the law was given, and which, they also observe, was a sabbath day: yea, they are sometimes so very particular as to fix the hour of the day, and say (u), it was the sixth...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp,.... Which was before the mountain and near it, when the above tokens were given of the divine Presence on it; as they were thrown into a panic upon the sound of the trumpet, it was, perhaps, with some difficulty that they were brought out of the camp, or persuaded to quit it; and nothing short of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke,.... Not from nature, as volcanos, but for a reason after given; it seemed to be one large body of smoke, nothing else to be seen but smoke; an emblem of the darkness of the legal dispensation, which was full of obscure types and figures, of dark shadows and smoky sacrifices, to which the clear day, of the...