18 and mount Sinai `is' wholly a smoke from the presence of Jehovah, who hath come down on it in fire, and its smoke goeth up as smoke of the furnace, and the whole mount trembleth exceedingly;
Jehovah, incline Thy heavens and come down, Strike against mountains, and they smoke.
and filled was the sanctuary with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power, and no one was able to enter into the sanctuary till the seven plagues of the seven messengers may be finished.
And the appearance of the honour of Jehovah `is' as a consuming fire on the top of the mount, before the eyes of the sons of Israel;
I have looked `to' the mountains, And lo, they are trembling. And all the hills moved themselves lightly.
and there appeareth unto him a messenger of Jehovah in a flame of fire, out of the midst of the bush, and he seeth, and lo, the bush is burning with fire, and the bush is not consumed.
and he looketh on the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on all the face of the land of the circuit, and seeth, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as smoke of the furnace.
And the posts of the thresholds are moved by the voice of him who is calling, and the house is full of smoke.
O God, in Thy going forth before Thy people, In Thy stepping through the wilderness, Selah. The earth hath shaken, Yea, the heavens have dropped before God, This Sinai -- before God, the God of Israel.
And at Solomon's finishing to pray, then the fire hath come down from the heavens, and consumeth the burnt-offering and the sacrifices, and the honour of Jehovah hath filled the house, and the priests have not been able to go in unto the house of Jehovah, because the honour of Jehovah hath filled the house of Jehovah. And all the sons of Israel are looking on the descending of the fire, and the honour of Jehovah on the house, and they bow -- faces to the earth -- on the pavement, and do obeisance, and give thanks to Jehovah, for good, for to the age `is' His kindness.
And it cometh to pass -- the sun hath gone in, and thick darkness hath been -- and lo, a furnace of smoke, and a lamp of fire, which hath passed over between those pieces.
and it will come -- the day of the Lord -- as a thief in the night, in which the heavens with a rushing noise will pass away, and the elements with burning heat be dissolved, and earth and the works in it shall be burnt up.
For ye came not near to the mount touched and scorched with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
in flaming fire, giving vengeance to those not knowing God, and to those not obeying the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ;
And ye have fled `to' the valley of My mountains, For join doth the valley of the mountains to Azal, And ye have fled as ye fled before the shaking, In the days of Uzziah king of Judah, And come in hath Jehovah my God, All holy ones `are' with Thee.
Mountains have shaken because of Him, And the hills have been melted; And lifted up `is' the earth at His presence, And the world and all dwelling in it. Before His indignation who doth stand? And who riseth up in the heat of His anger? His fury hath been poured out like fire, And the rocks have been broken by Him.
The voice of Thy thunder `is' in the spheres, Lightnings have lightened the world, The earth hath trembled, yea, it shaketh.
And He saith, `Go out, and thou hast stood in the mount before Jehovah.' And lo, Jehovah is passing by, and a wind -- great and strong -- is rending mountains, and shivering rocks before Jehovah: -- not in the wind `is' Jehovah; and after the wind a shaking: -- not in the shaking `is' Jehovah; and after the shaking a fire: -- not in the fire `is' Jehovah; and after the fire a voice still small;
`These words hath Jehovah spoken unto all your assembly, in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness -- a great voice; and He hath not added, and He writeth them on two tables of stone, and giveth them unto me.
and ye draw near and stand under the mountain, and the mountain is burning with fire unto the heart of the heavens -- darkness, cloud, yea, thick darkness: `And Jehovah speaketh unto you out of the midst of the fire; a voice of words ye are hearing and a similitude ye are not seeing, only a voice;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Exodus 19
Commentary on Exodus 19 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 19
Ex 19:1-25. Arrival at Sinai.
1. In the third month—according to Jewish usage, the first day of that month—"same day."—It is added, to mark the time more explicitly, that is, forty-five days after Egypt—one day spent on the mount (Ex 19:3), one returning the people's answer (Ex 19:7, 8), three days of preparation, making the whole time fifty days from the first passover to the promulgation of the law. Hence the feast of pentecost, that is, the fiftieth day, was the inauguration of the Old Testament church, and the divine wisdom is apparent in the selection of the same reason for the institution of the New Testament church (Joh 1:17; Ac 2:1).
2. were come to the desert of Sinai—The desert has its provinces, or divisions, distinguished by a variety of names; and the "desert of Sinai" is that wild and desolate region which occupies the very center of the peninsula, comprising the lofty range to which the mount of God belongs. It is a wilderness of shaggy rocks of porphyry and red granite, and of valleys for the most part bare of verdure.
and there Israel camped before the mount—Sinai, so called from Seneh, or acacia bush. It is now called Jebel Musa. Their way into the interior of the gigantic cluster was by Wady Feiran, which would lead the bulk of the hosts with their flocks and herds into the high valleys of Jebel Musa, with their abundant springs, especially into the great thoroughfare of the desert—the longest, widest, and most continuous of all the valleys, the Wady-es-Sheikh, while many would be scattered among the adjacent valleys; so that thus secluded from the world in a wild and sublime amphitheatre of rocks, they "camped before the mount." "In this valley—a long flat valley—about a quarter of a mile in breadth, winding northwards, Israel would find ample room for their encampment. Of all the wadys in that region, it seems the most suitable for a prolonged sojourn. The 'goodly tents' of Israel could spread themselves without limit" [Bonar].
3-6. Moses went up unto God—the Shekinah—within the cloud (Ex 33:20; Joh 1:18).
Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, &c.—The object for which Moses went up was to receive and convey to the people the message contained in these verses, and the purport of which was a general announcement of the terms on which God was to take the Israelites into a close and peculiar relation to Himself. In thus negotiating between God and His people, the highest post of duty which any mortal man was ever called to occupy, Moses was still but a servant. The only Mediator is Jesus Christ [1Ti 2:5; Heb 12:24].
6. ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests—As the priestly order was set apart from the common mass, so the Israelites, compared with other people, were to sustain the same near relation to God; a community of spiritual sovreigns.
an holy nation—set apart to preserve the knowledge and worship of God.
7, 8. Moses came and called for the elders of the people—The message was conveyed to the mighty multitude through their elders, who, doubtless, instructed them in the conditions required. Their unanimous acceptance was conveyed through the same channel to Moses, and by him reported to the Lord. Ah! how much self-confidence did their language betray! How little did they know what spirit they were of!
9-15. The Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come … in a thick cloud, &c.—The deepest impressions are made on the mind through the medium of the senses; and so He who knew what was in man signalized His descent at the inauguration of the ancient church, by all the sensible tokens of august majesty that were fitted to produce the conviction that He is the great and terrible God. The whole multitude must have anticipated the event with feelings of intense solemnity and awe. The extraordinary preparations enjoined, the ablutions and rigid abstinence they were required to observe, the barriers erected all round the base of the mount, and the stern penalties annexed to the breach of any of the conditions, all tended to create an earnest and solemn expectation which increased as the appointed day drew near.
16. on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, &c.—The descent of God was signalized by every object imagination can conceive connected with the ideas of grandeur and of awe. But all was in keeping with the character of the law about to be proclaimed. As the mountain burned with fire, God was exhibited as a consuming fire to the transgressors of His law. The thunder and lightning, more awful amid the deep stillness of the region and reverberating with terrific peals among the mountains, would rouse the universal attention; a thick cloud was an apt emblem of the dark and shadowy dispensation (compare Mt 17:5).
the voice of a trumpet—This gave the scene the character of a miraculous transaction, in which other elements than those of nature were at work, and some other than material trumpet was blown by other means than human breath.
17. Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God—Wady-er-Raheh, where they stood, has a spacious sandy plain; immediately in front of Es Suksafeh, considered by Robinson to be the mount from which the law was given. "We measured it, and estimate the whole plain at two geographical miles long, and ranging in breadth from one-third to two-thirds of a mile, or as equivalent to a surface of one square mile. This space is nearly doubled by the recess on the west, and by the broad and level area of Wady-es-Sheikh on the east, which issues at right angles to the plain, and is equally in view of the front and summit of the mount. The examination convinced us that here was space enough to satisfy all the requisitions of the Scripture narrative, so far as it relates to the assembling of the congregation to receive the law. Here, too, one can see the fitness of the injunction to set bounds around the mount, that neither man nor beast might approach too near, for it rises like a perpendicular wall." But Jebel Musa, the old traditional Sinai, and the highest peak, has also a spacious valley, Wady Sebaiyeh, capable of holding the people. It is not certain on which of these two they stood.
21. the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people—No sooner had Moses proceeded a little up the mount, than he was suddenly ordered to return, in order to keep the people from breaking through to gaze—a course adopted to heighten the impressive solemnity of the scene. The strict injunctions renewed to all, whatever their condition, at a time and in circumstances when the whole multitude of Israel were standing at the base of the mount, was calculated in the highest degree to solemnize and awe every heart.