Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 19:10
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes,
10. sanctify ] viz. by enjoining ablutions and abstention from anything that would render ‘unclean’ (cf. v. 15b): comp. Num 11:18 (in preparation for the approaching manifestation of Jehovah’s power), Jos 3:5; Jos 7:13, 1Sa 16:5.
wash their garments ] often enjoined, as a purificatory rite, in the later ceremonial legislation, e.g. Lev 11:25; Lev 11:28; Lev 11:40, &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
10 13. Preparations to be made in view of the approaching theophany. The people are to be sanctified (E), and (J) barriers set about the mountain, to prevent its being desecrated by idle intruders.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Sanctify them – The injunction involves bodily purification and undoubtedly also spiritual preparation. Compare Heb 10:22. The washing of the clothes was an outward symbol well understood in all nations.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Exo 19:10-11
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 Mediators command for sanctification (Exo 19:14).
4. It is the Mediators 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 (Exo 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 Gods 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.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. Sanctify them] See the meaning of this term, Ex 13:2.
Let them wash their clothes] And consequently bathe their bodies; for, according to the testimony of the Jews, these always went together.
It was necessary that, as they were about to appear in the presence of God, every thing should be clean and pure about them; that they might be admonished by this of the necessity of inward purity, of which the outward washing was the emblem.
From these institutions the heathens appear to have borrowed their precepts relative to washings and purifications previously to their offering sacrifice to their gods, examples of which abound in the Greek and Latin writers. They washed their hands and clothes, and bathed their bodies in pure water, before they performed any act of religious worship; and in a variety of cases, abstinence from all matrimonial connections was positively required, before a person was permitted to perform any religious rite, or assist at the performance.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. Command them to sanctify and cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and to prepare their hearts for the right receiving of my laws, and solemn entering into covenant with me. Compare Lev 11:45; Jos 3:5; 7:13.
Let them wash their clothes; by which external washing, which was agreeable to that state of the church, they were taught to cleanse their inward man.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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 were to sanctify themselves in an external way, by washing themselves, as after mentioned, their bodies and clothes, and by abstaining from all sensual pleasures, lawful or unlawful:
and let them wash their clothes; which the Jews understood not of their garments, but of their bodies also; teaching them by these outward things the necessity of internal purity and holiness, to appear before God: these outward rites were in use before the law of Moses, as appears from Ge 35:2 and the Heathens themselves have similar notions of the cleanness of bodies and garments, as well as the purity of mind, being acceptable to their deities n.
n “Casta placent superis, pura cum veste venito”. Tibullus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
God then commanded Moses to prepare the people for His appearing or speaking to them: (1) by their sanctification, through the washing of the body and clothes (see Gen 35:2), and abstinence from conjugal intercourse (Exo 19:15) on account of the defilement connected therewith (Lev 15:18); and (2) by setting bounds round the people, that they might not ascend or touch the mountain. The hedging or bounding ( ) of the people is spoken of in Exo 19:23 as setting bounds about the mountain, and consisted therefore in the erection of a barrier round the mountain, which was to prevent the people form ascending or touching it. Any one who touched it ( , “ its end, ” i.e., the outermost or lowest part of the mountain) was to be put to death, whether man or beast. “ No hand shall touch him ” (the individual who passed the barrier and touched the mountain), i.e., no one was to follow him within the appointed boundaries, but he was to be killed from a distance either by stones or darts. ( for , see Gesenius, 69.) Not till “ the drawing out of the trumpet blast, ” or, as Luther renders it, “only when it sounded long,” could they ascend the mountain (Exo 19:13). , from to stream violently with noise, is synonymous with (Jos 6:5), and was really the same thing as the , i.e., a long wind instrument shaped like a horn. is to draw the horn, i.e., to blow the horn with tones long drawn out. This was done either to give a signal to summon the people to war (Jdg 3:27; Jdg 6:34), or to call them to battle (Jdg 7:18; Job 39:24-25, etc.), or for other public proclamations. No one (this is the idea) was to ascend the mountain on pain of death, or even to touch its outermost edge; but when the horn was blown with a long blast, and the signal to approach was given thereby, then they might ascend it (see Exo 19:21), – of course not 600,000 men, which would have been physically impossible, but the people in the persons of their representatives the elders. signifies to go up the mountain in Exo 19:13 as well as in Exo 19:12, and not merely to come to the foot of the mountain (see Deu 5:5).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verses 10-13:
Israel was to undergo a two-day purification. On the third day, Jehovah promised to descend in the sight of the people, upon Mount Sinai. The previous verse describes the manner in which He would appear: in a “thick cloud.” The boundary at the base of the mountain was to be strictly observed. The presence of Jehovah would hallow the mount, and neither man nor beast could cross the boundary, on penalty of death.
“Trumpet” shophar, the “ram’s horn,” is the only instrument still in use in the synagogue. It was mainly an instrument used in signaling, both in religious and secular ceremonies. The word occurs in Jos 6:20 and Jg 7:16-22. Jehovah Himself is said to blow the shophar, to gather the scattered remnant of Israel, Zec 9:14, 15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10. And the Lord said unto Moses. Before propounding His law, it is not unreasonable that God should command the people to be sanctified, lest He should cast pearls before swine, or give that which is holy unto dogs; for although by right of adoption they were holy, yet, as regarded themselves, the filthiness of their nature unfitted them for participating in so great a blessing. It was by no means right or just that the inestimable treasure should be polluted by foul and stinking vessels. Therefore, in the injunction that they should be sanctified, two things were pointed out, — that the sacred doctrine of God was not to be handled by unwashen hands, and that the whole human race is impure and polluted, and, consequently, that none can duly enter God’s school save those who are cleansed from their filthiness. And, doubtless, it is the just reward of their unworthy profanation that so many readers or hearers profit not by heavenly doctrine, because they rush in without fear or reverence, as to some ridiculous stage play. This preparation, then, is seasonably commanded, to make ready God’s scholars and render them fit to be taught. But while the inward purity of the heart is chiefly demanded, this ceremony was not without its use to accustom an ignorant people to meditate upon true holiness. That they should wash their clothes and abstain from the nuptial bed were things of naught in themselves; but when external rites are referred to their proper end, viz., to be exercises unto spiritual worship, they are useful aids to piety; and we know that God, in consideration of the times, before Christ’s coming, employed such figures which now have no place under the brightness of the Gospel. But although the use of them be grown obsolete, yet the truth, which I spoke of, still remains, viz., that if we desire to be admitted to a participation in heavenly doctrine, we should
“
cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.” (2Co 7:1.)
But here a question arises; for if, as Peter bears witness, faith purifies the heart, (Act 15:9,) and understanding of the doctrine goes before faith, since Paul declares that it “cometh by hearing,” (Rom 10:17,) the consequence is, that the order of things is inverted if the people are to be sanctified before they hear the Law, because in this way the means of sanctification is wanting. My reply is, that albeit faith, in so far as it embraces the offer of reconciliation and the Spirit of regeneration, can alone truly purify us; yet this by no means prevents the fear of God from going before to prepare a place for the word in our minds. And, properly speaking, a pious desire of learning, humility, and reverence should be accounted the commencement of faith, since it is from these elements that God begins to perfect faith in us by certain progressive steps. On this account James exhorts us to “receive with meekness the engrafted word,” because the door of the entrance is shut against it by pride, and obstinacy, and profane contempt. As to the meaning of the passage, to be “sanctified,” and to “wash their clothes,” are not spoken of as different things, but the second is added as the symbol (213) of the first; for under the Law the rite of ablution reminded the ancient people that no one can please God, except he both seek for expiation in the blood of Christ, and labor to purify himself from the pollution’s of the flesh. Abstinence from cohabitation had the same object; for although there is nothing polluting or contaminating in the marriage bed, yet the Israelites were to be reminded that all earthly cares were, as much as possible, to be renounced, and all carnal affections to be put away, that they might give their entire attention to the hearing of the Law. The sanctity of marriage veils and covers whatever of sin there is in the cohabitation of man and wife; yet it is certain that it in some degree distracts them from having their whole minds occupied by spiritual affections. Therefore Paul makes this exception in the mutual obligation of the marriage bed, that couples may be separated for “fasting and prayer.” (1Co 7:5.) Yet the moderation which God prescribed is to be observed; for God did not enjoin perpetual celibacy, but so arranged the time that the Israelites might be disengaged from all earthly preoccupations, and might more freely apply their whole minds to the reverent reception of the Law.
(213) Comme marque visible. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) Go unto the people, and sanctify them.The approaching manifestation required, above all things, that the people should be sanctified. Sanctification is twofoldoutward and inward. The real essential preparation for approach to God is inward sanctification; but no external command can secure this. Moses was therefore instructed to issue directions for outward purification; and it was left to the spiritual insight of the people to perceive and recognise that such purity symbolised and required internal purification as its counterpart. The external purification was to consist in three things(1) Ablution, or washing of the person; (2) washing of clothes; and (3) abstinence from sexual intercourse (Exo. 19:15).
Let them wash their clothes.The Levitical law required the washing of clothes on many occasions (Lev. 11:25; Lev. 11:28; Lev. 11:40; Lev. 13:6; Lev. 13:34; Lev. 13:58; Lev. 14:8-9; Lev. 14:47; Lev. 15:5-22, &c.) In connection with purification. The same idea prevailed in Egypt (Herod., 2:37), in Greece (Horn. Od., iv. 1. 759), and in Rome (Dollinger, Jew and Gentile, vol. ii., p. 82). It is a natural extension of the idea that ablution of the person cleanses, not from physical only, but from moral defilement.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Sanctify them By observing all manner of bodily purifyings, washing their clothes, (comp . Exo 35:2,) and abstaining from all sexual intercourse, Exo 19:15.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The People Are To Prepare For What Yahweh Is Going To Do ( Exo 19:10-25 ) .
This passage is also based on a chiastic construction as follows:
a Moses is told to prepare the people so that they will be ready (Exo 19:10-11).
b Bounds are to be set, they must not touch the mount lest they die (Exo 19:12-13).
c Moses sanctifies the people in readiness (Exo 19:14-15).
d The awesome scene is described. Thunders and lightning and a thick cloud on the mount, and the sound of a trumpet, all the people tremble (Exo 19:16).
e The people brought forth to meet with God (Exo 19:17 a).
e The people stand at the bottom of the mount (Exo 19:17 b).
d The awesome scene is described. The mount is on smoke, Yahweh descends in fire, smoke rises, the mount quakes, the voice of a trumpet sounds long, when Yahweh comes down on the top of the mount, and Moses goes up to meet Yahweh (Exo 19:18-20).
c The priests to sanctify themselves lest Yahweh break forth on them (Exo 19:21).
b The priests and people not to approach the mount lest Yahweh break forth on them (Exo 19:23-24).
a Moses goes down to the people and speaks to them (Exo 19:25).
The chiasmus is powerful. The opening and closing statements (a) show Moses in total control over the whole situation, while b at both ends stresses in contrast the need for the people not to approach the mount. They are not worthy. The chiasmus then brings out in d (‘surrounding’ the people in e) the mighty and fearful things by which they were ‘surrounded’ and the contrast between the people, of whom it is said, ‘all the people — trembled’, and Moses of whom it is said, ‘Moses went up (to the top of the mount)’. So the people tremble, while Moses goes boldly up to meet Yahweh. Note also the stress on each side of the description of the mount (in c) of their need to be sanctified, both people and priests in order to face this experience of Yahweh. And in the midst of all this, trembling and afraid are the people brought forth to meet God and at the bottom of the mount (e).
Exo 19:10-13
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes and be ready against the third day, for on the third day Yahweh will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai. And you will set bounds for the people round about, saying, ‘Take notice of yourselves that you do not go up the mount, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mount will surely be put to death. No hand shall touch him for he shall surely be stoned or shot through. Whether it be beast or man it shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long note they will go up the mount.’ ” ’
The conditions God lays down stress the sacredness of this experience. He Himself is going to descend in the full reality of His presence, although hidden by a cloud. So intense will be His presence that the mountain will be so holy that nothing earthly must touch it while He is there manifested to such an extent. Only Moses, and then Aaron, the men whom He has set apart to Himself, will be able to enter it.
So Moses is to set a boundary, some kind of physical indicator, beyond which the people may not come. That boundary and all above it will be sacred and must not be touched from the border upwards.
“Sanctify them today and tomorrow.” Possibly by the offering of sacrifice. ‘Sanctify them’ may represent something to be done by Moses – compare Exo 29:1 – but it could simply mean ‘arrange for them to sanctify themselves’. This must then be followed by them washing their clothes and avoiding contact with anything seen as ritually unclean, which included abstention from sexual intercourse (Exo 19:15; compare Lev 15:16-18; 1Sa 21:4-5). It may well have included bathing themselves daily as a preparatory act, for the removing of earthiness in view of their approach to God (Exo 30:20; Exo 40:32). The washing of the clothes and waiting for a period was later regularly a way by which ‘cleansing’ could finally be effected (Lev 11:28; Lev 11:40 and often) and in some cases bathing was also required (Lev 15:5 and often). The period of sanctifying demonstrated how pure they had to be.
“Yahweh will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.” The whole people are to be witnesses to this amazing event, Yahweh coming down on Mount Sinai.
“Whoever touches the mount shall surely be put to death.” This is because they will have come in contact with the mount where God is, in direct defiance of His commands, and will have defiled it. They must learn the holiness and ‘otherness’ of God (compare Exo 3:5).
“No hand shall touch him.” That is, shall touch any transgressor. This is because something of the ‘holiness’ of the Mount is seen as imparted to him which none must come in contact with. Nothing that touches the mount at that time shall be allowed to live, even if it be a stray animal. Thus his death must be by stoning or by arrow shot, not by contact. Thus the holiness and total ‘otherness’ (unlike anything known) of God is emphasised.
The purpose of all these restrictions is to bring home the supreme holiness and otherness of God and to prevent the people from treating His approach too lightly. God is not to be treated lightly, something we need to be more aware of in the present day.
“When the trumpet sounds a long note they shall go up (to) the mount.” At the long trumpet blast they are to go up the mount to the bounds marked by Moses. Alternately, but more unlikely, this may mean that the mount will no longer be seen as holy once there has been an extra long blast of the trumpet. Another suggestion is that ‘they’ means the people’s representatives, Moses and Aaron.
The point at which a mountain begins is always an open question as there will be slopes leading up to it. The boundary is to be decided by Moses. This then refers to coming up to that point.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Special Instructions
v. 10. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, v. 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. v. 12. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, v. 13. There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; v. 14. And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes, v. 15. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day; come not at your wives,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THE PREPARATION OF THE PEOPLE AND OF THE MOUNTAIN FOR THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD UPON IT. The people having accepted God’s terms, the time had come for the revelation in all its fulness of the covenant which God designed to make with them. This, it was essential, they should perceive and know to come from God, and not to be the invention of Moses. God, therefore, was about to manifest himself. But ere he could do this with safety, it was requisite that certain preparations should be made. Before man can be fit to approach God, he needs to be sanctified. The essential sanctification is internal; but, as internal purity and holiness cannot be produced at a given moment, Moses was ordered to require its outward symbol, external bodily cleanliness, by ablution and the washing of clothes, as a preliminary to God’s descent upon the mountain (Exo 19:10, Exo 19:13). It would be generally understood that this external purity was symbolical only, and needed to be accompanied by internal cleanliness. Further, since even the purest of men is impure in God’s sight, and since there would be many in the congregation who had attempted no internal cleansing, it was necessary to provide that they should not draw too near, so as to intrude on the holy ground or on God’s presence. Moses was therefore required to have a fence erected round the mountain, between it and the people, and to proclaim the penalty of death against all who should pass it and touch the mount (Exo 19:12, Exo 19:13). In executing these orders, Moses gave an additional charge to the heads of families, that they should purify themselves by an act of abstinence which he specified (Exo 19:15)
Exo 19:10
Go unto the people. Moses had withdrawn himself from the people to report their words to God (Exo 19:8, Exo 19:9). He was now commanded to return to them. Sanctify them. Or “purify them.” Purification in Egypt was partly by washing, partly, by shaving the hair, either front the head only, or from the entire body (Herod. 2.37), partly perhaps by other rites. The Israelites seem ordinarily to have purified themselves by washing only. To-day and to-morrow. The fourth and fifth of Sivan, according to the Jewish tradition, the Decalogue having been given upon the sixth. The requirement of a two-days’ preparation marked the extreme sanctity of the occasion. Let them wash their clothes. Compare Le Exo 15:5. Rich people could “change their garments” on a sacred occasion (Gen 35:2); the poorer sort, having no change, could only wash them.
Exo 19:11
The Lord win come down. Jehovah is regarded as dwelling in the heaven above, not exclusively (Psa 139:7-10), but especially and therefore, when he appears on earth, he “comes down” (Gen 11:5-7; Gen 18:21; Exo 3:8; etc.). In the sight of all the people. That a visible manifestation of the Divine presence is intended appears, unmistakably, from Exo 19:16 and Exo 19:18.
Exo 19:12
Thou shalt set bounds. The erection of a fence or barrier, between the camp and the mountainnot necessarily all round the mountainseems to be meant. This barrier may have run along the line of low alluvial mounds at the foot of the cliff of Ras Sufsafeh, mentioned by Dean Stanley, but cannot have been identical with them, since it was an artificial fence. That ye go not up into the mount. Curiosity might have tempted some to ascend the mount, if it had not been positively forbidden under the penalty of death; carelessness might have brought many into contact with it, since the cliff rises abruptly from the plain. Unless the fence had been made, cattle would, naturally, have grazed along its base. To impress the Israelites with a due sense of the awful majesty of God, and the sacredness of everything material that it brought into close relations with him, the mount itself was declared holynone but Moses and Aaron might go up into it; none might touch it; even the stray beast that approached it must suffer death for its unwitting offence (Exo 19:13). Whosoever toucheth the mount. The mountain may be “touched” from the plainit rises so abruptly. Shall be surely put to death. A terrible punishment, and one which, to modern ideas, seems excessive. But it was only by terrible threats, and in some cases by terrible punishments (2Sa 6:7), that the Israelites could be taught reverence. A profound reverence lies at the root of all true religious feeling; and for the education of the world, it was requisite, in the early ages, to inculcate the necessity of this frame of mind in some very marked and striking way.
Exo 19:13
There shall not an hand touch it. Rather, “there shall not an hand touch him.” The transgressor shall not be seized and apprehended, for that would involve the repetition of the offence by his arrester, who must overpass the “bounds” set by Moses, in order to make the arrest. Instead of seizing him, they were to kill him with stones or arrows from within the “bounds,” and the same was to be done, if any stray beast approached the mountain. When the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. By translating the same Hebrew phrase differently here and in Exo 19:12, the A. V. avoids the difficulty which most commentators see in this passage. According to the apparent construction, the people are first told that they may, on no account, ascend the mountain (Exo 19:12), and then that they may do so, so soon as the trumpet sounds long (Exo 19:13). But they do not ascend at that time (Exo 19:19), nor are they allowed to do soon the contrary, Moses is charged anew to prevent it (Exo 19:21-25); nor indeed do the people ever ascend, but only Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy eiders (Exo 24:1, Exo 24:2). What, then, is the permission here given? When we scrutinise the passage closely, we observe that the pronoun “they” is in the Hebrew, emphatic, and, therefore, unlikely to refer to “the people” of Exo 19:12. To whom then does it refer? Not, certainly, to “the Elders” of Exo 19:7, which would be too remote an antecedent, but to those chosen persons who are in the writer’s mind, whom God was about to allow to ascend. Even these were not allowed to go up until summoned by the prolonged blast of the trumpet.
Exo 19:14
In obedience to the commands which he had received (Exo 19:10), Moses returned to the camp at the foot of Sinai, and issued the order that the people were to purify themselves and wash their garments during that day and the next, and be ready for a great solemnity on the third day. He must also, at the same time, have given directions for the construction of the fence, which was to hedge in the people (Exo 19:12), and which he speaks of as constructed in Exo 19:23.
Exo 19:15
Come not at your wives. Compare 1Sa 21:4, 1Sa 21:5; 1Co 7:5. A similar obligation lay on the Egyptian priests (Porphyr. De Abstin. 4.7); and the idea which underlies it was widespread in the ancient world The subject is well treated, from a Christian point of view, by Pope Gregory the First, in his answers to S. Augustine’s questions (Bode, Hist. Eccl. 2.).
HOMILETICS
Exo 19:10-15
The awfulness of God’s presence, and the preparation needed ere we approach him.
I. THE AWFULNESS OF GOD‘S PRESENCE. The presence of God is awful, even to those holy angels who are without spot or stain of sin, having done the holy will of their Maker from their creation. But to sinful man it is far more awful. No man “can see God’s face, and live” (Exo 33:20). Jacob was mistaken when he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen 32:30). He had really wrestled with an angel (Hos 12:4). When Moses requested to see the Almighty’s glory, he was told, “Thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen” (Exo 33:23). “No man has seen God at any time,” says St. John the Evangelist (Joh 1:18). But, even apart from sight, there is in the very sense of the presence of God an awful terribleness. “I am troubled at his presence,” said Job; “when I consider, I am afraid of him” (Job 23:15). “Truly the Lord is in this place,” said Jacob, “and I knew it not. How dreadful is this place!” (Gen 28:16, Gen 28:17). God is at all times everywhere; but he veils himself, he practically withdraws himself; and, though he is where we are, we do not see him, or perceive him (Job 23:8, Job 23:9). But, let him reveal his presence, and at once all tremble before it. “Mine eye seeth him,” says Job again, “wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5, Job 42:6) “When I heard,” says Habakkuk, “my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself” (Job 3:16). In part, no doubt, weakness trembles before strength, littleness before greatness, finiteness before infinity; but, mainly, it is sinfulness that quakes and shrinks before perfect holiness, corruption that shivers before incorruption, rottenness before absolute purity.
II. THE PREPARATION NEEDED ERE WE APPROACH HIM. Only the “pure in heart” can “see God.” In all our approaches to him, we must seek first to be made fit for propinquity by separation from sin. Moses was bidden to “sanctify the people’ (verse 10), which he could only do outwardly. This true sanctification, the true purification, was heart-felt repentance, deep contrition, and the earnest resolve to forsake sin, and henceforth live righteously. This preparation each man had to make for himself. It was in vain that he should wash himself seven times, or seven times seven, in vain that he should purify his garments, and keep himself free from material pollutions of every sort and kindsomething more was neededhe required to be purified in heart and soul. And so it is with Christianswith all men universally. God must be approached with humilitynot in the spirit of the Pharisee; with reverencehead bowed down, and voice hushed to a low tone, and heart full of the fear of his holiness; with a pure mindthat is, with a mind averse from sin, and resolved henceforth to do righteously. The publican’s approach was better than the Pharisee’s. Let men “smite upon their breast,” let them be deeply convinced of sin, and own themselves sinners; let them implore the blotting out of their sins, and the cleansing of their entire nature; let them heartily resolve to sin no more, but walk in newness of life, and there is no contact which they need dread, no nearness of approach from which they need shrink. We are not, indeed, to hope in this life for that vision of God, or for that degree of communion, which our souls desire. “Now we see through a glass darklynow we know in part.” The full vision of God, full access to him, complete communion, is reserved for the next world, where it will form our perfect bliss and consummation.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Exo 19:10-25
The mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire
(Heb 12:18). It is interesting to observe that, with the latter part of this chapter, we enter on an entirely new phase in the history of God’s revelation of himself to Israel. Terror enough there has been in the previous portions of the bookterror and “a mighty hand”awful manifestations of God’s power and holiness; but towards Israel there has been displayed only benignity and fatherly affection. Their wants have been ungrudgingly supplied; even their murmurings, as we have seen, did not elicit from God more than a passing reproof. But now that Jehovah takes his awful seat on Sinai, and proceeds to give forth his law, he clothes himself, even towards Israel, with a majesty and terror which strike the people with dismay. The fact is obviously one of deep significance, requiring, as it will repay, our close attention. What, meanwhile, we have to note is, that God did not reveal himself in law and terror till he had given the people many practical evidences of his love for them, and so had won their confidence. Without this, the terrors of Sinai could scarcely have been borne by them.
I. THE PREPARATION (Exo 19:10-16). The revelation at Sinai was distinctively a revelation of the Divine holiness. From this fact, rightly apprehended, we may deduce the necessity for the preparations and precautions referred to in the text. The design of the lawgiving was to bring to light, and impress on men’s minds, that holiness and justice which are essential parts of God’s character, and which underlie all his dealings with them, even when most veiled by tenderness and grace. The time had come which God judged best for such a revelation being made. Made it had to be at some point or other in the history of the Divine dealings with men; and no time was so suitable for it as this of the constitution of the covenant with Israel. The instructions issued to the people accord with this design, and have as their end the impressing of their minds with a deep sense of the holiness of the Being into whose presence they are approaching, and of their own unholiness and unfitness to draw near to him. Holiness is
1. Absolute moral purity and perfection. It is sanctity of character. It implies, whether in God or man, the steadfast bent of the will towards all that is good and true and just and pure. In God, it is an inflexible determination to uphold at all costs the interests of righteousness and truth. It is an intensity of nature, a fire of zeal or jealousy, directed to the maintenance of these interests. Hence the requirement that in preparation for their meeting with him at the mount, the people should “sanctify” themselves for two whole days (Exo 19:10). The sanctification enjoined was mainly externalthe washing of clothes, etc.; but this, in itself a symbol of the need of heart purity, was doubtless to be attended with mental and spiritual preparations. Holiness is to be studied by us in all our approaches to God. The unholy will not be spurned by God, if they come to him in penitence, relying on his grace in Christ; but his end in receiving them is that he may make them holy, and holiness is the condition of subsequent fellowship (Rom 6:1-23.; 2Co 5:15; Eph 1:4; Eph 6:1-24 :25-27; 1Th 4:3; Tit 2:11-15; Heb 12:14; 1Jn 1:6, 1Jn 1:7).
2. The principle which guards the Divine honour. Thus Martensen defines it” Holiness is the principle that guards the eternal distinction between Creator and creature, between God and man, in the union effected between them: it preserves the Divine dignity and majesty from being infringed upon.” Hence the command to Moses to set bounds to the mountain, that the people might be kept back (Exo 19:12, Exo 19:13). So stringently was this to be enforced, that if a man, or even a beast, should touch the mountain, the trespasser was to be put to death. The statement”When the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount” (Exo 19:13), is probably to be read in the light of Exo 19:17. The lesson taught is that of reverential awe of God. Even when we have the fullest confidence in approaching God as a Father, we ought not to allow ourselves to forget the infinite distance which still exists between him and us. Our service is to be “with reverence and godly fear” (Heb 12:28).
II. GOD‘S DESCENT ON SINAI (Exo 19:16-19). God’s descent on Mount Sinai was in fire (Exo 19:18), and with great terribleness. The scene, as described in these verses, is sufficiently awful. The adjuncts of the descent were
1. A thick cloud upon the mount.
2. Thunders and lightnings.
3. The voice of a trumpet exceeding loud.
4. A fire “burning unto the midst of heaven” (Deu 4:11).
5. Smoke as of a furnacethe result of the action of the fire.
6. The mountain quaking.
This awfulness and terror are the more remarkable when we remember
(1) That what we have here is not God the Judge, arraigning before him trembling and convicted sinners, to pronounce on them sentence of doom; but a God of grace, summoning to his presence a people whom he loves, and has redeemed, and has just declared to be to him a peculiar treasure, above all people.
(2) That the design of this manifestation is to give to Israel a law which shall be the bond of a covenant between him and them, and by which it is intended that they shall order their lives.
The facts to be explained are
(1) That the phenomena alluded to are all of an alarming nature, and
(2) That most of them have a symbolical significance, which enhances the impression of terror. The fire, e.g; is the symbol of holiness. The thick cloud suggests mystery. It tells also of how God must veil his glory from man, if man is not to be consumed by it. The smoke speaks of wrath (Deu 29:20). To the question thus raised, Why all this awfulness and terror? the following answers may be made:
1. Law is the revelation of God‘s holiness. It is the expression of the demand of holiness. This is the one thing it has to do, to declare what are the requirements of holiness, and to enunciate these requirements in the form of commands to be obeyed. But in order that law may serve its ends, it must be given in its proper character as law with all the adjuncts of authority and majesty which rightfully belong to it, and without dilution or weakening of any kind. Time enough, after the law has been given, and the constitution is firmly settled on its bases, to say how grace is to deal with such as fall short of the standard of its requirements. And, as formerly remarked, a revelation of law, at some period or other in the history of God’s dealings with mankind, was plainly necessary
(1) That the full requirements of God’s holiness should be made known. Nothing was to be gained by the establishment of a constitution in which the requirements of holiness should be glozed over, veiled, treated as non-existent, kept out of view. Sooner or later they must be brought to light. The relations of God with men could never be placed upon a satisfactory footing, till the fullest recognition had been accorded to them. If the breach between heaven and earth is to be healedhealed thoroughlyit is not to be by ignoring the claims of holiness, but by recognising them to the utmost, and then “devising means” whereby, in consistency with these claims, God’s “banished” may still not be “expelled from him” (2Sa 14:14). The choice of this time for making the revelation was connected with God’s whole design in the calling of Israel.
(2) That men might have the knowledge of sin. The law must be made known that men may understand the number and extent of their transgressions. The lawgiving at Sinai, therefore, marks a distinct stage in the progress of God’s revelations. The design was to give Israel just impressions of what the law really wasthis law which they were binding themselves to keepto force upon them the conviction of its great awfulness and sanctity. Fitly, therefore, was it promulgated with every circumstance which could arouse the torpid conscience, and give impressiveness and force to the revelation.
2. Most of those to whom the law was given, while outwardly the people of God, and about to take on them the obligations of a solemn covenant, were really unregenerate. This circumstance, which lay in the truth of their relation to God as distinguished from mere profession, was fitly signified by the manner in which the law was given. The law shows by its form that it was not made for a righteous man (1Ti 1:9).
3. For the sin which the law brought to light, no proper expiation was as yet provided. Typical atonements might indeed be offered; but not till the great propitiator came could the guilt be actually removed. God’s forgivenesses, under this first covenant, were not remission proper, but praetermission (Rom 3:25). Christ came “for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament” (Heb 9:15), which, therefore, were standing over unexpiated. This fact, that the law had claims against the sinner, no proper means of discharging which as yet existed, had also its recognition in the manner in which the law was promulgated.
4. The law, in the peculiar way in which it entered into the Sinaitic covenant, was not a saving and blessing power, but, on the contrary, could only condemn. The law, as it entered into the covenant with Israel, could neither justify nor sanctify. It concluded all under sin, and left them there. It proved itself unequal even to the lower task of restraining outward corruptions. Its curb was ineffectual to keep sin in check. It could give commandments written on stone, but had no power to write them on the fleshly tables of the heart (cf. 2Co 3:1-18.).
III. THE RENEWED WARNING (Exo 19:19-25). God, probably by a voice audible to the whole congregation (cf. Exo 19:6), called Moses to the top of the mount. No sooner, however, had he ascended than he was sent back again to renew the warning to the people to keep strictly within their bounds. The reason given was”Lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish lest the Lord break forth upon them” (Exo 19:21, Exo 19:22). The passage teaches,
1. That the heart is naturally disobedient. Even under these most solemn circumstances the Israelites could hardly be restrained. The very prohibition was a provocative to their self-will to transgress the boundary. To gratify this impulse they were disposed to risk the consequences. Had the danger not been very real, Moses would not have been sent back so promptly as he was. Cf. what Paul says on the law”I had not known sin but by the law,” etc. (Rom 7:7-14).
2. That temerity in Divine things exposes the trangressor to severe punishment. Cf. the men of Bethshemesh and the ark (1Sa 6:19), Uzzah, Uzziah, etc.
3. That it is hard even for good men to credit the extent of the rebelliousness of the human heart. Moses thought it extremely unlikely that the people would do what God told him they were just on the point of doing. He relied upon his “bounds,” and on the strict charges he had given them to keep them back (Exo 19:23). Alas! it was soon to be discovered that even stronger bounds than his would not restrain them. One design of the economy of law was to demonstrate the futility of every attempt to restrain wickedness by the system of mere “bounds.” What is needed is not “bounds,” but renewal.
4. God’s near presence is perilous to the sinner.J.O.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Exo 19:9-25
The manifestation of God’s glory at Sinai.
I. THE PURPOSE OF THIS MANIFESTATION. God made this purpose known beforehand; and it was that the people who saw and heard these dreadful phenomena might believe Moses for ever, might permanently acknowledge his authority as a messenger and representative of God. When Moses was at Sinai before and then entrusted with a Divine message to Israel, he urged it as one of his difficulties that Israel would not believe him. “They will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto thee” (Exo 4:1). Now without appeal in any way from Moses, Jehovah provides a sublime demonstration of his presence, which he expressly mentions as being intended to establish the position of Moses. Testimony must always be chosen corresponding with the character and circumstances of those to whom it is presented. There is a time when it will do to change the rod into a serpent; and so there is a time when the same people before whom this was done must be confronted with all the terrors of Sinai. It was a great defect on the part of the people that they had no adequate senseit may almost be said they had no sense at allof the holiness of God. Upon the slightest interference with their self-indulgent desires, they broke out into reproach, almost into rebellion. Therefore, in the very midst of gracious and unfailing providences, they must be made to feel that it is a fearful thing as well as a happy thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He is ever loving and desires our good; but he is also supreme in holiness, and in all our thoughts he must be hallowed as one who, when the need appears, can make most terrible manifestations of his power. We must be alive to God’s presence in the terrible and destructive phenomena of the natural world as much as in those which are gentle, attractive, and pleasing. By the terrors of Sinai he intimated to his people, once for all, that he was a God not to be trifled with, but one who demanded careful and humble attention at all times when he expressed his will.
II. THE PREPARATION FOR IT WHICH HAD TO BE MADE BY THE PEOPLE. The manifestation was not to come at once; the people had to wait for it; but waiting was not all. The waiting indeed was necessary that they might have sufficient opportunity to prepare. Even already it was being signified to them that in external things, and even in such a slight matter as the washing of the clothes, they were to be a holy people. All the defilements gathered by the way, all the dust of the conflict with Amalek had to be washed off; and short of water as they had lately been, God, we may be sure, provided an abundant supply before giving this command. He required his people through certain symbolic actions to enter into a special state of readiness for himself. Then when they were so far ready by what they did to themselves, they must take further special precautions not to enter on the holy ground. As God took from the dwellers of the earth the house of Jacob to be his holy nation, so he took these steeps of Sinai to be a holy place for himself. Evidently all these preparations being of the character they were, must have produced a state of mind full of expectation and suspense. God fixed the very day of this appearing. This is a thing he can do, sure that the reality will not fall short of the popular notion formed beforehand. But there is another great day of the Lord; and the precise point of this in time no man knoweth. It was in mercy that the date of the visitation on Sinai was made known to Israel; it is in equal mercy that the great day of the Lord yet remaining is veiled, as to its date, from us. Those who live as they ought to live, trusting in Christ and knowing the indwelling of the Spirit, are doing that which secures present profit and blessedness, makes meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, and at the same time adequate preparation for the trials of the last great day. There is no way of being ready for them except to live near to God in prayer and faith and faithfulness in little things. Believe in Christ, and show your faith by your works, and then you are ready whatever comes.
III. THE MANIFESTATION ITSELF AND ITS EFFECTS. Precisely how the manifestation was to take place does not seem to have been indicated beforehand; and even as it stands described by all those terrible terms, thunder, lightning, the smoking and the quaking mount, we feel that the reality must far have transcended the power of human speech to describe. It was truly an unspeakable visitation. The word telling us most is that which says that before this visitation all the people trembled. Evidently it had an overwhelming effect upon them. It is made perfectly plain that when God cannot draw men by love, he can hold them fast by fear. If they will not go like invited children in his way, they are shaken nolentes volentes out of their own. Whatever else men may refuse to God, love, worship, service,this at all events is ensured, that they shall be terrified before him. They have no choice. The earth cannot but quake when he sets to work the mighty hidden powers underneath. And so the most atheistic life must acknowledge by its disturbed emotions that there is a power it cannot resist. The boasted discipline and sovereignty of human reason count for nothing then. The earthquake without gets its due result from the quaking heart within. Man may set up his will against God’s will; but that only means that he refuses obedience; he cannot keep God from shaking him to the very foundations of his being. Though the people in a few months left Sinai, yet Sinai in a very important sense followed them. The fire that went out from the Lord and devoured Nadab and Abihuthe fire that burned at Taberah among the complaining people (Num 11:1)the opening earth and the devouring fire at the time of the conspiracy of Korah (Num 16:1-50.)what are all these but proofs of the God of Sinai travelling in all his terror and glory along with Israel and making sharp visitations in the hour of worldliness, unbelief, and negligence? Those trained in idolatry may well become sceptical and end in utter unbelief, for they never see anything in the way of subduing power save the power of knavish priests over superstitious devotees. There are great pretensions and professions, but never anything done corresponding with them. But here as Jehovah begins to specify his requirements, he first of all shows his power in the most impressive way. As an Israelite looked back on Sinai, whatever other feelings he might have, he could not deny the terrible reality that was there. And one very remarkable thing is, that through all this thunder and lightning, smoking and quaking, there was no actual destruction. If there had been such, it would certainly have been recorded. But so far from this being the case, there were special and very earnest directions in order to avert it (Exo 19:12,Exo 19:13, Exo 19:21, Exo 19:24.) So long as they kept outside the Divinely appointed barrier and observed the cleansing regulations, neither life nor property was lost. Sinai, with all its undescribed terrors, was not Vesuvius: the people beneath were not gathered in a doomed Herculaneum or Pompeii. The purpose of Jehovah was simply to manifest the reality, extent, and proximity of his destroying power. Men were made to feel what it could do, if they were so presumptuous or negligent as to come within its rightful exercise.Y.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART
Exo 19:7-25
The revelation of Jehovah.
I. WHAT IS DEMANDED ERE THE REVELATION CAN BE IMPARTED.
1. The will must be surrendered to God, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do” (Exo 19:8).
2. The filthiness of the past must be put away; “Sanctify them” (Exo 19:10). There must be loathing of, and separation from, sin.
3. There must be a sense of the distance sin has put between the soul and God; “Take heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it” (Exo 19:12, Exo 19:13).
II. HOW THE REVELATION IS IMPARTED.
1. In the awful manifestation of his majesty (Exo 19:16-19). The first step is the recognition of the livingness and greatness and holiness of God. Hitherto he has been to the soul a name only; now the Creator, the Holy One, against whom and in whose sight all sin has been wrought, the Righteous Judge from whom there is no escape, from whose face death itself affords no covering.
2. In the glorifying of a Mediator, to whom he speaks, and who shall declare him to us. This is reflected in the Christian’s experience
(1) Sinai, the knowledge of sin;
(2) Calvary, peace through the blood of Jesus, acceptance in the Beloved.U.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Exo 19:10. Sanctify them to-day and to-morrow What is meant by sanctification, i.e. a separating and setting apart to holy uses, has been often explained. And here the context very fully informs us, what was to be the mode of the present sanctification of the Israelites: they were to wash their clothes, externally purifying themselves, as symbolical of internal purification. See Heb 10:22 and Gen 35:2. They were to abstain from their wives, Exo 19:15 in order the better to abstract their minds from all gratifications of the flesh, and to elevate them the more in those holy duties which sanctification implied. Almost all the Eastern nations, as well as the Greeks and Romans, seem to have considered this species of abstinence as a necessary part of purification. It should be remarked, that, to render them the more fit for spiritual intercourse with God, they are enjoined to abstain at given times even from lawful pleasures; a proper hint for those who desire to be united to God, and to excel in holiness. He who desires to gain an absolute dominion over his passions, and to avoid things unlawful, must not proceed to the utmost bounds even of things lawful; but must learn frequently to curb himself in these. From Lev 10:8-9 we learn, that some things were forbidden to the priests, which were allowed to others. Christians are kings and priests unto God. All this ceremony of washing the garments, &c. says Ainsworth, figures out sanctification and purification with the washing of water by the word, Eph 5:26. See Tit 3:5. It is from this precept, that the Jewish doctors deduce their doctrine and usage of baptizing all whom they admit as proselytes to their faith.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
To sanctify, means in this place to set apart. Job did so concerning his sons. Job 1:5 . Washing the clothes, signifying by an outward sign, somewhat intended of an inward effect. Reader! may you and I have that washing spoken of, Tit 3:5-6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 19:10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
Ver. 10. Sanctify them to day and to morrow. ] Men must come before God with the best preparation they can get. He will be sanctified in all them that draw nigh unto him. This the blind heathens saw, and therefore said, O , worship not God by the by, but with all possible preparation. a Hence they had their caena pura before their solemn sacrifices. b Numa nihil rerum sacrarum cives voluit neglectim agere. Hinc solenne illud, Hoc agite. The ministers likewise in the primitive Church prepared the people’s minds by saying Sursum corda, Lift up your hearts; and the deacons used to call upon the people in these words, Oremus, attendamus: Let us pray, let us attend. c
a Plutarch.
b Bucholcer.
c Cyprian., De Oratione. Chrysost. Basil.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sanctify: Exo 19:15, Lev 11:44, Lev 11:45, Jos 3:5, Jos 7:13, 1Sa 16:5, 2Ch 29:5, 2Ch 29:34, 2Ch 30:17-19, Job 1:5, 1Co 6:11
wash: Exo 19:14, Gen 35:2, Lev 11:25, Lev 15:5, Num 8:7, Num 8:21, Num 31:24, Zec 3:3, Zec 3:4, Heb 10:22, Rev 7:14
Reciprocal: Lev 14:8 – wash his Lev 21:8 – sanctify Num 11:18 – Sanctify Num 31:20 – raiment 2Ch 5:11 – sanctified 2Ch 30:15 – and sanctified 2Ch 35:6 – sanctify Neh 12:30 – themselves Psa 76:8 – didst Joe 2:16 – sanctify Joh 11:55 – to purify Act 21:24 – and purify
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 19:10. Sanctify the people As Job 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 Gods 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. 2d, In token of their devoting themselves entirely to religious exercises, upon this occasion they must abstain even from lawful enjoyments during these three days.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and {e} sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
(e) Teach them to be pure in heart, as they show themselves outwardly clean by washing.