Exodus 19:6

Exo 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These [are] the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Ver. 6. A kingdom of priests.] A holy state, such as shall be all satiated with fatness. {Jer 31:14} {See Trapp on "1Pe 2:9"} {See Trapp on "Rev 1:6"}

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.

Exo 19:6. A kingdom of priests, a holy nation — All the Israelites, if compared with other people, were priests unto God, so near were they to him, so much employed in his immediate service, and such intimate communion they had with him. The tendency of the laws given them was to distinguish them from others, and engage them for God as a holy nation. Thus all believers are, through Christ, made to our God kings and priests, (Rev 1:6,) “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,” 1Pe 2:9.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests--As the priestly order was set apart from the common mass, so the Israelites, compared with other people, were to sustain the same near relation to God; a community of spiritual sovreigns.

an holy nation--set apart to preserve the knowledge and worship of God.

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

Verse 6. And a holy nation.] They should be a nation, one people; firmly united among themselves, living under their own laws; and powerful, because united, and acting under the direction and blessing of God. They should be a holy nation, saved from their sins, righteous in their conduct, holy in their hearts; every external rite being not only a significant ceremony, but also a means of conveying light and life, grace and peace, to every person who conscientiously used it. Thus they should be both a kingdom, having God for their governor; and a nation, a multitude of peoples connected together; not a scattered, disordered, and disorganized people, but a royal nation, using their own rites, living under their own laws, subject in religious matters only to God, and in things civil, to every ordinance of man for God's sake.

This was the spirit and design of this wonderful institution, which could not receive its perfection but under the Gospel, and has its full accomplishment in every member of the mystical body of Christ.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(6) A kingdom of priests.—All of them both “kings and priests unto God”—kings as lords over themselves, equals one to another, owing allegiance to God only—priests, as entitled to draw near to God in prayer without an intermediary, to bring Him their offerings, pay Him their vows, and hold communion with Him in heart and soul. The same privileges are declared by St. Peter (1Pe_2:9) and St. John (Rev_1:6) to belong to all Christians, who in this respect, as in so many others, are now “the Israel of God” (Gal_6:16).

An holy nation.—It is not the duty of personal, but the privilege of official, holiness that is here intended. Each Israelite was to be as near to God, as fully entitled to approach Him, as the priests of other nations either were or thought themselves. Personal holiness was the natural and fitting outcome from this official holiness; but it is not here spoken of. God has, however, previously required it of Israel by the words “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant” (Exo_19:5).

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

6. And ye (emph.)] in contrast to the other nations.

a kingdom of priests] i.e. a kingdom whose citizens are all priests, living wholly in God’s service, and ever enjoying the right of access to Him. Comp., of the ideal future, Isa_61:6; and in the NT., of Christians, 1Pe_2:5; 1Pe_2:9, Rev_1:6; Rev_5:10; Rev_20:6.

an holy nation] separated from other nations, and holy to Jehovah. The expression implies not a promised privilege only, but also a duty: Israel, enjoying this privilege, is also (as is developed more fully in Dt.) under the obligation to make it a reality, to keep itself free from everything heathen, and fulfil the ideal of a holy nation upon earth. The expression is taken up in Dt. in the form ‘a holy people,’ Deu_7:6; Deu_14:2; Deu_14:21; Deu_26:19; cf. Isa_62:12 (the ideal of the future), 1Pe_2:9.

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.

And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests,.... Instead of being in a state of servitude and bondage, as they had been in Egypt, they should be erected into a kingdom, become a body politic, a free state, a commonwealth governed by its own laws, and those laws of God's making; yea, they should be a kingdom to him, and he be more immediately the king of them, as he was not of others, the government of Israel being a Theocracy; and this kingdom should consist of men that were priests, who had access to God, served him, and offered sacrifice to him; or of men greatly esteemed and honoured, as priests were in those times. Jarchi interprets it, a kingdom of princes, as the word sometimes signifies: the subjects of this kingdom were princes, men of a princely spirit, and these princes, like those of the king of Babylon, who boasted they were altogether kings; and like the Roman senators, of whom the ambassador of Pyrrhus said, that he saw at Rome as many kings as he saw senators. And so here all the Targums render it, "kings and priests": to which reference seems to be had not only in Pe1 2:9 but in Rev 1:6, they were kings when they got the victory, as in the times of Joshua, over the several kings of Canaan, and had their kingdoms divided among them; and before the priesthood was settled in the family of Aaron, every head of a family in Israel was a priest; and they were all priests at the passover, as Philo (i) observes: and so the spiritual Israel of God are kings and priests; they are kings, having the power and riches of kings; having got through Christ the victory over sin, Satan, and the world; and being possessed of the kingdom of grace, and heirs of the kingdom of glory; and priests, being allowed to draw nigh to God, to present themselves, souls and bodies, a holy and living sacrifice, to offer to him the sacrifices of prayer and praise through Christ, by whom they become acceptable to him: "and an holy nation"; being separated from all others, and devoted to the worship and service of God, having holy laws, and holy ordinances, and a holy service, and a holy place to perform it in, and holy persons to attend unto it, as they afterwards had. In allusion to this, the spiritual Israel, or people of God, are also called so, Pe1 2:9 being chosen unto holiness, redeemed from all iniquity, called with an holy calling, sanctified by the blood of Christ, and made holy by the Spirit of God, and under the influence of his grace live holy lives and conversations:

these are the words thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel: what he would have them do, and they were bound to do in a way of duty to him, and what he in a way of grace would do for them, and they should be unto him,

(i) De Vita Mosis, l. 3. p. 686.

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

A kingdom of priests - Israel collectively is a royal and priestly race: a dynasty of priests, each true member uniting in himself the attributes of a king and priest. Compare 1Pe 2:5; Rev 1:6.

An holy nation - The holiness of Israel consisted in its special consecration to God: it was a sacred nation, sacred by adoption, by covenant, and by participation in all means of grace. Compare Deu 7:6; Deu 26:19; Deu 28:9; 1Co 3:17; 1Th 5:27.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Priestly kingdom. "Priests and kings," Chaldean. You shall rule over the Chanaanites, &c., and you shall offer sacrifice to me, at least, by slaying the paschal lamb. This kingdom shall not be merely of a civil nature; it shall be also sacred. The whole nation shall be holy, separated from the pagans, and consecrated to me. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A kingdom of priests; so they are called in regard,

1. Of their exemption and separation from all the people of the world, as priests are taken out of the multitude of men.

2. Of their consecration to the worship and service of God, every subject of this kingdom being in some sort a priest to offer some kind of sacrifices to God,

3. Of their privileges, because God conferred upon them singular honour, safety, and immunity, and liberty of coming near to him, as priests among all nations have been esteemed privileged persons. An holy nation, purged from the idolatry and other abominations of the heathen world, and separated from them by a avail of partition; allied to me by a holy covenant, and consecrated to my use and service.

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

6. A kingdom of priests — The Septuagint renders, a royal priesthood, and the Vulgate, a sacerdotal kingdom, and both these ideas seem to inhere in the phrase. Jehovah proposes to make his chosen people a royal and priestly race. They will be royal, or regal, in character, because sons of the living God, and conceived as reigning with him; they will be priestly, because, like a dynasty of priests, they will be the representatives and teachers of religion. To fulfil this lofty destiny it was necessary that they also be a holy nation, pure and clean in character and life; not merely set apart, or consecrated to God, but also cleansed from all moral pollution.

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

Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests. Or "a royalty of priests at once a royal and a priestly race all of you at once both priests and kings. (So the LXX render, basileion iJerateuma; the Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem, "kings and priests;" that of Jonathan, "crowned kings and ministering priests.") They would be "kings," not only as "lords over death, the devil, hell, and all evil" (Luther), but also partly as having no earthly king set over them, but designed to live under a theocracy, (1Sa_12:12) and partly as intended to exercise lordship over the heathen. Their unfaithfulness and disobedience soon forfeited both privileges. They would be "priests," as entitled each one of them to draw near to God directly in prayer and praise, though not in sacrifice, and also as intermediaries between God and the heathen world, to whom they were to be examples, instructors, prophets. And an holy nation. A nation unlike other nations a nation consecrated to God"s service, outwardly marked as his by the symbol of circumcision, his (if they chose) inwardly by the purity and holiness whereto they could attain. These are the words. Much speaking was not needed. The question was a very simple one. Would they accept the covenant or no, upon the conditions offered? It was not likely that they would reject such gracious proposals.

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

A kingdom of priests, a holy nation - All the Israelites, if compared with other people, were priests unto God, so near were they to him, so much employed in his immediate service, and such intimate communion they had with him. The tendency of the laws given them was to distinguish them from others, and engage them for God as a holy nation. Thus all believers are, through Christ, made to our God kings and priests, Rev. i, 6, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 1 Pet. ii, 9.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים AND YE SHALL BE UNTO ME A KINGDOM OF כהנים — i. e. princes, just as you say, (II Samuel 8:18) “And the sons of David were princes (כהנים)”, which cannot denote priests since his sons were of the tribe of Judah and not of Levi, the priestly tribe.

אלה הדברים THESE ARE THE WORDS — these neither fewer nor more (Mekhilta).

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.

A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS. This means that you shall be a kingdom of My servants.

AND A HOLY NATION. I.e., to cleave unto the Holy G-d, just as He said, Ye shall be holy, for I the Eternal your G-d am Holy. Thus He has assured them [of life] in this world and in the World to Come., Note 346.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.