Exodus 19 Footnotes

19:2 Although scholars do not agree on the location of Mount Sinai, this is no reason to conclude that the events said to have taken place there never occurred. While the Bible records the names of many places where the Israelites stayed in the desert following their exodus from Egypt, those places are notoriously hard to identify. They camped only in tents or temporary shelters during their years in the wilderness, and there is no record that they built roads, permanent structures, or prepared fields for agricultural purposes. The mention of an oasis with twelve springs (15:27), while helpful, does not provide definitive information about which route the Israelites took to reach Mount Sinai. Thus scholars have suggested various sites in the northern, central, and southern portions of the Sinai Desert as well as at least one site in western Saudi Arabia.

19:11,18 Was the law given at Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb (Dt 4:10-13)? Horeb and Sinai are two names for the same location. Early in the book of Exodus the Lord appeared to Moses at Horeb and promised him that the Israelites would worship God on that mountain (3:1-12). That promise was fulfilled in chap. 19 when Israel came to Mount Sinai. Perhaps Horeb and Sinai were names given to the same site by different people groups. Numerous other locations mentioned in the Bible were known by more than one name (see Gn 28:19; 31:47; Jos 15:9-10,13,25,49,54,60).

19:22 Since God had not yet established a priesthood for Israel (see 28:1), the priests mentioned here were probably those who would later become the Levitical priests. The priestly role of offering sacrifice was not limited to men specifically set apart as priests. Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all acted as priests during their days. Israelites living after the time of Jacob may also have acted as priests on behalf of their families. Moses had previously told Pharaoh the Israelites were commanded to offer sacrifices (5:3; 8:27; 10:25), indicating that he knew some of his countrymen were authorized to perform priestly rituals at that time. Such action would be permissible until the family line of Levi, especially the line of Aaron, was officially designated for priestly service (28:1; Nm 3:6).