Exodus 19:14
Ver. 14. 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 enjoin them, and as he had commanded them, See Gill on "Ex 19:10". Exodus 19:15Ver. 15. 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 receive the law from God himself: Aben Ezra has this note on the passage,"perhaps not a man slept that night, that he might hear the voice of the Lord in the morning, as was the way or custom of the high priest on the day of atonement;''that is, not to sleep the night before:come not at your wives; or, "do not draw nigh to a woman" {q}, to lie with her; meaning not with a strange woman, or one that was not his wife, for that was not lawful at any time; nor with a menstruous woman who was unclean, and so forbidden, but with a man's own wife: what was lawful must now be abstained from, for the greater sanctification and solemnity of the service of this day, see 1Co 7:5, so Chaeremoh {r} the stoic says of the Egyptian priests, that when the time is at hand that they are to perform some very sacred and solemn service, they spend several days in preparing for it; sometimes two and forty, sometimes more, sometimes less, but never under seven; when they abstain from all animals, and from all kind of herbs and pulse, and especially from venereal conversation with women; and to this latter Juvenal {s} the poet has respect.{q} hva la wvgt mh proselyhte gunaiki Sept. "to a woman", Ainsworth. {r} Apud Porphyr, de Abstinentia, l. 4. sect. 7. Vid Clement. Alexand Stromat. l. 1. p. 306. {s} "Ille petit veniam quoties non abstinet uxor, "Concubitu, sacris observandisque diebus". Juvenal, Satyr 6. Exodus 19:16Ver. 16. 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 hour of the day, or twelve o'clock at noon, that Israel received the decalogue, and at the ninth hour, at three o'clock in the afternoon, returned to their stations:there were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount; which were to awaken the attention of the people to what they were to hear and receive, and to strike their minds with an awe of the divine Being; and to add to the solemnity of the day, and the service of it; and to signify the obscurity and terror of the legal dispensation, and the wrath and curse that the transgressors the law might expect, even an horrible tempest of divine vengeance, see Heb 12:18and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; or, "exceeding strong" {w}; being blown by the mighty angels, and by ten thousand them, with whom the Lord now descended:so that all the people that was in the camp trembled, at the sound of it, it was so loud and terrible, and it so pierced their ears and their hearts: a different effect the Gospel trumpet the jubilee trumpet, the joyful sound of love, grace, and mercy, has upon sensible sinners, and on true believers: the law with its curses terrifies, the Gospel with its blessings comforts.{t} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 86. 2. & Yoma, fol. 4. 2. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 5. p. 18. {u} Pirke Eliezer, c. 46. {w} dam qzx "fortis valde", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; so Ainsworth. Exodus 19:17Ver. 17. 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 the presence of Moses at the head of them, to go before them, and lead them to the foot of the mountain, could have prevailed upon them to have done it:to meet with God; who came forth in such an awful and solemn manner, as their King and lawgiver, to deliver a body of laws to them, to be the rule of their future conduct:and they stood at the nether part of the mount; at the bottom of it, where bounds were set, and a fence made, that they should proceed no further, and yet near enough to hear what God said to Moses and to them. Exodus 19:18Ver. 18. 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 Gospel dispensation is opposed, see 2Co 3:12because the Lord descended upon it in fire; in flaming fire, as the Targums, which set the mountain on fire, and caused this prodigious smoke; for if he, who is a consuming fire, but toucheth the hills and mountains, they smoke, Ps 104:32and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace such an one as that which Abraham in vision saw, Ge 15:17and the whole mount quaked greatly; to which circumstance Deborah refers in her song, when she speaks of mountains melting and flowing from before the presence of the God of Israel, and particularly of Sinai, Jud 5:4, and the psalmist, who makes mention of the earth shaking, and the heavens dropping, and of Sinai being moved at his presence, Ps 68:8, it is probable there was an earthquake at this time, which sometimes attends thunders and lightnings, see Re 16:18. Exodus 19:19Ver. 19. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long,.... Not in one continued tone, as before, Ex 19:13, where a different word is used, and when it decreased, and was about to cease, which was to summon the people to attend; but now they were come to the foot of the mount, and this sounding was a preparation to the giving of the law unto them, and was not one continued even tone: but waxed louder and louder; or, "going, and exceeding strong"; or, "strengthening itself exceedingly" {x}; it went on to an high pitch, until it was exceeding vehement and strong, and so sonorous as scarce to be bore:Moses spake; what he said is not here recorded; it is highly probable, as has been observed by some, that he uttered those words related of him in Heb 12:21 "I exceedingly fear and quake": such an impression did this loud and strong voice of the trumpet make upon him:and God answered him by a voice; a still and gentle one, in order to encourage and comfort him; and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,"with a pleasant and audible voice, and with delightful words.''{x} dam qzxw Klwh probainousai iscuroterai sfodra, Sept. "iens et fortificans se valde", Montanus; "roborans se", Vatablus; "quum pergeret et invalesceret valde", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. Exodus 19:20Ver. 20. And the Lord came down on Mount Sinai,.... In the above visible tokens of his presence and power; otherwise he is the incomprehensible Jehovah, that immense and omnipotent Being, who fills heaven and earth, and cannot be contained and circumscribed in either:on the top of the mount; where the fire he descended in rested, and where the smoke and thick cloud were, as a token of his presence:and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; who either was at the bottom of it with the people, or in a higher ascent of it between God and them:and Moses went up; to the top of it, where the Lord was, as he ordered him: a certain traveller {y} tells us that the top of this mount was scarce thirty feet in circumference.{y} Baumgarten Peregrinatio, l. 1. c. 24. p. 61. Exodus 19:21Ver. 21. And the Lord said unto Moses, go down,.... As soon as he was got to the top of the mount he was bid to go down again to the bottom, with a message to the people:charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze; to see if they could observe any similitude or likeness of God, that they might have an idea of it in their minds, or make an image like unto it; to prevent which, the Lord, knowing the vanity and curiosity of their minds, ordered Moses to give them a strict charge not to transgress the bounds set them, or to break down or break through the fence of stones and sand, or hedge of bushes, brambles, and branches of trees, or whatever was placed for bounds:and many of them perish; or "fall" {z}; by the hand of God; either fall by death, or into some grievous calamity, as the men of Bethshemesh perished through looking into the ark, 1Sa 6:19.{z} lpn peswsin Sept. "et corruant", Pagninus, Tigurine version; "et cadat", Montanus; "cadant", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius; so Ainsworth. Exodus 19:22Ver. 22. 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 to charge that theysanctify themselves; in the same manner as the people in general were before ordered, and keep themselves within the same bounds; not daring to transgress them, because they were persons that used to draw nigh to God in the performance of religious actions:lest the Lord break forth upon them; and smite them, that they die, in like manner as he made a breach on Uzzah afterwards for touching the ark of the Lord, 2Sa 6:6. Exodus 19:23Ver. 23. And Moses said unto the Lord,.... Upon his giving such strict orders both with respect to the people and the priests:the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; suggesting as if there was no need for him to go down on that account, to give them a charge not to break through and gaze; since, as he thought, there was no probability that they ever would attempt it, seeing such a solemn charge had been given, nor any possibility of it, since such a fence was made:for thou chargedst us, saying, set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it; and accordingly bounds have been set, that the people may not go up it, and the place has been declared sacred, that so none will presume to do it, according to the solemn charge that has been given: some {a} read the preceding clause by way of interrogation, "may not the people come up to Mount Sinai?" may not any of them? or, if any of them, who may? and there was the greater reason for asking such a question, since the priests that drew near to God might not, and so the next words are conceived to be an answer to it.{a} So some in Vatablus. Exodus 19:24Ver. 24. And the Lord said unto him, away, get thee down,.... And prevent the people and priests from breaking through the bounds and gazing, to which their curiosity would tempt them; as the Lord knew better than Moses, and it was high time for him to be gone, the matter required haste, the people were under great temptations of indulging their curiosity, to the peril of their lives:and thou shall come up, thou, and Aaron with thee; which is thought to be an answer to the question, who might come up? only himself and Aaron, who was his prophet and spokesman, and concerned with him in his miracles, and in conducting the people of Israel; and who was to be chief priest as Moses was to be, and was the leader and governor of the people:but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them; it required the immediate presence of Moses below, and immediate care was to be taken by him, lest the priests and people, led by a vain curiosity, should attempt to ascend the mount, and come where God was, to see if they could observe any likeness of him; which would so provoke him, that in just retaliation, as they had broke through the bounds set, he would break forth on them by inflicting sudden death upon them. Exodus 19:25Ver. 25. So Moses went down to the people,.... As the Lord commanded him:and spake unto them: charging them to keep their distance, and not presume to pass the line he had drawn, or the foss or fence he had made: in the Jerusalem Targum it is added,"come and receive the ten words;''the decalogue or ten commands; and the Targum of Jonathan,"come and receive the law with the ten words;''the ten commandments of the law, which are delivered in the following chapter.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.