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Exodus Chapter
Nineteen
Exodus 19
Chapter Contents
The people come to Sinai, God's message to them, and
their answer. (1-8) The people directed to prepare to hear the law. (9-15) The
presence of God on Sinai. (16-25)
Commentary on Exodus 19:1-8
(Read Exodus 19:1-8)
Moses was called up the mountain, and was employed as the
messenger of this covenant. The Maker and first Mover of the covenant, is God
himself. This blessed charter was granted out of God's own free grace. The
covenant here mentioned was the national covenant, by which the Israelites were
a people under the government of Jehovah. It was a type of the new covenant
made with true believers in Christ Jesus; but, like other types, it was only a
shadow of good things to come. As a nation they broke this covenant; therefore
the Lord declared that he would make a new covenant with Israel, writing his
law, not upon tables of stone, but in their hearts, Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:7-10. The covenant
spoken of in these places as ready to vanish away, is the national covenant
with Israel, which they forfeited by their sins. Unless we carefully attend to
this, we shall fall into mistakes while reading the Old Testament. We must not
suppose that the nation of the Jews were under the covenant of works, which
knows nothing of repentance, faith in a Mediator, forgiveness of sins, or
grace; nor yet that the whole nation of Israel bore the character, and
possessed the privileges of true believers, as being actually sharers in the
covenant of grace. They were all under a dispensation of mercy; they had
outward privileges and advantages for salvation; but, like professing
Christians, most rested therein, and went no further. Israel consented to the
conditions. They answered as one man, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.
Oh that there had been such a heart in them! Moses, as a mediator, returned the
words of the people to God. Thus Christ, the Mediator, 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.
Commentary on Exodus 19:9-15
(Read Exodus 19:9-15)
The solemn manner in which the law was delivered, was to
impress the people with a right sense of the Divine majesty. Also to convince
them of their own guilt, and to show that they could not stand in judgment
before God by their own obedience. In the law, the sinner discovers what he
ought to be, what he is, and what he wants. There he learns the nature,
necessity, and glory of redemption, and of being made holy. Having been taught
to flee to Christ, and to love him, the law is the rule of his obedience and
faith.
Commentary on Exodus 19:16-25
(Read Exodus 19:16-25)
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, even the forgiveness of sins. Through him we are justified from all
things, from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. But the
Divine law is binding as a rule of life. The Son of God came down from heaven,
and suffered poverty, shame, agony, and death, not only to redeem us from its
curse, but to bind us more closely to keep its commands.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Exodus》
Exodus 19
Verse 1
[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.
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. Mount Sinai was a place which nature, not art, had made conspicuous,
for it was the highest in all that range of mountains. Thus God put contempt
upon cities and palaces, setting up his pavilion on the top of a mountain, in a
barren desert. It is called Sinai, from the multitude of thorny bushes that
over-spread it.
Verse 3
[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;
Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob,
and the children of Israel — The people are called by the names both of
Jacob and Israel, to mind them that they who had lately been as low as Jacob
when he went to Padan-aram, were now grown as great as God made him when he
came from thence, and was called Israel.
Verse 4
[4] Ye
have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings,
and brought you unto myself.
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,
and how I bare you on Eagle's wings — An high expression of
the wonderful tenderness God shewed for them. It notes great speed; God not
only came upon the wing for their deliverance, but he hastened them out, as it
were upon the wing. Also that he did it with great ease, with the strength as
well as with the swiftness of an eagle. They that faint not, nor are weary, are
said to mount up with wings as eagles, Isaiah 40:31. Especially it notes God's
particular care of them, and affection to them. Even Egypt was the nest in
which these young ones 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.
I brought you unto myself — They were brought not only into a state of liberty, but into covenant
and communion with 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.
Verse 5
[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:
Then ye shall be a peculiar treasure to me — He doth not instance in any one particular favour, but expresseth 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. Nay 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 doth his treasure; they were
precious in his sight. He took them under his special care and protection, as a
treasure that is kept under lock and key. He distinguished them from, and
dignified them above all people, as a people devoted to him, and to his
service.
Verse 6
[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.
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, so much employed in his immediate service, and such intimate
communion they had with him. 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, Revelation 1:6, a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, 1 Peter 2:9.
Verse 7
[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.
And Moses laid before their faces all these
words — He not only explained to them what God had
given him in charge, but put it to their choice, whether they would accept
these promises upon these terms or no. His laying it to their faces speaks his
laying it to their consciences.
Verse 8
[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.
And they answered together; all that the Lord
hath spoken we will do — Thus accepting the Lord to be to them a
God, and giving up themselves to be to him a people.
Verse 10
[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,
Sanctify the people — As
Job before sent and sanctified his sons, Job 1:5. 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. Two
things particularly were prescribed as instances of their preparation. 1st, In
token of cleansing of themselves from all sinful pollutions, they must wash
their clothes. Not that God regards our clothes, but while they were washing
their clothes, he would have them think of washing their souls by repentance.
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. 2dly, 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.
Verse 11
[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.
In the sight of all the people — 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 not only the camp of Israel,
but even the countries about might discern some extraordinary appearance of
glory upon it.
Verse 12
[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:
Set bounds —
Probably he drew a ditch round at the foot of the hill, which none were to pass
upon pain of death. This was to intimate, 1st, That awful reverence which ought
to possess the minds of all that worship God. 2dly, The distance which
worshippers were kept at 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, Hebrews 10:19.
Verse 13
[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.
When the trumpet soundeth long — Then let them take their places at the foot of the mount. 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.
Verse 16
[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.
Now at length is come that memorable day, in
which Israel heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst
of the fire and lived, Deuteronomy 4:33. Never was there such a sermon
preached before or since, as this, which was here preached to the church in the
wilderness. For, the preacher was God himself, Exodus 19:17, The Lord descended in fire; and Exodus 19:18. The Lord came down upon mount
Sinai. The Shechinah, or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of all the
people; he shined forth from mount Paran with ten thousand of his saints,
attended with a multitude of the holy angels. Hence the law is said to be given
by the disposition of angels, Acts 7:53. He spake from mount Sinai, hung with
a thick cloud, Exodus 19:16, covered with smoke, Exodus 19:18, and made to quake greatly. Now it
was that the earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, and the mountains
skipped like rams, Psalms 114:4,7, that Sinai itself, though rough
and rocky, melted from before the Lord God of Israel, Judges 5:5. The congregation was called together
by the sound of a trumpet exceeding loud, Exodus 19:16, and waxing louder and louder, Exodus 19:19. This was done by the ministry of
the angels, and made all the people tremble. The introductions to the service
were thunders and lightnings, Exodus 19:16. These 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 both the learning senses of seeing and hearing.
──
John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Exodus》
19 Chapter 19
Verse 1-2
Wilderness of Sinai.
Lessons
1. Months and days from Egyptian bondage are fit to be recorded.
2. Days are set by God for the Church’s gradual progress to their
rest; it fails not (Exodus 19:1).
3. From Rephidim to Sinai, or from straits and trials to some rest
and doctrine God removes His Church.
4. The Church’s camp and God’s mount are sweetly joined together (Exodus 19:2). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
The wilderness of Sinai
After their long halt, exulting in their first victory, they
advanced deeper into the mountain ranges, they knew not whither. They knew only
that it was for some great end, for some solemn disclosure, such as they had
never before witnessed. Onward they went, through winding valley, and under
high cliff, and over rugged pass, and through gigantic forms, on which the
marks of creation even now seem fresh and powerful; and at last, through all
the different valleys, the whole body of the people were assembled. On their right
hand and on their left rose long sucessions of lofty rocks, forming a vast
avenue, like the approaches which they had seen leading to the Egyptian temples
between colossal figures of men and of gods. At the end of this broad avenue,
rising immediately out of the level plain on which they were encamped, towered
the massive cliffs of Sinai, like the huge altar of some natural temple;
encircled by peaks of every shape and height, the natural pyramids of the
desert. In this sanctuary, secluded from all earthly things, they waited for
the revelation of God. (Dean Stanley.)
I bare you on eagles’ wings.
Borne on eagles’ wings
God here employs a similitude denoting the speed, the security and
the tender care with which they were, as it were, transported from the house of
bondage, and which is expanded in fuller significancy (Deuteronomy 32:11-12). Here is a
figurative illustration of an important work. We may apply it to three things
in the history of the Christian.
1. To the period of conversion. Then God bears sinners on eagles’
wings and brings them to Himself. He stirs up the nest of self-righteousness
and carnal security; flutters over them, excites and teaches them to fly
towards heaven in their desires and affections.
2. It will also apply to the season of deliverance, and is
descriptive of the speed with which God comes to the help of His people, and
the security He effects; for the eagle is not only a swift, but a powerful
bird.
3. It will apply to their final happiness. He will bear His people on
eagles’ wings to heaven. It may be He may bear them through many a dark and
trying scene, but they shall be brought to glory at last. (A. Nevin, D.
D.)
God’s deliverances
There is great beauty and truth in this expression, and it well
displays all that God had done for this enslaved people. The eagle is the most
powerful of the birds of prey of the ancient world; it is the most rapid in its
flight, the highest and most majestic in its aerial courses, and, at the same
time, one of the most tender towards its young. These four qualities of the
eagle admirably depict--
1. The power with which God had delivered Israel, destroying for them
the most formidable nations, raising tempests in the heavens, and the waves of
the sea, opening its abyss, and, as it is elsewhere expressed, saving them
“through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm.”
2. The astonishing quickness of this deliverance: fifty days had
scarcely elapsed since this multitude were slaves on the borders of the Nile
employed in making bricks, under the lash of the task-masters; and lo! they
were all gathered together at the foot of the mountains of Arabia, having
passed, like an eagle, over deserts and seas.
3. The majesty which God had displayed in His intervention. As the
eagle which, bearing its young upon its back, flies not near the earth, nor
from tree to tree like other birds, but soars majestically at the height of the
clouds, see with what brilliant grandeur God had delivered Israel: the Nile is
turned into blood, the sun darkened, darkness covers the land for three days,
thunder and hailstones rend the heavens, the Destroying Angel passes over Egypt
in the terrible night of the death of its firstborn, the pillar of the cloud by
day, and the pillar of fire by night goes before the camp of Israel, the voice
of God is heard with power from the heights of heaven.
4. The tender care of the eagle for its cherished young presents to
us a touching figure of the conduct of God towards Israel. The eagle broods
over its young in its nest in the crevice of some rock, it cherishes them, it
nourishes them, it carries them upon its wings, it deposits them tenderly, in
such places as it deems good for them, and soon teaches them to fly alone in
the sky. Well, such had been the conduct of God towards His people. Read what
God Himself says about it in Deuteronomy 32:7-14. (Prof. Gaussen.)
And brought you unto Myself
The Israelites had, on the one side, by the Egyptian servitude; on
the other, by the Egyptian idolatry, with which they had contaminated
themselves, swerved far from God, His purity and sanctity--in a word, from
truth and genuine faith; now God, in graciously granting them His revelation
and His pure doctrines, brings them again back to Himself; He intends to make
them “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
A peculiar treasure unto Me.
God’s people His treasure
1. A treasure is something searched for. The Holy Spirit is ever
diligently seeking after Christians.
2. A treasure when found is carefully guarded. As the apple of His
eye God protects those who trust Him.
3. The finding of a treasure is the occasion of rejoicing. “There is
joy in heaven,” etc.
4. To obtain a treasure we will make great sacrifices. “God gave His
only begotten Son,” etc. (Homiletic Review.)
National ideals
The problem was: How to convert a horde of demoralized slaves into
a nation of virtuous freemen, paying a free obedience to law, as they had
before paid a forced obedience to the lash of the taskmaster? The practical
solution of the problem involved the application of three spiritual forces or
living principles. We may describe them thus:--
1. The revelation of the new name of God, “Jehovah,” the Eternal, the
unchangeable, the self-same.
2. The revelation of the ideal or standard, which the nation is to
keep steadily before mind and conscience, as the thing to be aimed at and
striven after. This revelation is given most explicitly and clearly in the
words of our text: “A kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.”
3. The actual legislation which is founded upon these two
revelations:--of which legislation the law of the Ten Commandments is the
eternal and indestructible substructure--as strong and durable now as when it
was first uttered by the voice of God to Israel--as much the foundation of all
legislation now as of the distinctively Mosaic legislation then. It was under
the operation of these three forces that Israel became and continued to be a
nation. It is under the operation of the same or analogous forces that any
nation becomes and continues to be a nation. When such forces cease to operate
upon a nation, it dies.
To prove and illustrate this point must form the remainder of our
subject.
1. It is impossible for any of us to overlook the importance of the
words which introduce the Ten Commandments. “I am the Lord.”--that is, the
Eternal--“thy God.” They are not an ornamental flourish or accidental prefix.
They are the living root of all that follows. Again and again, in the course of
the subsequent legislation, the words recur; even in those parts of the
legislation which are most minute and temporary, sanitary or ceremonial. The
new name, upon which the nation is to be built, is the name “Jehovah,” the
Eternal; to which is added the old name, “thy God,” as a name to be cherished
and dear as ever. Now, in this name Jehovah is involved the notion of
permanence, unchangeableness; and this notion lies at the root of law, whether
laws of man, or laws of nature, or laws of God. But to this tremendous, this
oppressive, notion of unchangeableness, there is added the tender grace of the
old name, “Thy God”--One with whom every Israelite and every human being may
plead, as the Psalmist does, “O God, Thou art my God.” It is the blending of
the two together; it is the intertwining of the two subtle and mighty spiritual
forces, implied in the two names, that made the revelation so potent for its
great purpose--the creation of a nation, that should be a kingdom of priests, a
holy nation. And just in proportion as the hold of those names upon heart and
conscience relaxed, the nation decayed and died. For, indeed, it is
everlastingly true, as one of our own poets has said, that “by the soul only
the nations can be great and free.” Any one can see, that a really free people
must be a loyal or law-abiding people; and that laws, which are to receive the
willing obedience of such a people, must be founded on the immutable principles
of truth and justice and morality. Nor can any one doubt that the Mosaic
legislation is founded on such principles.
2. But now I wish to speak to you about the second of those three
spiritual forces, in the strength of which Israel was to be moulded into a
nation. I have already described it as the revelation of the ideal which the
nation was to keep steadily before mind and conscience, as the thing to be
aimed at and striven after. Our text words it thus: “Now, therefore, if ye will
obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant.” The destiny--the calling and
election--of the nation of Israel was higher and holier than the destiny of any
other nation. It was chosen to bear witness to the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, before all the nations of the earth; a kingdom of priests, a
royal and priestly race, each member of it uniting in his own person the
attributes of a king and a priest: a king, to rule right loyally over his own
lower and baser nature; a priest, to offer himself up in willing sacrifice to
God. This pattern of righteousness the most choice and elect members of the
nation did exhibit. You have only to think over the long list of truly kingly
and priestly characters--from Moses to John the Baptist--to be satisfied of
this. The fact that the election of Israel was what it was, does not deprive
all other nations of an election of their own. On the contrary, tile very words
of our text, which affirm most strongly the election of Israel, do at least
suggest the thought of a corresponding, though inferior, election of all other
nations. At this distance of time we have not the data for determining the
special calling of Egypt, for example, or of Assyria. But we can discern with
very tolerable clearness the election, the manifest destiny, of Greece and of
Rome; the call of Greece to catch the inspiration of beauty, and to be the
nurse of freedom; the call of Rome to be the schoolmaster of the nations, with
its iron rod of law and order. We can discern, also, with perfect clearness,
the vast inferiority, even of such a calling and election as this, to the
calling of Israel; and can therefore fully justify the language of our text:
“Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people.” But if this
principle of a calling and election of nations holds true of the whole ancient
world, why should it not hold true of the whole modern world also? So long as
national distinctions and national characteristics exist at all, there must
exist along with them corresponding national duties and national
responsibilities. What is it, then, for England and for us? It may be said,
that it is the manifest destiny of England to colonize and subdue the earth--to
girdle it with rails of iron and steel, and lines of telegraph wire. It is in
words like these, Duty and Justice-in the response which they awaken in our
hearts--that we English people find the revelation of our national calling and
election of God. As a nation, we are called, in a special sense, to be just and
dutiful. And if our children are to go out into distant lands, and among
subject peoples, to be models of duty and justice there, they must be nursed
and trained in those principles first at home. A “kingdom of
priests”:--yes--and that title belongs also to us, as well as to Israel; though
to us, not as Englishmen, but as Christians. For is it not written: “Unto Him who
loveth us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings
and priests unto God and His Father: to Him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen.” I need not say that there is no discrepancy whatever between our
special calling as Englishmen, and our more general calling as disciples of
Christ. On the contrary, the latter must and does sustain and verify the
former. Just in proportion as we learn to rule, as kings, over our lower,
baser, selfish nature; and to offer ourselves up as priests, living,
reasonable, and spiritual sacrifices, in the power and virtue of the one
perfect Sacrifice, to God; just in this proportion shall we be enabled to do
justice and judgment, and to walk dutifully and uprightly, and so to uphold the
true glory of the English name, in whatever circumstances we may be
placed--whether at home, or amongst strangers and foreigners in some far
distant land. It was so with the heroes of England in the past. (D. J.
Vaughan, M. A.)
Lessons
1. In covenant-making or lawgiving from God there is need of some
mediator to be with God.
2. God’s call alone can qualify or authorize a mediator between Him
and sinners.
3. It is incumbent on the mediator to declare fully God’s mind unto
His people.
4. A due recognition of God’s gracious acts for souls against enemies
is a good preparation to receive His law.
5. God’s securing providence as well as selecting a people to Himself
prepare them to hear His covenant (Exodus 19:4).
6. God’s covenanted people are His peculiar treasure in the world.
7. It is God’s free grace who owneth all nations on earth to make one
His peculiar above another (Exodus 19:5).
8. Royalty, near communion with God, and sanctity are the privileges
of God’s peculiar ones. Kings, priests, and saints.
9. The words of duty and privilege must be spoken and made known unto
the Church (Exodus 19:6). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
God’s promise to the Jews
I. The recital of
His works.
II. The proposes of
His love.
III. The promises of
His grace. (T. Mortimer.)
“All the earth is Mine”
I. God’s assertion
of universal possession in the earth
1. Nations.
2. Lands.
3. The animal and vegetable kingdoms.
II. God’s assertion
excludes every other being from universal possession.
1. It is not man’s earth.
2. It is not the devil’s.
3. It does not belong to any created intelligence.
III. God’s assertion
should awaken confidence in His saints and terror in sinners.
1. All forces are under His control.
2. Everything that is not of Him must fail.
3. His possession of the earth will be fully manifest in the end. (J.
S. Exell, M. A.)
Explanation of the Divine preferences
Here is the explanation of the Divine preferences which have
distressed so many hearts under the cruel name of sovereignty and election.
There need be no torture in using those words. II we feel distressed by them,
it is because we have come upon them along the wrong path. They are beautiful
and noble words when set in their places according to the Divine intent. “Then
ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people.” Is that partiality
in any exclusive sense? Not at all; it is really meant to be inclusive. God
elects humanity. “And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom.” In what sense? In the
ordinary sense--namely, a great aggregate of subjects ruled by one arbitrary
and despotic king? In no such sense. The literal meaning is, ye shall all be
kings. Now ye see the meaning of that great name, “King of kings”--not king of
an individual monarch here and there, as in Britain, or Russia, or China, but
of all believers. All obedient souls are lifted up unto kinghood. We are royal equals
if we obey Heaven’s will, and God is King of kings--King of all. We are a royal
generation. All this language is typical. Beautiful is the historical line when
seized and wisely applied. Let us attempt such seizure and application. The
firstborn were chosen, and the firstborn were to be priests. In what sense are
the firstborn chosen? Not as relegating the afterborn to positions subordinate
and inferior; but in the sense of being their pledge and seal. God has the
eldest Son, and therefore--that is the sacred logic--He has all the other
children. Then the laws regarding the priesthood underwent a change, and the
family of Aaron was called. We proceed from an individual, namely, the
firstborn, to a family, namely, the Aaronic stock. But why were they chosen?
That all the children of Aaron might also be priests, in the truly spiritual
and eternal sense, though not in official and formal name and status. Then the
family was deposed and a tribe is chosen--the tribe of Levi. Mark how the
history accumulates and grows up into a prophecy and an argument! First the
individual, then the family, then the tribe, then the Son of Man--absorbing all
the past, gathering up into its true and official meaning all priesthood, aH
intercession. There is one Advocate with the Father, the Man Christ Jesus. A
new light thus begins to dawn upon the cloud. There is nothing arbitrary in the
movement of God when we can penetrate its infinite philosophy. Will God have
the first-fruits of the harvest field? He claims all such. Why will He claim
the first-fruits? That in having the first-fruits He might have all the field.
He will not take the whole wheat acreage of the world into His heavens and
devour our poor loaf of bread; but He will take the first ear of corn that we
can find in all the fields, and, having taken that, He says: “In giving Me this
you have given Me all.” (J. Parker, D. D.)
God’s peculiar treasure
Exotic flowers or foreign plants, if seeded on the mountain side,
or inserted in the meadow amongst the promiscuous herbage growing there, soon
become choked and disappear. Those who wish to preserve the flaming glories of
the Cape, or the rich fruits of the tropic, must provide a garden
enclosed--must keep out the weeds and rough weather. And so God, anxious to
preserve “His Holy Law,” fenced in the Hebrew nationality. He secluded them,
and wailed them in, and made them, as it were, His own conservatory--a
conservatory where Divine truth should survive uninjured until Messiah should
come.
God’s covenant uniform
What covenant could this be, containing such promises, and by
which a people should be a peculiar treasure to God, and above all others upon
the earth; yea, a royal priesthood, a holy nation? This could be no other than
the covenant of redemption by Christ, to the blessings of which man has no
claim but in grace. The covenant of God, as the Church of God itself, under
every diversity of dispensation has been the same. Whatever of a national
character was peculiar to Israel, and that ceased under a better economy, was extraneous
to this, and not an essential constituent or feature thereof. Uniformity of
design is discoverable through the whole progress of Divine revelation, and
under every form of religious ceremony. God has not at any period contradicted
Himself, or set before man a covenant of grace at one time, and a covenant of
works at another, for the hope of life. It would have been contrary to all that
God had done, and to all that He yet promised to do, as also a break of an
awful character, and the introduction of confusion into the whole system of
redemption, to have here brought the nation under a covenant of works, by which
they had virtually perished. True it is, that Sinai and Zion are, by the
apostle, placed in contradistinction: the one as gendering to bondage; the
other as free: the one as characterized by the law of condemnation; the other
by the law of righteousness: but it is in certain respects only that that
contrast holds good, not in the essential intention of things. The whole fabric
of their ecclesiastical polity, conjoined in all its parts with exquisite
wisdom, was the workmanship of mercy. By redemption it was that God claimed
Israel as His own, a treasure, His best and greatest treasure, a treasure
containing a treasure, His grace, His glory, the promised seed His Son. All the
earth was His; yet in all the earth was nothing He so valued, nothing He held
so dear. Still this treasure so great had been lost but for the security and
grace of the covenant. The intrinsic value of His people was enhanced beyond
all price by what this covenant embraced and required. It cost much to make
them His people, and to secure them to Himself--a treasure for ever. (W.
Seaton.)
The spirituality of the old covenant
The characteristic feature of the Sinai revelation is the law; but
it is important to observe that it is not law as a means of salvation, but law
as a sequel of salvation. If this simple and evident fact were only borne in
mind in the reading of the Old Testament, endless perplexities and confusions
of thought would be avoided. Observe, also, the kind of blessings which are
promised. How many are there who will persist in maintaining that the old
covenant offered mere temporal blessings, while it is the distinctive feature
of the new to promise spiritual blessing. It is true that temporal blessings
were included under the old covenant, just as they are under the new; and
though they do hold a more prominent place in the old, as was indeed to be
expected, yet it is a slander upon that covenant to say that these were the
blessings it offered. The great
blessings of the old covenant were undoubtedly spiritual, as is manifest here:
“If ye will obey My voice and keep My covenant, then ye shall be to Me a
peculiar treasure above all people”; “and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of
priests, and an holy nation.” Nearness to God, dearness to God, holiness--these
were the characteristic blessings of the old covenant. These promises are among
the richest and most deeply spiritual in the whole Bible; and it is with great reluctance
that, yielding to the exigency of our plan, we refrain from entering into the
wealth of meaning which each separate word conveys. Let me only notice in
leaving it, that when the apostle Peter wishes to express in the very strongest
terms the highest privileges of the children of God under the new dispensation,
he can do nothing better than quote these old but “exceeding great and precious
promises” (1 Peter 2:9). (J. M. Gibson, D.
D.)
Holiness ensured
A writer tells of going down with a party into a coal mine. On the
side of the gangway grew a plant which was perfectly white. The visitors were
astonished that there, where the coal-dust was continually flying, this little
plant should be so clean. A miner who was with them took a handful of black
dust and threw it on the plant, but not a particle of it adhered. There was a
wonderful enamel on the plant to which no finest speck could cling. Living
there, amid clouds of dust, nothing could stain its snowy whiteness. This is a
picture of what every Christian life should be. Unholy influences breathe
incessantly about us and upon us. But it is our mission to be pure amid all
this vileness, undefiled, unspotted from the world. If God can make a little
plant so wondrously that no dust can stain its whiteness, surely He can, by His
grace, so transform our heart and life that sin shall not cling to us. He who
can keep the plant stainless and white as snow amid clouds of dust, can guard
us in purity in this world of sin.
A kingdom of priests.--
Priests to the world
They were to be the trustees, for humanity at large, of the
revelations, promises, and ordinances which God communicated, and they were to
keep them for the benefit of all mankind. For a time, indeed, these heavenly
communications were to be reserved to themselves; only, however, that they
might be the more securely preserved; but at length all restrictions would be
broken down, and that which, in its ritual exclusivism, had been confined to
them would, in its spiritual persuasiveness, become the heritage of every true
believer who should, like them, enter into covenant with the Lord, not over a
merely typical sacrifice, but over the true and real atonement which Christ
would make for the sins of men. Thus, in this peculiar promise, which looks at
first as if it conferred a patent of protected privilege, we see that the
present protection is in order to the future diffusion; and we have an echo of
the Abrahamic blessing, “In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed.” What the Levitical tribe ultimately was among the Israelites
themselves, that the Israelites were to be among the nations; and the more
faithfully they performed their duties, the richer would be the ultimate
blessing to the Gentiles. Reading these words in the light of the history to
which they form the introduction, it needs no keenness of insight to perceive
the bearing of these principles upon ourselves; for we Christians are now the
world’s priests, custodians of those spiritual blessings by which our
fellow-men are to be benefited; and only in proportion as we maintain holiness
of character shall we discharge our duties to mankind at large. (W. M.
Taylor, D. D.)
All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.
Lessons
1. Command received from God by His ministers--they must go and call
them whom they must bespeak.
2. Orderly proceeding to acquaint the people of God’s will by their
heads is rational.
3. Proposition and exposition of God’s words must be made to souls
that they may know them.
4. All God’s words, and no more but His, Jehovah commands His
ministers to speak to His people (Exodus 19:7). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
God’s revelation of Himself, etc
The subject of this paragraph (Exodus 19:7-24) is God’s revelation of
Himself,--the call to receive it, the manner in which it was made.
I. When God
reveals Himself man is summoned to attend. This is uniformly God’s method.
First the call, then the revelation. “Hear, O Israel,” then, “the Lord thy God
is one Lord.” “This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him,” then the New Testament
dispensation. Moses was a type of the ministry of the Son of Man, and an
example to Christian ministers in the manner in which he summoned men to God.
He spoke--
1. Authoritatively.
2. Clearly.
3. Completely.
4. Successfully.
5. Moses spoke for the people to God.
So does Christ combine our poor prayers with the mighty eloquence
of His intercession.
II. When God
reveals Himself, man must be prepared for the revelation (verse 10-15).
1. Man must attend to the herald who proclaims God’s coming.
2. Man must be prepared by personal sanctification.
3. Man must be prepared by a ready acquiescence in all that God
commands.
4. Man must be prepared at the appointed time. “Be ready against the
third day.”
III. When God
reveals Himself it is in a manner suited to the occasion. It was necessary that
He should speak to men who for years had been surrounded by idolatrous
associations, and who had become debased by years of servitude, in a most
solemn, startling, and impressive form. God has other methods than those
employed here. Abraham, Elijah. Bethlehem, Pentecost, Patmos, etc. So in each
individual ease. Learn then--
1. To listen when God speaks. Faith has a faculty not only of sight,
but of hearing.
2. When God calls obey that call, and be prepared for the public
revelation which that call precedes. “God now commandeth everyman to repent” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
3. Receive God’s revelation of Himself in His own way, (J. W.
Burn.)
A commendable engagement rashly made and repeatedly broken
I. Commendable
engagement.
1. Because of its righteousness.
2. Because of its advantageousness.
3. Because of its unanimity. “All the people answered together.”
II. A commendable
engagement rashly made.
1. Without due consideration.
2. Without earnest purpose,
3. Without hearty concurrence with the will which they promised to obey.
4. Without any realization of their need of Divine help in order that
they may keep it. “How easily overween we our own abilities!”
III. A commendable
engagement repeatedly and terribly broken. Their sin in violating this solemn
promise was the more heinous because of
Notwithstanding the strongest obligations to fulfil their promise,
they broke it upon the slightest provocation. Conclusion--
1. Let us heed well our obligation to do all that the Lord commands.
2. Let us be careful in the utterance of religious vows.
3. Let us be humbled by the recollection of the many religious vows
we have made but not kept, and seek forgiveness for our failures.
4. Let, us endeavour to perform our vows, looking to God for strength
to enable us to do so. (William Jones.)
The response of the people to God’s call
I. The call (Exodus 19:7).
1. The elders represented the people. In dealing with so great a
multitude some such arrangement was necessary. So it is in many things--in the
nation, the family, the Church.
2. God’s commands were faithfully communicated. “Laid before their
faces all,” etc.: nothing was added and nothing kept back. The will of God was
made known so plainly that none could plead ignorance; so particularly that
none could plead excuse. The truth was communicated to every man’s conscience
in the sight of God.
II. The response (Exodus 19:8). “And all the people
answered together,” etc.
1. Prompt. There was no hesitancy.
2. Hearty. There was no reservation.
3. Unanimous. There was no dissentient voice (Acts 2:1). How grand the spectacle! The
mighty multitude aa with one heart and voice proclaimed their submission to
God. But, alas! the sequel showed, that mixed with their apparent sincerity and
enthusiasm there was much of ignorance, presumption, and self-conceit.
III. The report to
God. “And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord” (cf. Exodus 19:9). Such report was necessary
to secure the favour of God and the faith of the people. It tended to--
1. Exoneration of conscience.
2. Relief of the heart.
3. Invigoration of hope.
4. Accrediting of character.
5. Success of ministry, Nothing works more to give a man power with
men than the belief that he has power with God. (William Forsyth.)
The preparation for meeting with God
Moses acted throughout according to Divine command.
I. The people were
called to sanctify themselves. There must be separation from what is not
of God, in order to fellowship with what is. Self-consecration required
(Psalms 26:6; Isaiah 1:16-18; Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20).
II. The people were
charged to re ready at the appointed time (Exodus 19:11). Come into God’s presence
with humility, prayer, hope.
III. The people were
commanded to observe the prescribed laws and ordinances as to approach to God.
Bounds fixed as to place, action, behaviour (Exodus 19:12-14; see 1 Corinthians 14:10). (William
Forsyth.)
Pleasantness of obedience
The pleasantest thing in the world is to be obedient.
1. Because it is so pleasant to know what we have to do. The word
“law” comes from the verb “to lay”; it means “something laid down.” The “law” is
something that God has laid down quite plain for us to do.
2. Because it is a proof that God loves us. Do you remember, whets
Peter was so unhappy, Christ said to him: “Peter, feed My sheep, feed My
lambs”? Christ said that to show that He trusted Peter again. Therefore, if
God, tells you to do anything, be sure God loves you.
3. Because it is practising for heaven. To obey the “law” is to
prepare for heaven. There all will be obedience. Sir Henry Lawrence said, just
before he died, “I wish this to be on my tombstone: ‘Here lies Henry Lawrence,
who tried to, do his duty.’” Duty is preparing for heaven. Somebody perhaps
will say, “Oh, but it is so difficult to do one’s duty--to love the ‘law.’”
Listen to what a little girl said to her brother: “I tried with all my might to
be good, and I prayed and read my Bible, but I was no better. At last I found
Christ, and when I found Christ it was all easy; and from that time I have been
so happy.” (Prof. Drummond.)
Disobedience unhappy
A boy, when he entered his first place of employment, made an
engagement with his master that he was to be in his place at nine o’clock in
the morning, For a while the boy was always to be found at his post at the
appointed hour, but he began to notice that his master did not come in until a
quarter to ten, and he thought it would not matter if he did not come in until
ten minutes past nine, for his master would never know. He got on very well for
a time, but at length he began to grow very miserable. He had a feeling that he
was cheating his master, consequently he was unhappy; he felt he had lost his
faithfulness, and made up his mind to go in at the hour appointed, and when he
did so his peace and joy returned, because he was conscious that he was doing
right. It is the same with Christians in their daily life. As long as they are
obeying God’s commandments they are happy, but whenever they break one of them
they become miserable. Want of faithfulness in the most trivial things often
breaks our peace, and stops communion with God. (George Muller.)
An inconsiderate promise
A story is told of a gentleman who visited President Lincoln, and
who was in the habit of making promises more freely than he kept them. In order
to induce one of Mr. Lincoln’s boys, to sit on his lap, the gentleman offered
to give him a charm which he wore on his watch chain. The boy climbed into his
lap. Finally the gentleman arose to go, when Mr. Lincoln said to him,” Are you
going to keep your promise to my boy?” “What promise?” said the visitor. “You
said you would give him that charm.” “Oh, I could not,” said the visitor. “It
is not only valuable, but I prize it as an heirloom.” “Give it to him,” said
Mr. Lincoln, sternly. “I would not want him to know that I entertained one who
had no regard for his word.” The gentleman coloured, undid the charm, and
handed it to the boy, and went away with a lesson which he was not likely soon
to forget, and which others may profit by learning.
Verse 10-11
The third day the Lord will come down.
Lessons
1. The Mediator willingly cometh from God to impart His will to His
people.
2. The true Mediator is as ready to sanctify His people as God would
have Him.
3. Souls must follow their Mediator’s command for sanctification (Exodus 19:14).
4. It is the Mediator’s care to prepare a people for God at His time,
to whom He is sent.
5. Lawful enjoyments in the flesh sometimes must be denied for better
attendance on God.
6. Great is the fitness required in souls for receiving rightly the
law from God (Exodus 19:15). (G. Hughes, B.
D.)
Getting ready for worship
What was the signification of this Divine command? God gets at the
mind through the senses; and He doubtless intended to instruct the people by
this act that
their minds should be purified, and their hearts prepared for His service. And
to us it points out the necessity of our hearts being cleansed from sin, from
the defilement and the love of it, before we can serve the Lord acceptably; it
teaches us also that we must not rush heedlessly into the presence of God, even
in private prayer. This becoming reverence for the presence of the Divine
Majesty will likewise show itself in our demeanour in the house of God. “Let
them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day.” This will bring a
man in time to the house of God. He will feel with David, “I was glad when they
said, Let us go to the house of the Lord”; and if by any unavoidable
circumstance he is later than he ought to be, his very step will testify his
concern that it should be so, and a solicitude lest he disturb the solemnity of
the worship of others. In the man who fulfils the spirit of this command there
will be no wandering eye, but that general decorum of manner which shows that
he has put off his shoes from his feet, for the place whereon he stands is holy
ground. (George Breay, B. A.)
Salutary bounds
A traveller relates that, when passing through an Austrian town,
his attention was directed to a forest on a slope near the road, and he was
told that death was the penalty of cutting down one of those trees. He was
incredulous until he was further informed that they were the protection of the
city, breaking the force of the descending avalanche which, without this
natural barrier, would sweep over the homes of thousands. When a Russian army
was there and began to cut away the fence for fuel, the inhabitants besought
them to take their dwellings instead, which was done. Such, he well thought,
are the sanctions of God’s moral law. On the integrity and support of that law
depends the safety of the universe. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” is a
merciful proclamation. “He that offends in one point is guilty of all,” is
equally just and benevolent. To transgress once is to lay the axe at the root
of the tree which represents the security and peace of every loyal soul in the
wide dominions of the Almighty. (Family Treasury.)
Importance of holiness
God has no ultimate use for a man that is not holy. A rose-tree
that does not blossom is of no use in a garden. A vine that bears no grapes is
of no use in a vineyard. A criminal has no place in the State. In that
everlasting kingdom in which the glory of God and the perfection of man will be
at last revealed, there can be no place for those that have not an intense
passion for holiness, and who do not themselves illustrate its dignity and
beauty. (R. W. Dale.)
Purity of soul essential
“My son,” said Nushirvan, king of Persia, in the directions of his
last will to his successor, “present yourself often at the gate of heaven to
implore its succour in your need, but purify your soul beforehand.”
To meet with God.
Lessons
1. Upon Churches preparation, and sanctification God is ready to
appear to them.
2. God will keep His day, His third day of appearance to His people.
3. In God’s appearance for covenant-making He giveth the discovery of
Himself as He pleaseth.
4. Terrible signals God
useth sometimes to declare His majesty to men (Psalms 18:9).
5. The law given by Moses differs from Christ’s in darkness and
deadliness (Hebrews 12:1-29.).
6. Suitable affections unto terrible appearances of God may be from
nature and grace (Exodus 19:16). It might be a spirit of
bondage in some, but of free grace in others. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. God’s terrors in the law are not to drive men from Him, but to
bring them humbly to Him.
2. God hath appointed a Mediator to bring souls unto Him. They come
not of themselves.
3. Upon the Mediator’s conduct souls may be bold to approach the
terrors of the Lord.
4. Sinners must keep their standing appointed by the Mediator to find
grace in the sight of God (Exodus 19:17). (G. Hughes, B.
D.)
Lessons
1. Great is the condescension of Jehovah unto men in giving law and
covenant to them.
2. In God’s humbling Himself He keeps His distance and place above
men.
3. In giving His law to men God calleth the Mediator to be by Him.
4. God withholds no discovery from His Church but that which would be
deadly to them (Exodus 19:21).
5. Among the congregation God hath appointed some to office for
ministering to Him.
6. Such persons must be sanctified in their special place according
to God’s will.
7. The more holy the persons and office are, the more deadly is their
transgression.
8. Threatenings of death are primarily in grace to give life to souls
(Exodus 19:22). (G. Hughes, B.
D.)
Lessons
1. God seeth need for His ministers testifying and pressing on people
His will when men do not.
2. The Mediator’s descent to men hinders not His ascent to God again
for their good.
3. None but mediators must come so near to God as He appoints them.
4. Such as do, though under pretence of holiness, must perish (Exodus 19:24).
5. The Mediator, as He must, so is He willing to be with God’s people
at the law-giving.
6. It is Mediator’s work to teach all to souls that may fit them to a
due reception of God’s covenant
(Exodus 19:25). (G. Hughes, B.
D.)
God on Mount Sinai
I. The greatness
of God. All powers of nature under His control.
II. The nearness of
God (see 4:7-12).
III. The
mysteriousness of God (see Psalms 97:2).
IV. The holiness of
God (see chap. 15:11; Isaiah 6:1-2; Revelation 4:8; 1 Peter 1:16).
V. The sovereignty
and mercy of God (see Deuteronomy 5:24). (W. Forsyth.)
The highest ministry
(Exodus 19:17):--The essence of religion
is to realize the presence of God. Therefore we should hail as our highest
benefactor the man who does for us as Moses did for Israel. “And Moses brought
forth the people out of the camp to meet with God.”
I. In the
operations of nature. Poets have sung of the sublimities and beauties of nature, and
philosophers explain her secrets; but he does the noblest work who brings us
face to face with nature’s God.
II. The events of
providence. Many writers have done well in history and fiction, and have
depicted with wondrous skill the varieties of character and incident, and the
strange vicissitudes of human life; but he does best who shows us that there is
a providence in the affairs of men, and that the Lord our God ruleth over all
in righteousness and love.
III. The ordinances
of the gospel. Preachers may be learned and eloquent, but it is only as they
manifest God’s law to the conscience and God’s love to the heart that they do us real
good. Prayer and praise are proper duties, but unless in them we rise to God
they are meaningless and vain. (W. Forsyth.)
Vain curiosity
(Exodus 19:21):--
I. It pries into
secrets.
II. Breaks through
boundaries.
III. Sacrifices
reverence and self-respect.
IV. Recklessly
rushes into danger.
V. Multiplies
confusions and perils. Remember Eve, Uzziah. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
To meet with God.--
Coming to church to meet God
“The people stood at the nether part of the mount”; they listened
with this very end in view: they came out of the camp to meet God, as God had
commanded they should do. When you come up to the house of God keep this in
view. There is, in the present day, as there was in the days of the apostle,
such a thing as having “itching ears,” looking to man, instead of an humble and
reverent desire to meet God. Brethren, be much in prayer; and when you leave
your closets to attend public worship, say, “I am now going to meet with God.”
As you enter His house, reflect, “This is none other than the house of God,
this is the gate of heaven”; oh that I may meet my Saviour; oh that His love
may be shed abroad in my heart; oh that I may understand more of God’s plan for
the salvation of sinners; oh that I may get my heart warmed by close communion
with my God, and have my soul lifted up above the cares and pleasures of this
sinful world! Were all our congregations to assemble thus, oh what a savour,
and unction, and blessing we should experience! (George Breay, B.
A.)
Communion with God
The windows of Somerset House that face the Strand are all double-cased,
so as to deaden the roar of the traffic outside. It would be impossible to do
mental work unless some such system were adopted. There is but one way to be
“in the world and not of it”; it is to be shut in with God, away from the din
of its cares, temptations, and strifes. Outside, confusion, hurly-burly;
inside, quiet, peace, under the shadow of the Almighty.
Communion with God
When we think of Moses coming so near to Jehovah in His majesty,
wielding the terrific agencies of flood and storm and fire, of darkness and
lightning and the voice of trumpet exceeding loud--Mount Sinai rocking beneath
His feet, and Moses alone drawing near the Awful Presence and talking with God
face to face there--what shall we say of the possibilities of communion between
man and his Maker? Whatever speculations we may have as to the means and
methods by which the thought of God was borne to the mind of Moses, and the
thought of Moses to the mind of God, the great fact of communion of mind with
mind--thought meeting thought--of command from the superior party, received and
obeyed by the inferior--is on the outer face of the whole history and admits of
no question. God can speak to man so that man shall know the voice to be His,
and comprehend perfectly its significance. Relations of obedience, confidence,
and love on the part of man toward his Maker, are established, and God meets
them with appropriate manifestations of His favour. (H. Cowles, D. D.)
Moses and Aaron united in the mount
The association of Aaron with Moses in the mount intimates
evangelical instruction. It was the design of God, not only to declare the
condemnation of sin, but to point out the way of justification and life. Their
ministry united, the people cannot perish. It was in the presence of both that
the words of the covenant were pronounced, showing that the functions of each
were concerned in that dispensation. Moses would declare the law to the people;
Aaron make reconciliation for sin. Infinitely glorious the surety of the
everlasting covenant, our Divine Redeemer, of whom Moses in his prophetical
office, and Aaron in his priestly, were but imperfect types. In Him was every
qualification to mediate, and every right, that none need despair of redemption
who trust in Him. (W. Seaton.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》