Exodus 19:1

1 In the third month of the going of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai; (In the third month of Israel going out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the Sinai Desert;)

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 In the third month of the going of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai; (In the third month of Israel going out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the Sinai Desert;)
2 for they went forth from Rephidim, and came till into the desert of Sinai, and they setted tents in the same place; and there Israel setted tents, even against the hill (and Israel pitched their tents there, opposite the mountain).
3 Forsooth Moses went up into the hill to God; and the Lord called him from the mount, and said, Thou shalt say these things to the house of Jacob, and thou shalt tell to the sons of Israel, (And Moses went up the mountain to meet with God/And Moses went up God's mountain; and the Lord called to him from the mount, and said, Thou shalt say these things to the house of Jacob, and thou shalt tell it to the Israelites,)
4 Ye yourselves have seen what things I have done to [the] Egyptians, how I bare you on the wings of eagles, and took you to me (and brought you here to me).
5 Therefore if ye shall hear my voice, and shall keep my covenant, ye shall be to me into a specialty of all peoples (ye shall be special to me out of all peoples), that is, a thing loved excellently; for all the earth is mine;
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.