Exodus 19:2

Exo 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.

Ver. 2. For they were departed.] {See Trapp on "Exo 18:5"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19:2 The arrival at Sinai was a fulfillment of the promise made earlier to Moses at this same spot (3:12).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

were come to the desert of Sinai--The desert has its provinces, or divisions, distinguished by a variety of names; and the "desert of Sinai" is that wild and desolate region which occupies the very center of the peninsula, comprising the lofty range to which the mount of God belongs. It is a wilderness of shaggy rocks of porphyry and red granite, and of valleys for the most part bare of verdure.

and there Israel camped before the mount--Sinai, so called from Seneh, or acacia bush. It is now called Jebel Musa. Their way into the interior of the gigantic cluster was by Wady Feiran, which would lead the bulk of the hosts with their flocks and herds into the high valleys of Jebel Musa, with their abundant springs, especially into the great thoroughfare of the desert--the longest, widest, and most continuous of all the valleys, the Wady-es-Sheikh, while many would be scattered among the adjacent valleys; so that thus secluded from the world in a wild and sublime amphitheatre of rocks, they "camped before the mount." "In this valley--a long flat valley--about a quarter of a mile in breadth, winding northwards, Israel would find ample room for their encampment. Of all the wadys in that region, it seems the most suitable for a prolonged sojourn. The 'goodly tents' of Israel could spread themselves without limit" [BONAR].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

XIX.

THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD TO THE PEOPLE ON MOUNT SINAI.

(2) They were departed from Rephidim.—If Rephidim was where we have placed it, in the Wady Feiran, the march to “the wilderness of Sinai” (Er Rahah) must have been by the Wady Solaf, or the Wady esh Sheikh, or possibly by both. The distance by Wady Solaf is about eighteen, by Wady esh Sheikh about twenty-five miles. The wilderness of Sinai, now generally identified with Er Rahah, is a plain two miles long by half a mile wide, “enclosed between two precipitous mountain ranges of black and yellow granite, and having at its end the prodigious mountain block of Ras Sufsafeh” (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 74). It is nearly fiat, and covered at present with stunted tamarisk bushes. “No spot in the whole peninsula is so well supplied with water” (Our Work in Palestine, p. 268).

Israel camped before the mount.—On the capacity of the plain Er Rahah to receive the entire multitude, see Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, p. 42), and comp. The comment on Exo_12:37-41. The Ras Sufsafeh is visible from every part of the plain.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2b. camped] The Heb. is the same as ‘pitched,’ just before. Major Palmer’s argument, founded on the supposed difference between the two expressions (Sinai, p. 201, ed. 2, 1906, p. 209), thus falls to the ground.

2. The covenant of Exo_34:10; Exo_34:27-28 (see p. 364 f.), concluded with Israel on the basis of the laws contained in Exo_34:14; Exo_34:17-26.

In E:—1. The covenant of Exo_24:7-8, concluded with Israel on the basis of the ‘Book of the Covenant’ (Exo_20:22 to Exo_23:33). The same covenant is also referred to in Exo_19:5 (compiler of JE).

In Dt.:—1. The covenant with the patriarchs, Exo_4:31, Exo_7:12, Exo_8:18.

2. The covenant concluded with Israel at Horeb on the basis of the Decalogue, Deu_4:13; Deu_4:23; Deu_5:2-3; Deu_7:9; Deu_29:1 b (hence the Deut. expression, ‘the tables, and ark, of the covenant,’ Deu_9:9; Deu_9:11; Deu_9:15, Deu_10:8, Deu_31:9; Deu_31:25-26, Jos_8:33 D[161]: in Num_10:33; Num_14:44 J, ‘the covenant of’ is probably an addition made by one familiar with the Deut. phraseology; cf. often in Joshua 3, 4, Jos_6:6; Jos_6:8). The terms of this covenant are stated in Deu_26:17 f. Dt. is silent as to any covenant made at Horeb, and based on the ‘Book of the Covenant.’

[161] Deuteronomic passages in Josh., Jud., Kings.

2. The covenant made with Abraham and his seed, Gen_17:2; Gen_17:4; Gen_17:7; Gen_17:9-10; with Isaac and his seed, vv. 19, 21; with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Exo_2:24; Exo_6:4 (see the note), 5.

See also (in H) Lev_26:9; Lev_26:15; Lev_26:42; Lev_26:44-45; and (in P) Exo_31:16 (of the sabbath), Lev_2:13; Lev_24:8 (of the shewbread), Num_18:19 (of the priestly dues), Exo_25:12 f. (with Phinehas).

In P, as was remarked on Exo_19:5, God confirms a former covenant by bringing His people out of Egypt, and He gives Israel a body of ceremonial regulations at Sinai; but there is not in P any mention of a covenant made by Him with Israel at Sinai. See further A. B. Davidson’s art. Covenant in DB.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For they were departed from Rephidim,.... After they had fought with Amalek, and came to the western part of the mount to Horeb, where the rock was smitten for them; and they were come from that now, and encamped at Sinai, after Jethro had paid a visit to Moses:

and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in this wilderness; that is, of Sinai, as in the preceding verse:

and there Israel encamped before the mount; Mount Sinai, from whence the desert or wilderness was called. This, as Jarchi says, was on the east side of the mount; Horeb and Sinai were but one and the same mountain, which had two tops. Horeb was on the western side, near to which lay the plain of Rephidim; and Sinai was on the eastern side, on which the wilderness of that name bordered: so that the children of Israel, when they came from Rephidim, came from the western side, and took a circuit about and came to the eastern; which, according to a fore mentioned writer, was eight miles, and was the twelfth station or mansion of the children of Israel. This number twelve is taken notice of by some, as having something singular and peculiar in it; there were the twelve tribes of Israel, and at their twelfth mansion the law was given them; Christ had twelve apostles, and there are twelve foundations of the new Jerusalem, and 12,000 were sealed out of every tribe of Israel.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To the desert of Sinai, i.e. to that part of the desert which adjoined to Mount Sinai, as Rephidim, from whence they came, was in that part of the wilderness adjoining to Horeb, which was another part of the same mountain. See Exo 17:6. So they seem to have fetched a large compass, and to have come from one side of the mountain to the other.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. For they were departed from Rephidim — Rather, And they departed from Rephidim. This verse is but a fuller statement of what was said in the preceding verse, omitting, however, the mention of time and date. The emphasis is on the fact that there, in the solemn and sublime amphitheatre among the mountains, and before the mount which was to be forever consecrated in the history of the chosen people, Israel camped. The word here rendered pitched and camped is one and the same in Hebrew, (חנה.) In front of the sacred mountain the people now settled down to receive revelations from Him who had declared himself from the burning bush, I AM THAT I AM. Exo_3:14. We need not suppose that the entire body of people who came out of Egypt with Moses actually encamped and remained for a year in this one place. Probably only the heads of the nation, “the elders of the people,” (Exo_19:7,) and the leading families remained permanently in this place of encampment. The rest would naturally be distributed through the various adjacent valleys and plains, wherever the best pasturage for their numerous flocks could be found. According to Exo_34:3, the flocks and herds were not permitted to feed before the mount. It is a carping and unworthy criticism that makes difficulties in the Scripture narrative by assuming as recorded fact things on which the sacred writers are silent. But for incidental allusions, like those of Exo_3:1, and Gen_37:17, no one would have supposed that either Moses or the sons of Jacob went off scores of miles from home to pasture their flocks. We need to keep in mind that such terms as “all Israel,” “all the land,” “all the world,” and even “all the high hills that were under the whole heaven,” (Gen_7:19, where see note, and also on page 123,) need not to be taken in their extreme literal import.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They were departed from Rephidim. See the comment on Exo_17:1, and compare Num_33:15. There Israel en-camped before the mountain. The bulk of the tents were no doubt pitched in the plain, Er-Rahah; but this may not have sufficed, and some may have been located in the Wady-ed-Deir, north-east of the Ras Sufsafeh, and others in the Seil-Leja to the west. The Ras Sufsafeh is visible from both these valleys.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ויסעו מרפידים AND THEY JOURNEYED FROM REPHIDIM — What does Scripture teach us by again expressly stating from where they set forth on the journey, for is it not already written (Exodus 17:1) that they had encamped at Rephidim and it is therefore evident that they set forth from there?! But Scripture repeats it in order to make a comparison with the character of their journey from Rephidim to that of their arrival in the wilderness of Sinai! How was it in the case of their arrival in the wilderness of Sinai? They were in a state of penitence (as shown by the unanimity with which they encamped before the mountain: cf. Rashi on the end of this verse)! Thus, too, their setting forth from Rephidim was in a state of repentance for the sin they had committed there (see Exodus 17:2) (Mekhilta).

ויחן שם ישראל AND THERE ISRAEL ENCAMPED as one man and with one mind — but all their other encampments were made in a murmuring spirit and in a spirit of dissension (Mekhilta).

נגד ההר BEFORE THE MOUNTAIN — i. e. at its east side (Mekhilta), for wherever you find the word נגד referring to a locality it signifies with the face towards the east of the place mentioned.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.