Exodus 19:1

1 The people of Israel left Rephidim, and on the first day of the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. There they set up camp at the foot of Mount Sinai,

Exodus 19:1 Meaning and Commentary

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 wilderness of Sinai;
which had its name from the mountain situated in it, and that from the bushes which grew upon it. Justin F26 calls it Synan, which he says Moses occupied, and Strabo F1, Sinnan. Hither they came either on the same day they came from Rephidim; which, according to Bunting F2, were eight miles from it, or on the same day of the month, as to number, that is, on the third day of the third month; and so Jerom F3 and others say it was on the forty seventh day after their coming out of Egypt, three days after which they received the law on Mount Sinai, it being a generally received notion that the law was given fifty days after the passover; hence the feast of weeks is called from thence the feast of pentecost, or fifty days: or rather this was the first day of the month, as Jarchi and R. Moses; with which agrees the Targum of Jonathan; and so was the forty fifth of their coming out of Egypt, five days after which they received the law; it being a tradition with the Jews, as Aben Ezra observes, that that was given on the sixth of Sivan, and may be accounted for thus; on the first day they came to Sinai, and encamped there, on the day following Moses went up to God, ( Exodus 19:3 ) , on the third day Moses gathered the elders together, ( Exodus 19:7 ) , and declared to them the words of God, and on the third day after that, which was the sixth, the law was delivered to them.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 E Trogo, l. 36. c. 2.
F1 Geograph. l. 16. p. 520.
F2 Travels, p. 82.
F3 Epist. Fabiolae de 42 mansion. fol. 15. c. 1. tom. 3.

Exodus 19:1 In-Context

1 The people of Israel left Rephidim, and on the first day of the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. There they set up camp at the foot of Mount Sinai,
3 and Moses went up the mountain to meet with God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and told him to say to the Israelites, Jacob's descendants:
4 "You saw what I, the Lord, did to the Egyptians and how I carried you as an eagle carries her young on her wings, and brought you here to me.
5 Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people,
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.