7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak.
7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.
7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.
7 Moses came back and called the elders of Israel together and set before them all these words which God had commanded him.
7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him.
7 So Moses returned from the mountain and called together the elders of the people and told them everything the Lord had commanded him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 19:7
Commentary on Exodus 19:1-8
(Read Exodus 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, Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 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.