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.”
This is a typological
picture of conversion, for three is the biblical number of
resurrection, and every believer has been raised up out of a state of
spiritual death into one of eternal life. A month, the twelfth part of a
year, is associated with those who are under God’s government, e.g. the
twelve tribes of Israel, and the Church built upon the foundation of the
doctrine of the twelve apostles, His regime being related to the number
ten, as expressed in the Ten Commandments.
Since Egypt is a type of
the world in its impudent rebellion against God, Israel’s leaving Egypt is
the symbolic portrayal of the fact that conversion takes the believer out of
the realm of rebellion into one of obedience to God, the submission being
the uncompelled expression of love and gratitude for deliverance from
bondage to Satan, sin and death.
Their coming on that same
day “into the wilderness of Sinai” adds yet another brush stroke to the
symbolic canvas, for Sinai means my thorns, which are the evidence of
the earth’s cursed state, see Genesis 3:17-18. The spiritual lesson here is
that while the believer is no longer of the world, he is still in
it. The world of business and pleasure in which he dwelt in his unsaved
state, and in which he is now a pilgrim and stranger passing through on his
way home to heaven, has become instead a spiritual wilderness languishing
under the curse of a holy God.
19:2. “For
they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and
had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.”
The location of Rephidim,
meaning supports: shrinking of hands, is uncertain, but thought to
have been in the center of the Sinai Peninsula about sixty-five miles from
its southern tip. The “mount” was Mount Sinai, and according to The
Bible Knowledge Commentary “is the same as the mountain of God (cf, 3:1;
4:27; 18:5; 24:13), also called Horeb, where God appeared to Moses in a
burning bush.”
The meaning Rephidim
supports: shrinking of hands suggests that the believer is not long
embarked on his journey to heaven until he becomes acutely aware of his own
weakness as portrayed in the meaning of Rephidim shrinking of hands,
and his urgent need of divine support. His assurance of that support
however, is clearly announced in Deuteronomy 33:27 “The eternal God is thy
refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the
enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them,” and again in the NT,
“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,” Hebrews 13:5, and again, “Lo, I
am with you always, even unto the end of the world (age),” Matthew 28:20.
The Canaanites were the
enemy Israel was to destroy. They represent the evil hosts of Satan
described in Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
19:3.
“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;”
A lesson taught in Moses’
going up to the mountain unto God is that if we would enjoy communion with
Him we too must go “up to the mountain,” i.e., we must have a quiet place
removed from the distractions of the world, where we can commune with Him in
prayer, and He with us through His Word, as we attune our ears to hear His
reassurances relative to every care, from the greatest to the least, not in
the hearing of a literal voice, but in reading what is recorded in
Scripture.
As to why He described the
people as “the house of Jacob” and also as “the children of Israel,” the
reason is clear. Jacob and Israel were one and the same person, Jacob
meaning supplanter, but Israel he shall be prince of God: God
commands. Jacob refers to that part of him which was sensual, earthy,
natural, while the name Israel is associated with what he was spiritually, a
man who possessed spiritual life. Every believer is a similar compound
creature. His receiving a new life and nature at the moment of conversion
doesn’t annihilate the old life and nature inherited from Adam. The new
nature dwells in him side by side with the old nature, but there is
unceasing enmity between the two, as it is written, “For the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary
the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,”
Galatians 5:17.
As the true Israel
consisted of a small believing remnant within the apostate mass of the
nation so is the professing church similarly divided: there is a small
believing remnant, the true Church, within the professing but unbelieving
majority which calls itself the church, but isn’t.
19:4. “Ye have
seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and
brought you unto myself.”
Israel had seen the
Egyptians destroyed in the same waters through which God had brought His own
redeemed people in safety, thus separating them for ever from Egyptian
thralldom. It is easy to see in that passage through the divided waters a
foreshadowing of believers’ baptism, for in submitting to that ordinance we
are testifying symbolically that in Christ crucified we have also died
vicariously, and in emerging from those waters we are declaring that in Him
resurrected we also have been raised up out of spiritual death, never to die
again, as declared by Paul in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me.”
As noted already, we are
still in this world, of which Egypt is a type, but we are no longer
of it: our citizenship is in heaven.
The reference to “eagles’
wings” is a metaphoric allusion to God’s omnipotence. And we should note
also that at conversion we weren’t brought to a place but to a Person, to
God Himself, the hymnist’s description of our position being accurately
declared in the words:
Near, so very near to God,
Nearer I cannot be,
For in the person of His
Son,
I am as near as He.
19:5. “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.”
If we would enjoy to the
full the relationship with God into which faith in Christ brings us, it is
imperative that we obey Him. The covenant was the agreement, contract,
compact into which the people had entered with Him, the terms of that
contract being that their obedience would ensure blessing: their
disobedience, chastisement. The same conditions govern our relationship
with Him during this present Church age.
The word “peculiar” in the
present context means prized, special, mine own, My own little flock.
In the words “for all the earth is mine,” He was reminding them that of all
the people on earth they were unique. No others enjoyed the same
relationship with Him. We who comprise the Church enjoy a similar
relationship with Him today, the distinction being that they Israel were and
always will be His earthly people, but we, His spiritual heritage.
19:6. “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.”
Since the principal work
of the priests was to offer sacrifice to God, Israel’s being called “a
kingdom of priests” is synonymous with the fact that they were to offer the
continual sacrifice of obedient lives, God Himself having declared that, “to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams,” 1
Samuel 15:22. The Lord also equated love with obedience, saying, “If ye
love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15, and again, “He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me,” John 14:21.
They were to be also “an
holy nation,” i.e., they were to be morally pure; but since this was
impossible of attainment by any member of Adam’s fallen race, the Lord had
graciously instituted a system of sacrifice whereby through the vicarious
death of a designated substitutionary animal or bird, the sin could be
expiated, the substitute being a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who by His
sacrificial death has made full atonement for the sins of all who trust Him
as Savior.
In contrast with
verse 3, where the nation is called both Jacob
and Israel (see comments on that verse), here the name Israel alone is used,
for only those who were believers could be designated as Israel, meaning
he shall be prince of God, in contrast with Jacob, meaning supplanter,
which has an evil connotation.
19:7. “And
Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their
faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.”
As God’s government of
Israel was through appointed elders so also is His administration of the
Church, see 1 Corinthians 12:28 “And God hath set some in the church, first
apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then
gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues,” elders being
those through whom the government of the local churches is exercised, they
being endowed by God with the special ability to exercise that ministry.
19:8. “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.”
Unaware of their own
inability, and in the self-confidence of that ignorance, they promised to do
the impossible, for not even believers are able to keep God’s holy law; nor
was it ever given as a means of life, but rather to show man his desperate
need of a Savior.
19:9. “And the
Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people
may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told
the words of the people unto the Lord.”
God’s veiling Himself in
“a thick cloud” was to preserve the people from death, He Himself warning
even Moses, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and
live,” Exodus 33:20. One of the privileges reserved for the redeemed in the
eternal state is that they will be permitted to behold His face, as it is
written, “And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their
foreheads,” Revelation 22:4.
“... believe thee for
ever” is also rendered believe in thee to the age: obey thee without
question henceforward: they may always have faith in you: that in thee they
may trust to times age-abiding.
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,”
“... sanctify them” means
prepare themselves: rid themselves of defilement: stay pure: go through a
period of consecration.”
Relative to washing their
clothes, garments are to the body what habits are to the life, and the
believer’s lifestyle should be such as will confirm his profession that he
is a child of God.
19:11. “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.”
Since three is the
biblical number of resurrection, the truth being symbolically declared here
is of the need for believers to live in anticipation of the resurrection of
life, i.e., the instant when the Lord will descend from heaven to raise the
believing dead of all the ages, and catch them up to heaven, together with
their brethren still living at that instant, as it is written, “Behold, I
shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet
shall sound, and the (believing) dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed,” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. And it is written further, “For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise
first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
19:12. “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:”
This proscription sounds
the warning that man in his natural fallen state is unfit for the presence
of a Holy God, hence the twice-repeated warning given by the Lord in John
3:3 and 7, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God
.... Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
The man who would have
dared even to touch that mountain represents the man who dies unsaved, and
who therefore must also die the second death, i.e., endure the eternal
torment of the unquenchable flame of the lake of fire, see Revelation
20:14-15, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire.”
19:13. “There
shall not a 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.”
This continues to
emphasize the deadly consequences of even touching the mountain until the
sounding of a long blast on the ram’s horn trumpet. That invitational
trumpet blast is clearly a type of the one that will sound when the Lord
returns to end the Tribulation and inaugurate His glorious millennial
kingdom, see Matthew 24:31, “And he shall send his angels with a great sound
of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds,
from one end of the heaven to the other,” Matthew 24:31.
A gospel application
however, may also be made, for the spiritual equivalent of that trumpet
blast is the gospel which invites sinners to “come up to the mountain,”
i.e., to come up out of the valley of death to the mountain of life through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
19:14. “And
Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people;
and they washed their clothes.”
To sanctify is to make
holy, consecrate, set apart; and since garments are to the body what habits
are to the life, the washing of their clothes is the metaphoric description
of their having amended their life styles. A profession of faith
unaccompanied by a transformed life is worthless.
19:15. “And he
said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your
wives.”
As discussed already, the
third day speaks of resurrection, and the truth being announced here is that
spiritual matters are to be given precedence over temporal.
19:16. “And it
came to pass in 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.”
The typological picture
continues to be of the day of resurrection relative to which the Lord has
declared, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that
are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: they that have
done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto
the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28-29.
Revelation 20:5 however,
informs us that these two resurrections are a thousand years apart, “But the
rest of the dead (the unbelievers) lived not again until the thousand years
were finished.” In regard to the good that fits one for the resurrection of
life, it is to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, and has nothing to
do with the believers’ good works, which will be recompensed at the Bema.
The loud sounding of the
trumpet here is that spoken of in verse 13, the solemnity of that day being
emphasized in the phenomena which accompanied it; and a thought to be
pondered is that if the judgment of believers, to assess the measure of
their rewards, is fraught with such awesome circumstances, what will it be
like at the great white throne where the judgment will be of the
unbelievers’ sins, and the assignment of commensurate punishment to be
endured eternally in the dreadful lake of fire!
19:17. “And
Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they
stood at the nether part (the foot) of the mount.”
19:18. “And
mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in
fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the
whole mount quaked greatly.”
In Hebrews 12:29 God is
described as “a consuming fire,” and surely it is significant that that is
the character in which He appeared here at Sinai, which we have already seen
to be a type of this present evil world languishing under His curse,
see comments on 19:1. There could be no more
dramatic portrait of the ultimate fate of this world, and only spiritually
blind eyes will fail to see in this burning of mount Sinai a foreshadowing
of that end as described in 2 Peter 3:10-12, “But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with
a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also
and the works that are therein shall be burned up.... the day of God,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat.”
19:19. “And
when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder,
Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.”
19:20. “And
the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord
called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.”
This was the moment
foretold in verse 13, “... when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come
up to the mount.” The preceding activity however, had so terrified the
people that they feared to
go up, so that only Moses,
as their representative, went up.
19:21. “And
the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break
through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.”
In 1 John 4:12 it is
written, “No man has seen God at any time,” and in Exodus 33:20 God told
Moses, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and
live.”
Such is the effulgence of
the Divine glory that man in his natural state would be destroyed by seeing
it; but one of the blessings promised believers is that in heaven they
“shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads,” Revelation
22:4. God will not permit the eternal recompense of obedient faith to be
demeaned by granting it to gratify the idle curiosity of unbelief.
19:22. “And
let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest
the Lord break forth upon them.”
To sanctify is to set
apart for a special holy purpose. Even the ministering priests were to keep
themselves pure, otherwise God would destroy them; and the same principle
applies today. Believers are “... a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a
peculiar people,” 1 Peter 2:9, and are commanded relative to the Lord’s
Supper, “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the
Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let
a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that
cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many
are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die). For if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world,” 1
Corinthians 11:27-32.
19:23. “And
Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou
chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.”
Moses, unaware of the
total rebellion in the human heart, referred to the boundaries God had
ordered to be set up, as though they were sufficient to ensure the
compliance of the people. God knew better, as declared in Jeremiah 17:9,
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can
know it?
19:24. “And
the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou,
and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to
come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them.”
With the command to ensure
that the boundaries had been set up, Moses was then invited to return to the
mountain with his brother Aaron, to receive further communications from God.
19:25. “So
Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.”
Moses returned to the
people to tell them all that God had commanded him. We would do well to
emulate him relative to all that God commands us as He talks with us through
our study of His Word.