Exodus 19:1

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

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.

EXODUS CHAPTER 19 The people come to Sinai, ,2. God’ s proposal to them by Moses. Of the terms of the covenant, . Moses lays before them what God had commanded, . The people’ s acceptance of the same, . God directeth Moses how to sanctify the people, ,11; to set bounds to the people that they touch not the mount, . The punishment of those that did, . Moses sanctifying the people, ; commands them to keep from their wives, . The manner of God’ s appearing, ,18,19. God talketh with Moses, . BC 1491 Heb. Third new moon, called Sivan, including the latter part of May, and the former part of June. The same day, Heb. in that day, to wit, when the month or new moon began, and when they departed from Rephidim, to note, that there was no station between these two. This is set down thus accurately, because it gives an account of the original of the feast of pentecost, because the giving of the law, which was three or four days after this time, was fifty days after the passover, whereof forty-six or forty-seven were past at their first coming to Sinai, reckoning from the fifteenth day of the first month, when they came out of Egypt, to this time.

Exodus 19:1 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.Ver. 1. Into the wilderness of Sinai.] A place where were many bushes and briers. Here they received the law, which, like briers and brambles, pricketh and pierceth the consciences of evil men. And this happened four hundred and thirty years after the promise made to Abraham; not to disannul the promise, but to advance it; and, that guilt being discovered, and "every mouth stopped," we might acknowledge the riches of free grace and mercy.

CHAPTER XIX The children of Israel, having departed from Rephidim, come to the wilderness of Sinai in the third month, 1, 2. Moses goes up into the mount to God, and receives a message which he is to deliver to the people, 3-6. He returns and delivers it to the people before the elders, 7. The people promise obedience, 8. The Lord proposes to meet Moses in the cloud, 9. He commands him to sanctify the people, and promises to come down visibly on Mount Sinai on the third day, 10, 11. He commands him also to set bounds, to prevent the people or any of the cattle from touching the mount, on pain of being stoned or shot through with a dart, 12, 13. Moses goes down and delivers this message, 14, 15. The third day is ushered in with the appearance of the thick cloud upon the mount, and with thunders, lightning, and the sound of a trumpet! at which the people are greatly terrified, 16 NOTES ON CHAP. XIX Verse 1. In the third month] This was called Sivan, and answers to our May. For the Jewish months, years, c., see the tables at the end of Deuteronomy. The same day] There are three opinions concerning the meaning of this place, which are supported by respectable arguments. 1. The same day means the same day of the third month with that, viz., the 15th, on which the Israelites had left Egypt. 2. The same day signifies here a day of the same number with the month to which it is applied, viz., the third day of the third month. 3. By the same day, the first day of the month is intended. The Jews celebrate the feast of pentecost fifty days after the passover: from the departure out of Egypt to the coming to Sinai were forty-five days for they came out the fifteenth day of the first month, from which day to the first of the third month forty-five days are numbered. On the 2d day of this third month Moses went up into the mountain, when three days were given to the people to purify themselves; this gives the fourth day of the third month, or the forty-ninth from the departure out of Egypt. On the next day, which was the fiftieth from the celebration of the passover, the glory of God appeared on the mount; in commemoration of which the Jews celebrate the feast of pentecost. This is the opinion of St. Augustine and of several moderns, and is defended at large by Houbigant. As the word חדש chodesh, month, is put for new moon, which is with the Jews the first day of the month, this may be considered an additional confirmation of the above opinion. The wilderness of Sinai.] Mount Sinai is called by the Arabs Jibel Mousa or the Mount of Moses, or, by way of eminence, El Tor, THE Mount. It is one hill, with two peaks or summits; one is called Horeb, the other Sinai.

1, 2.a (P). Arrival of the Israelites at Sinai. The ‘when’ in v. 2. is intended to remove a difficulty: the Heb. is, And they took their journey …, and came …, and pitched, &c.; these words, however, beginning with the departure from Rephidim, would naturally precede v. 1, which, stating the new fact of the date of their arrival at Sinai, would as naturally then follow. And this doubtless was the original order, viz.: And they took their journey (Exodus 16:1) from Rephidim, and came to the wilderness of Sinai, and pitched in the wilderness: in the third month after, &c., came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For the form of v. 2a, comp. now Exodus 16:1, Numbers 33:16.

The wilderness ... the desert of Sinai - If the mount from which the law was delivered be the rock of Ras Safsafeh, then the spacious plain of Er Rahah would be the “desert” of Sinai (see Exodus 5:17).

II. JEHOVAH AS KING OF ISRAEL. The Divine Glory, and the Giving of the Law at Sinai. Chaps.Exodus 19:1 to Exodus 24:18.THE AT MOUNT SINAI, 1, 2. We now approach the most sublime and impressive narrative of Old Testament history.