Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)

“There is no other perennial spring in the intermediate space. The water still retains its ancient character, and has a bad name among the Arabs, who seldom allow their camels to partake of it.”

And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened.

“And hence the "statute and ordinance" that followed, which would have been singularly inopportune if no miracle had been wrought. and there he proved them--God now brought the Israelites into circumstances which would put their faith and obedience to the test (compare Ge 22:1).”

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.

“It is estimated to be a mile in breadth, but stretching out far to the northeast. After the weary travel through the desert, this must have appeared a most delightful encampment from its shade and verdure, as well as from its abundant supply of sweet…”

On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt, the whole congregation of Israel set out from Elim and came to the Desert…

“This passage represents the Israelites as advanced into the great plain, which, beginning near El-Murkah, extends with a greater or less breadth to almost the extremity of the peninsula.”

“If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said.

“And though we may lament they should tempt God in the wilderness and freely admit their sin in so doing, we can be at no loss for a reason why those who had all their lives been accustomed to walk by sight should, in circumstances…”

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

“Though it may be exhaled by the heat and afterwards fall with the dew, it is a medicine, not food--it is well known to the natives of the desert, while the Israelites were strangers to theirs; and in taste as well as in the appearance…”

Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the LORD commanded.

“The same phraseology occurs elsewhere (Nu 9:18, 19). pitched in Rephidim--now believed, on good grounds, to be Wady Feiran, which is exactly a day's march from Mount Sinai, and at the entrance of the Horeb district.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from…

“Write this for a memorial--If the bloody character of this statute seems to be at variance with the mild and merciful character of God, the reasons are to be sought in the deep and implacable vengeance they meditated against Israel (Ps 83:4).”

Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses’ wife and sons, came to him in the desert, where he was encamped at the mountain of God.

“Jethro . . . came . . . unto Moses, &c.--It is thought by many eminent commentators that this episode is inserted out of its chronological order, for it is described as occurring when the Israelites were "encamped at the mount of God."”

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

“I am the Lord thy God--This is a preface to the ten commandments--the latter clause being specially applicable to the case of the Israelites, while the former brings it home to all mankind; showing that the reasonableness of the law is founded in their eternal…”

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

“Thou shalt not make . . . any graven image . . . thou shalt not bow down thyself to them--that is, "make in order to bow."”

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

“Remember the sabbath day--implying it was already known, and recognized as a season of sacred rest. The first four commandments [Ex 20:3-11] comprise our duties to God--the other six [Ex 20:12-17] our duties to our fellow men; and as interpreted by Christ, they reach to…”

You are not to make any gods alongside Me; you are not to make for yourselves gods of silver or gold.

“22, 23. the Lord said unto Moses--It appears from De 4:14-16, that this injunction was a conclusion drawn from the scene on Sinai--that as no similitude of God was displayed then, they should not attempt to make any visible figure or form of Him.”

If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.

“If thou buy an Hebrew servant--Every Israelite was free-born; but slavery was permitted under certain restrictions.”

If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.

“If there be laid on him a sum of money, &c.--Blood fines are common among the Arabs as they were once general throughout the East. This is the only case where a money compensation, instead of capital punishment, was expressly allowed in the Mosaic law.”

“If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

“The penalty for the theft of a sheep which was slain or sold, was fourfold; for an ox fivefold, because of its greater utility in labor; but, should the stolen animal have been recovered alive, a double compensation was all that was required, because it…”

If a fire breaks out and spreads to thornbushes so that it consumes stacked or standing grain, or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make full…

“The very parched state of the herbage and the long droughts of summer, make the kindling of a fire an operation often dangerous, and always requiring caution from its liability to spread rapidly.”

but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may…

“But it appears that even then there was a spontaneous produce which the poor were permitted freely to gather for their use, and the beasts driven out fed on the remainder, the owners of fields not being allowed to reap or collect the fruits of…”

Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me. You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in…

“Three times . . . keep a feast . . . in the year--This was the institution of the great religious festivals--"The feast of unleavened bread," or the passover--"the feast of harvest," or pentecost--"the feast of ingathering," or the feast of tabernacles, which was a…”

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,

“Nadab, and Abihu--the two oldest sons of Aaron [Ex 6:23]. seventy of the elders--a select number; what was the principle of selection is not said; but they were the chief representatives, the most conspicuous for official rank and station, as well as for their probity…”

and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was a work like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.

“And they saw the God of Israel--That there was no visible form or representation of the divine nature, we have expressly intimated (De 4:15). But a symbol or emblem of His glory was distinctly, and at a distance, displayed before those chosen witnesses.”

Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

“Divine grace animated and supported him to enter with holy boldness. Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights--The six days spent in waiting are not included.”

“Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests.

“The appointment was a special act of God's sovereignty, so that there could be no ground for popular umbrage by the selection of Aaron's family, with whom the office was inalienably established and continued in unbroken succession till the introduction of the Christian era.”

They are to make the ephod of finely spun linen embroidered with gold, and with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn.

“The ephod was fastened by a girdle of the same costly materials, that is, dyed, embroidered, and wrought with threads of gold.”

Fasten to it a blue cord to mount it on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban.

“The Scripture has not described its form, but from JOSEPHUS we may gather that it was conical in shape, as he distinguishes the mitres of the common priests by saying that they were not conical--that it was encircled with swathes of blue embroidered, and that…”