Exodus 19:3

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, Jer 31:33; Heb 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.

Exodus 19:3 . Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and Israel — The people are called by the names both of Jacob and Israel, to remind them that they who had 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.

(3) Moses went up unto God — i.e., ascended Sinai, where he expected that God would speak with him. The Lord called unto him out of the mountain.—While he was still on his way, as it would seem, so that he was spared the toil of the ascent. God meets us half-way when we “arise and go” to Him.

Verse 3-9. - THE FIRST COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL. AS Moses, having reached the foot of Sinai, was proceeding to ascend the mountain, where he looked to have special revelations from God, God called to him out of the mountain, and required a positive engagement on the part of the people, before he would condescend to enter into further direct relations with them. If, through gratitude for what had been done for them in the deliverance from Egypt, and since, they would solemnly engage to obey God and keep the covenant that he should make with them (verse 5), then a fresh revelation should be made, and fresh engagements entered into; but not otherwise. Moses communicated the message to the people through the alders, and received the solemn promise, which he carried back to God. "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." Verse 3. - Moses went up unto God . From the time of his call Moses had known that Israel was to serve God upon Sinai ( Exodus 3:12 ), and had regarded either one special peak, or the whole range as "the mount of God" - a place dedicated and set apart to Jehovah. It was natural, therefore, that, so soon as he reached the near vicinity of the mount, he should ascend it. The Lord called to him out of the Mount. God often accepts the will for the deed, and spares his saints a needless toil. Here, as Moses was on his way, God anticipated him, and calling to him out of the mountain sent him back to the people with a message. The house of Jacob .

Moses went up unto God - This seems to imply that the voice was heard by Moses as he was ascending the mount. House of Jacob - This expression does not occur elsewhere in the Pentateuch. It has a special fitness here, referring doubtless to the special promises made to the Patriarch.

3a (E). The mountain is the abode of God (cf. on v. 4): so Moses, immediately upon the Israelites’ arrival at Sinai, naturally goes up it to Him. The original sequel follows in v. 10. 3b–6. Jehovah calls to Moses ‘out of’ (or ‘from’) the mountain—so that he is apparently still below—and tells him of the exalted future which, if Israel will but be obedient, He has in store for it, and of the special relation to Himself in which, upon the same condition, it is His intention to place it. The words are (McNeile) ‘a very beautiful expression of God’s relations with His people, written by a religious thinker of the Deuteronomic school’; and (Di.) ‘the locus classicus of the OT. on the nature and aim of the theocratic covenant: they have, that least at the beginning, an elevated, poetical form; and the rhythmical articulation of v. 3b explains the expression “house of Jacob,” which occurs nowhere else in the Pent.’ 3 . Thus shalt thou say ] Exodus 3:14-15 , Exodus 20:22 . the house of Jacob ] Isaiah 2:5-6 ; Isaiah 8:17 ; Isaiah 10:20 , &c. ‘Jacob,’ as a poet. synonym of ‘Israel,’ occurs also often besides in the prophets; in the Pent., only in Genesis 49:7 , Numbers 23:7 ; Numbers 23:10 ; Numbers 23:21 ; Numbers 23:23 ; Numbers 24:5 ; Numbers 24:17 ; Numbers 24:19 , Deuteronomy 33:4 ; Deuteronomy 33:10 ; Deuteronomy 33:28 . 3.

3-6. Moses went up unto God—the Shekinah—within the cloud (Ex 33:20; Joh 1:18). Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, &c.—The object for which Moses went up was to receive and convey to the people the message contained in these verses, and the purport of which was a general announcement of the terms on which God was to take the Israelites into a close and peculiar relation to Himself. In thus negotiating between God and His people, the highest post of duty which any mortal man was ever called to occupy, Moses was still but a servant. The only Mediator is Jesus Christ [1Ti 2:5; Heb 12:24].