Verse:
Exodus 19:6
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom ( kingdom / mamlakah ) of priests, and an holy ( sanctify / qadowsh ) nation. These [are] the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Commentary by Adam Clarke
And a holy nation. Source
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.
Commentary by Coffman
A kingdom of priests Source
This says in tones of thunder that the Jewish priesthood which the Lord later gave to Israel was NOT the original intention. God's purpose for Israel, as indicated here, was exactly that which was later fulfilled in the church. The magnificent doctrine of the priesthood of EVERY believer, as unfolded in the N.T., has its beginning right here. Before that week was out, the people would reject the responsibilities incumbent in such a promise. And, in this connection, it is absolutely certain that a group of 9th century B.C. priests could never in a million years have put together such a devastating downgrading of their own office as that which appears here. There is an increasing readiness to accept the Mosaic authorship of the Decalogue (and, by inference, all of Exo. 19--24).F17 This readiness should be extended to every word of the Pentateuch. Only Moses was present for the great scenes recorded. Only Moses knew the things related here. The true evaluation of the Jewish priesthood, as glimpsed in this passage, is an illuminating comment on Mal. 2:1-9, where God finally repudiated and cursed the priesthood. I have cursed them ... the priests shall be taken away ... ye are turned aside out of the way ... I have made you contemptible ... ye have wearied Jehovah with your words (Malachi 2:2-16). (For a fuller discussion of this issue, see my commentary on the minor prophets.)
Commentary by David Guzik
God declares His great plan for the nation of Israel. Source
d. God intended for Israel to be a kingdom of priests, where every believer could come before God themselves, and everyone could represent God to the nations. e. God intended for Israel to be a holy nation, a nation and people set apart from the rest of the world, the particular possession of God, fit for His purposes.
i. Peter reminds us we are a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), those who serve God as both kings and priests (and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, Revelation 1:6). f. All this could only be fulfilled if Israel would stay in God's word: if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then . . . Apart from knowing and doing God's word, God's destiny for the nation would never be fulfilled.
i. Peter reminds us we are a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). As God's people, we must be set apart, thinking and doing differently than others in this world.
i. Keep my covenant: the covenant was greater than the law itself; the covenant God would make with Israel involved law, sacrifice, and the choice to obey and be blessed or disobey and be cursed.
Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests an holy nation
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. Source
set apart to preserve the knowledge and worship of God.
Commentary by John Gill
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests these are the words thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel:
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 (1 Peter 2:9) but in (Revelation 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 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, (1 Peter 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:
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Source
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,
Commentary by John Wesley
A kingdom of priests, a holy nation Source
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, Revelation 1:6, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 1 Peter 2:9.
1 Peter 2:9 Revelation 1:6
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Commentary by Matthew Henry
(3.) He assures them of the honour he would put upon them, and the kindness he would show them, in case they did thus keep his covenant (Exodus 19:5,6): Then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me. He does not specify any one particular favour, as giving them the land of Canaan, or the like, but expresses 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. Source
[1.] God here asserts his sovereignty over, and propriety in, the whole visible creation: All the earth is mine. Therefore he needed them not; he that had so vast a dominion was great enough, and happy enough, without concerning himself for so small a demesne as Israel was. All nations on the earth being his, he might choose which he pleased for his peculiar, and act in a way of sovereignty.
[2.] He appropriates Israel to himself,
First, As a people dear unto him. 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 does his treasure; they were precious in his sight and honourable (Isaiah 43:4); he set his love upon them (Deuteronomy 7:7), took them under his special care and protection, as a treasure that is kept under lock and key. He looked upon the rest of the world but as trash and lumber in comparison with them. By giving them divine revelation, instituted ordinances, and promises inclusive of eternal life, by sending his prophets among them, and pouring out his Spirit upon them, he distinguished them from, and dignified them above, all people. And this honour have all the saints; they are unto God a peculiar people (Titus 2:4), his when he makes up his jewels. Secondly, As a people devoted to him, to his honour and service (Exodus 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 (Psalms 148:14), so much employed in his immediate service, and such intimate communion they had with him. When they were first made a free people it was that they might sacrifice to the Lord their God, as priests; they were under God's immediate government, and 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 (Revelation 1:6), a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 1 Peter 2:9.
Isaiah 43:4 Deuteronomy 7:7
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.Titus 2:4
The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children,
Psalms 148:14 Revelation 1:6
He has raised up for his people a horn,
the praise of all his saints,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.
Praise the LORD .1 Peter 2:9
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
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Prepared by William C. Barman for George Young Memorial United Methodist Church -- Palm Harbor, FL on 10/3/03; 5:38:18 PM