Exodus 33:6

And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments—i.e., left off their ornaments, ceased to wear them altogether.

By the mount Horeb.—Rather, from mount Horeb, i.e., from the time of their first discarding them in Horeb (= Sinai).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

33:1-6 Those whom God pardons, must be made to know what their sin deserved. Let them go forward as they are; this was very expressive of God's displeasure. Though he promises to make good his covenant with Abraham, in giving them Canaan, yet he denies them the tokens of his presence they had been blessed with. The people mourned for their sin. Of all the bitter fruits and consequences of sin, true penitents most lament, and dread most, God's departure from them. Canaan itself would be no pleasant land without the Lord's presence. Those who parted with ornaments to maintain sin, could do no less than lay aside ornaments, in token of sorrow and shame for it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

By the mount Horeb - From Mount Horeb onward. They ceased to wear their ornaments from the time they were at Mount Horeb.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. put off thy ornaments—In seasons of mourning, it is customary with Eastern people to lay aside all gewgaws and divest themselves of their jewels, their gold, and every thing rich and splendid in their dress. This token of their sorrow the Lord required of His offending people.

that I may know what to do unto thee—The language is accommodated to the feeble apprehensions of men. God judges the state of the heart by the tenor of the conduct. In the case of the Israelites, He cherished a design of mercy; and the moment He discerned the first symptoms of contrition, by their stripping off their ornaments, as penitents conscious of their error and sincerely sorrowful, this fact added its weight to the fervency of Moses' prayers, and gave them prevalence with God in behalf of the people.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments,.... Such as before described, and this they did:

by the Mount Horeb; before their departure from thence, and where they had been guilty of the idolatry: the words may be literally rendered, "from Mount Horeb" (u); and Jonathan understands the preceding clause of something they put off which they received from thence; but the meaning is, that they went to some distance from Mount Horeb, and there stripped themselves to show their greater humiliation, and the sense they had of their unworthiness of being near to the Lord, or enjoying his presence.

(u) "a monte", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "procul a monte", Junius & Tremellius, Piscato.

Geneva Study Bible

And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. Horeb] E’s term: see on Exodus 3:1.

There can be little doubt that, as Di. remarks, according to E the ornaments were to be used in the construction or decoration of the Tent of Meeting (cf., in P, Exodus 25:2-8, Exodus 35:22-29): some account of the construction of the Tent would naturally precede the notice of its use in vv. 7–11. But E’s account of the Tent of Meeting, ‘which originally followed here, and which certainly differed greatly from that of P, was omitted by the compiler, who preferred that of P (chs. 25–27); and only its conclusion is preserved in vv. 7–11.’ Whether (Di. al.) the ark in its tent was intended originally as a substitute for the immediate presence of Jehovah on Sinai, after the people had left Sinai (just as in P, after the Tent of Meeting is erected, Jehovah speaks to Moses not on Sinai, but from the Tent), is more perhaps than we can say.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - The people accepted the test and stripped themselves of their ornaments - i.e., ceased to wear them henceforward. By the Mount Horeb. Rather, "from Mount Horeb." From and after this occurrence at Horeb ( = Sinai), the Israelites wore no ornaments, in token of their continued contrition for their apostasy

CHAPTER 33:7-11 Exodus 33:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

And the people obeyed this commandment, renouncing all that pleased the eye. "The children of Israel spoiled themselves (see at Exodus 12:36) of their ornament from Mount Horeb onwards." Thus they entered formally into a penitential condition. The expression, "from Mount Horeb onwards," can hardly be paraphrased as it is by Seb. Schmidt, viz., "going from Mount Horeb into the camp," but in all probability expresses this idea, that from that time forward, i.e., after the occurrence of this event at Horeb, they laid aside the ornaments which they had hitherto worn, and assumed the outward appearance of perpetual penitence.