Exodus 19:5

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) A peculiar treasure.—The Hebrew sĕgullah is from a root, found in Chaldee, signifying “to earn,” or “acquire,” and means primarily some valuable possession, which the owner has got by his own exertions. (Comp. 1Chronicles 29:3, where the English Version translates it by “mine own proper good.”) God views the Israelites as made His own by the long series of mighty works done for their deliverance, whereby He is sometimes said to have “redeemed” (Exodus 6:6; Exodus 15:13), or “purchased” them (Exodus 15:16). The word sĕgullah is here used for the first time. Later it be comes an epitheton usitatum of Israel. (See Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18; Psalm 135:4; Malachi 3:17; and comp. also Titus 2:14;1Pe 2:9.)

Above all people: for all the earth is mine.—While claiming a peculiar right in Israel, God does not mean to separate Himself from the other nations, to cease to care for them, or give them up to their own devices. He is always “the Most High over all the earth” (Psalm 83:18), “a light to lighten the Gentiles,” one who “judges the people righteously, and governs all the nations upon earth” (Psalm 67:4). Israel’s prerogative does not rob them of their birthright. He is the favoured son; but they, too, “are, all of them, children of the Most High” (Psalm 82:6).

Benson Commentary

Exodus 19:5. Then ye shall be a peculiar treasure to me — He doth not instance in any one particular favour, but expresseth it in that which was inclusive of all happiness, that he would be to them a God in covenant, and they should be to him a people. Nay, you shall be a peculiar treasure: not that God was enriched by them, as a man is by his treasure, but he was pleased to value and esteem them as a man doth his treasure; they were precious in his sight. He took them under his special care and protection, as a treasure that is kept under lock and key. He distinguished them from, and dignified them above all people, as a people devoted to him and to his service.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:1-8 Moses was called up the mountain, and was employed as the messenger of this covenant. The Maker and first Mover of the covenant, is God himself. This blessed charter was granted out of God's own free grace. The covenant here mentioned was the national covenant, by which the Israelites were a people under the government of Jehovah. It was a type of the new covenant made with true believers in Christ Jesus; but, like other types, it was only a shadow of good things to come. As a nation they broke this covenant; therefore the Lord declared that he would make a new covenant with Israel, writing his law, not upon tables of stone, but in their hearts, Jer 31:33; Heb 8:7-10. The covenant spoken of in these places as ready to vanish away, is the national covenant with Israel, which they forfeited by their sins. Unless we carefully attend to this, we shall fall into mistakes while reading the Old Testament. We must not suppose that the nation of the Jews were under the covenant of works, which knows nothing of repentance, faith in a Mediator, forgiveness of sins, or grace; nor yet that the whole nation of Israel bore the character, and possessed the privileges of true believers, as being actually sharers in the covenant of grace. They were all under a dispensation of mercy; they had outward privileges and advantages for salvation; but, like professing Christians, most rested therein, and went no further. Israel consented to the conditions. They answered as one man, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. Oh that there had been such a heart in them! Moses, as a mediator, returned the words of the people to God. Thus Christ, the Mediator, as a Prophet, reveals God's will to us, his precepts and promises; and then, as a Priest, offers up to God our spiritual sacrifices, not only of prayer and praise, but of devout affections, and pious resolutions, the work of his own Spirit in us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A peculiar treasure - A costly possession acquired with exertion, and carefully guarded. The special relation in which Israel stands, taken out of the pagan world and consecrated to God, as His slaves, subjects, and children, determines their privileges, and is the foundation of their duties. The same principle applies even in a stronger sense to the Church. See Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 2:9.

All the earth is mine - It was a point of great practical importance, to impress upon the Jews that their God was no mere national Deity. Compare Deuteronomy 10:14; Psalm 24:1.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3-6. Moses went up unto God—the Shekinah—within the cloud (Ex 33:20; Joh 1:18).

Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, &c.—The object for which Moses went up was to receive and convey to the people the message contained in these verses, and the purport of which was a general announcement of the terms on which God was to take the Israelites into a close and peculiar relation to Himself. In thus negotiating between God and His people, the highest post of duty which any mortal man was ever called to occupy, Moses was still but a servant. The only Mediator is Jesus Christ [1Ti 2:5; Heb 12:24].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

If ye will obey my voice indeed; Heb. obeying ye will obey; i.e. if ye will obey me sincerely, diligently, and constantly.

A peculiar treasure, highly prized and loved, and carefully kept by me, as men’s treasures generally are. For all people upon earth are mine by creation and dominion, and I can dispose of them all as I please, and either choose or refuse any of them as I think fit; and therefore though I might refuse you, as well as any others, yet it is my pleasure to single you out of all the world, upon whom to confer my chiefest and peculiar blessings. Or, though all the earth be mine, by general right, yet you only are mine by special title and privilege.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Now therefore,.... Since they had received such marks of his favour, and were laid under great obligations to him:

if ye will obey my voice indeed; truly, sincerely, and heartily; or "in hearkening hearken", or "in obeying obey" (g); that is, closely and attentively hearken to what he should say to them, and thoroughly and constantly yield a cheerful obedience to his commands:

and keep my covenant; now about to be made with them, which would consist of promises of good things to be done to them on his part, and of duties to be performed by them on their part, and so would constitute a formal covenant by stipulation and restipulation:

then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; be as highly valued by him, and as carefully preserved as the richest treasure among men; even as the treasure of princes, consisting of gold and silver, precious stones, pearls and jewels, and everything that is valuable; and of this he would give such proof and demonstration, as would make it appear that they were esteemed by him above all people upon the face of the earth; being chosen for his peculiar treasure, and redeemed out of the house of bondage and slavery to be his peculiar people, and distinguished from all others by particular favours and blessings:

for all the earth is mine; as it is, and the inhabitants of it, by creation, sustentation, preservation, and dominion, all being made, upheld, preserved, and governed by him; and therefore, as he had a right to all, could choose what part he pleased for his special use and service; or "though all the earth is mine" (h), as Marinus in Aben Ezra, which yet the latter does not seem to approve of; and then the sense is, though the whole world was his, and all that is in it, yet such was his special affection, and peculiar regard to Israel, as to choose them, and esteem them as his portion and inheritance, his jewel, and peculiar treasure.

(g) "obediendo obedieritis", Pagninus, Montanus; "audiendo audiveritis", Drusius; "auscultando auscultabitis", Piscator; so Ainsworth. (h) "tametsi", Vatablus; "quamvis", Piscator, Drusius.

Geneva Study Bible

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. obey] lit. hearken to. So always. Cf. Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 13:4; Deuteronomy 13:18; Deuteronomy 27:10, &c.; and especially Deuteronomy 11:13, Deuteronomy 15:5, Deuteronomy 28:1 (in these three passages hearken diligently unto is in the Heb. the same as obey indeed here), Exo Exodus 30:10.

my covenant] the covenant of Exodus 24:7-8, described there as concluded on the basis of the ‘Book of the Covenant’ (i.e. the injunctions in Exodus 20:23 to Exodus 23:19): if Israel observes the terms of this covenant, Jehovah promises that He will bring it into a relation of special nearness to Himself.

This is a point on which the representation of both J and E differs from that of P. Both J and E speak of a covenant concluded between Jehovah and Israel at Sinai: P says nothing of such a covenant; the only covenant mentioned by him in this connexion is the covenant with the patriarchs, to which Jehovah gives effect by delivering their descendants from Egypt, and settling them in Canaan (see Exodus 6:4-8).

a peculiar treasure] Heb. segullâh, i.e. a special possession; see 1 Chronicles 29:3, Ecclesiastes 2:8, where the word is used of a private treasure (of gold, silver, &c.) belonging to kings. The rend. ‘peculiar’ we owe to Jerome, who states that Symmachus had used peculiaris in one place: it means ‘specially one’s own,’ being used in its old etymological sense, derived from the Lat. peculium, the private property of a child or slave. With the addition of ‘people,’ ‘a people of special possession,’ the word occurs, borrowed from here, in Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18; and alone also in Psalm 135:4 : in Malachi 3:17 (RV.) it is transferred to the faithful Israelites of the future. The LXX. here, Exodus 23:22 (in an addition to the Heb.), Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18, render by λαὸς περιούσιος; and in Psalm 135:4, Ecclesiastes 2:8 by περιουσιασμός: hence λαὸς περιούσιος in Titus 2:14. Λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν in 1 Peter 2:9 (cf. Ephesians 1:14) is also based upon the same expression: cf. εἰς περιποίησιν for segullâh in Malachi 3:17 LXX., and ὃ περιπεποίημαι in 1 Chronicles 29:3. (Περιούσιος means apparently being over and above, and so exceptional, special; see Lightfoot, On a Fresh Revision of the Engl. N. T., p. 234 ff.)

from among] lit. out of; but as what is taken specially out of a number is preferred to the rest (cf. ἐξαίρετος, eximius, egregius), the meaning above (marg.) is also implied. So Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2.

for all the earth is mine] and so I can choose which I will of the nations upon it. Cf. Exodus 9:29, Deuteronomy 10:14.

On the ‘covenants’ mentioned in the Pentateuch

A ‘covenant’ is a compact or agreement, concluded—at least on important occasions—under solemn religious sanctions, and implying mutual undertakings and obligations. For instances of covenants between men, see Genesis 26:26-31; Genesis 31:44-54, 1 Kings 15:19 (‘league’), 1 Kings 20:34. In a religious sense, a ‘covenant’ is the most formal, and, so to say, official expression of the gracious relation subsisting between God and men: God promises that, if man observes the conditions laid down by Him, He will bestow upon him certain specified blessings. In references to a covenant of this kind, the stress may rest, according to the context and purpose of the writer, either on the Divine promise (e.g. Deuteronomy 4:31), or on the human obligation (e.g. Deuteronomy 4:23). The following are the ‘covenants’ referred to in the Pentateuch:—

In J:—1. The covenant with Abraham, Genesis 15:18.

5, 6. The promise. The high privileges in store for Israel, if it but listens to Jehovah’s voice, and observes His covenant. The verses, in style and thought, approximate to Dt. (cf. on Deuteronomy 12:25-27 a), and may have been expanded by the compiler of JE.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Now therefore. Instead of asking the simple question - "Will ye promise to obey me and keep my covenant. - God graciously entices the Israelites to their own advantage by a most loving promise. If they will agree to obey his voice, and accept and keep his covenant, then they shall be to him a peculiar treasure (segullah) - a precious possession to be esteemed highly and carefully guarded from all that might injure it. (Compare Psalm 135:4; and see also Isaiah 43:1-4.) and this preciousness they shall not share with others on equal terms, but enjoy exclusively - it shall be theirs above all people. No other nation on the earth shall hold the position which they shall hold, or be equally precious in God's sight. All the earth is his: and so all nations are his in a certain sense. But this shall not interfere with the special Israelite prerogative they alone shall be his "peculiar people" (Deuteronomy 14:2). Exodus 19:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This manifestation of the love of God to Israel formed only the prelude, however, to that gracious union which Jehovah was now about to establish between the Israelites and Himself. If they would hear His voice, and keep the covenant which as about to be established with them, they should be a costly possession to Him out of all nations (cf. Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18). סגלּה does not signify property in general, but valuable property, that which is laid by, or put aside (סגל), hence a treasure of silver and gold (1 Chronicles 29:3; Ecclesiastes 2:8). In the Sept. the expression is rendered λαὸς περιούσιος, which the Scholiast in Octat. interprets ἐξαίρετος, and in Malachi 3:17 εἰς περιποίησιν: hence the two phrases in the New Testament, λαὸς περιούσιος in Titus 2:14, and λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν in 1 Peter 2:9. Jehovah had chosen Israel as His costly possession out of all the nations of the earth, because the whole earth was His possession, and all nations belonged to Him as Creator and Preserver. The reason thus assigned for the selection of Israel precludes at the very outset the exclusiveness which would regard Jehovah as merely a national deity. The idea of the segullah is explained in Exodus 19:6 : "Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests." ממלכה signifies both kingship, as the embodiment of royal supremacy, exaltation, and dignity, and the kingdom, or the union of both king and subjects, i.e., the land and nation, together with its king. In the passage before us, the word has been understood by most of the early commentators, both Jewish and Christian, and also in the ancient versions,

(Note: lxx: βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, a royal priesthood, i.e., a priestly nation of royal power and glory. כּהנין מלכין: Kings-priests (Onkelos). - "Eritis coram me reges coronati (כלילא קטירי vincti coronis) et sacerdotes ministrantes" (Jonathan). - "Eritis meo nomini reges et sacerdotes" (Jer. Targ.).)

in the first or active sense, so that the expression contains the idea, "Ye shall be all priests and kings" (Luther); praeditos fore tam sacerdotali quam regio honore (Calvin); quod reges et sacerdotes sunt in republica, id vos eritis mihi (Drusius). This explanation is required by both the passage itself and the context. For apart from the fact that kingship is the primary and most general meaning of the word ממלכה (cf. דּוד ממלכת, the kingship, or government of David), the other (passive) meaning would not be at all suitable here; for a kingdom of priests could never denote the fellowship existing in a kingdom between the king and the priests, but only a kingdom or commonwealth consisting of priests, i.e., a kingdom the members and citizens of which were priests, and as priests constituted the ממלכה, in other words, were possessed of royal dignity and power; for ממלכה, βασιλεία, always includes the idea of מלך or ruling (βασιλεύειν). The lxx have quite hit the meaning in their rendering: βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα. Israel was to be a regal body of priests to Jehovah, and not merely a nation of priests governed by Jehovah. The idea of the theocracy, or government of God, as founded by the establishment of the Sinaitic covenant institution in Israel, is not at all involved in the term "kingdom of priests." The theocracy established by the conclusion of the covenant (Exodus 24) was only the means adopted by Jehovah for making His chosen people a royal body of priests; and the maintenance of this covenant was the indispensable subjective condition, upon which their attainment of this divinely appointed destiny and glory depended. This promise of Jehovah expressed the design of the call of Israel, to which it was to be fully conducted by the covenant institution of the theocracy, if it maintained the covenant with Jehovah. The object of Israel's kingship and priesthood was to be found in the nations of the earth, out of which Jehovah had chosen Israel as a costly possession. This great and glorious promise, the fulfilment of which could not be attained till the completion of the kingdom of God, when the Israel of God, the Church of the Lord, which Jesus Christ, the first-begotten from the dead, and prince (ἄρχων, ruler) of the kings of the earth, has made a "kingdom," "priests unto God and His Father" (Revelation 1:6 and Revelation 5:10, where the reading should be βασιλεῖς καὶ ἱερεῖς), is exalted to glory with Christ as the first-born among many brethren, and sits upon His throne and reigns, has not been introduced abruptly here. On the contrary, the way was already prepared by the promises made to the patriarchs, of the blessing which Abraham would become to all the nations of the earth, and of the kings who were to spring from him and come out of the loins of Israel (Genesis 12:3; Genesis 17:6; Genesis 35:11), and still more distinctly by Jacob's prophecy of the sceptre of Judah, to whom, through Shiloh, the willing submission of the nations should be made (Genesis 49:10). But these promises and prophecies are outshone by the clearness, with which kingship and priesthood over and for the nations are foretold of Israel here.

This kingship, however, is not merely of a spiritual kind, consisting, as Luther supposes, in the fact, that believers "are lords over death, the devil, hell, and all evil," but culminates in the universal sway foretold by Balaam in Numbers 24:8 and Numbers 24:17., by Moses in his last words (Deuteronomy 33:29), and still more distinctly in Daniel 7:27, to the people of the saints of the Most High, as the ultimate end of their calling from God. The spiritual attitude of Israel towards the nations was the result of its priestly character. As the priest is a mediator between God and man, so Israel was called to be the vehicle of the knowledge and salvation of God to the nations of the earth. By this it unquestionably acquired an intellectual and spiritual character; but this includes, rather than excludes, the government of the world. For spiritual and intellectual supremacy and rule must eventually ensure the government of the world, as certainly as spirit is the power that overcomes the world. And if the priesthood of Israel was the power which laid the foundation for its kingship, - in other words, if Israel obtained the ממלכה or government over the nations solely as a priestly nation, - the Apostle Peter, when taking up this promise (1 Peter 2:9), might without hesitation follow the Septuagint rendering (βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα), and substitute in the place of the "priestly kingdom," a "royal priesthood;" for there is no essential difference between the two, the kingship being founded upon the priesthood, and the priesthood completed by the kingship.

As a kingdom of priests, it was also necessary that Israel should be a "holy nation." Gens sancta hic dicitur non respectu pietatis vel sanctimoniae, sed quam Deus singulari privilegio ab aliis separavit. Verum ab hac sanctificatione pendet altera, nempe ut sanctitatem colant, qui Dei gratia eximii sunt, atque ita vicissim Deum sanctificent (Calvin). This explanation is in general a correct one; for these words indicate the dignity to which Israel was to be elevated by Jehovah, the Holy One, through its separation from the nations of the earth. But it cannot be shown that קדושׁ ever means "separated." Whether we suppose it to be related to חדשׁ, and חדשׁ the newly shining moonlight, or compare it with the Sanskrit dhûsch, to be splendid, or beautiful, in either case the primary meaning of the word is, "to be splendid, pure, untarnished." Diestel has correctly observed, that the holiness of God and Israel is most closely connected with the covenant relationship; but he is wrong in the conclusion which lie draws from this, namely, that "holy" was originally only a "relative term," and that a thing was holy "so far as it was the property of God." For the whole earth is Jehovah's property (Exodus 19:5), but it is not holy on that account. Jehovah is not holy only "so far as within the covenant He is both possession and possessor, absolute life and the source of life, and above all, both the chief good and the chief model for His people" (Diestel), or "as the truly separate One, enclosed within Himself, who is self-existent, in contrast with the world to which He does not belong" (Hoffmann); but holiness pertains to God alone, and to those who participate in the divine holiness-not, however, to God as the Creator and Preserver of the world, but to God as the Redeemer of man. Light is the earthly reflection of His holy nature: the Holy One of Israel is the light of Israel (Isaiah 10:17, cf. 1 Timothy 6:16). The light, with its purity and splendour, is the most suitable earthly element to represent the brilliant and spotless purity of the Holy One, in whom there is no interchange of light and darkness (James 1:17). God is called the Holy One, because He is altogether pure, the clear and spotless light; so that in the idea of the holiness of God there are embodied the absolute moral purity and perfection of the divine nature, and His unclouded glory. Holiness and glory are inseparable attributes in God; but in His relation to the world they are so far distinguished, that the whole earth is full of His glory, whilst it is to and in Israel that His holiness is displayed (Isaiah 6:3); in other words, the glory of God is manifested in the creation and preservation of the world, and His holy name in the election and guidance of Israel (compare Psalm 104 with Psalm 103). God has displayed the glory of His name in the creation of the heavens and the earth (Psalm 8:1-9); but His way in Israel (Psalm 77:14), i.e., the work of God in His kingdom of grace, is holy; so that it might be said, that the glory of God which streams forth in the material creation is manifested as holiness in His saving work for a sinful world, to rescue it from the φθορά of sin and death and restore it to the glory of eternal life, and that it was manifested here in the fact, that by the counsels of His own spontaneous love (Deuteronomy 4:37) He chose Israel as His possession, to make of it a holy nation, if it hearkened to His voice and kept His covenant. It was not made this, however, by being separated from the other nations, for that was merely the means of attaining the divine end, but by the fact, that God placed the chosen people in the relation of covenant fellowship with Himself, founded His kingdom in Israel, established in the covenant relationship an institution of salvation, which furnished the covenant people with the means of obtaining the expiation of their sins, and securing righteousness before God and holiness of life with God, in order that by the discipline of His holy commandments, under the guidance of His holy arm, He might train and guide them to the holiness and glory of the divine life. But as sin opposes holiness, and the sinner resists sanctification, the work of the holiness of God reveals itself in His kingdom of grace, not only positively in the sanctification of those who suffer themselves to be sanctified and raised to newness of life, but negatively also, in the destruction of all those who obstinately refuse the guidance of His grace; so that the glory of the thrice Holy One (Isaiah 6:3) will be fully manifested both in the glorification of His chosen people and the deliverance of the whole creation from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:21), and also in the destruction of hardened sinners, the annihilation of everything that is ungodly in this world, the final overthrow of Satan and his kingdom, and the founding of the new heaven and new earth. Hence not only is every person, whom God receives into the sphere of His sin-destroying grace, קדושׁ, or holy; but everything which is applied to the realization of the divine work of salvation, or consecrated by God to this object. The opposite of קדושׁ, holy, is הל, κοινός, profanus (from חלל, to be loose, lit., the unbound), not devoted to holy purposes and uses (cf. Leviticus 10:10); and this term was applied, not only to what was sinful and unclean (טמא), but to everything earthly in its natural condition, because the whole earth, with all that is upon it, has been involved in the consequences of sin.