Israel as a kingdom of priests: An exegetical study of Exodus 19:6a

Abstract

The promise “you will be to me a kingdom of priests” in Exodus 19:6 receives little attention from a number of commentaries. Those commentaries that discuss the promise offer varying interpretations. This article seeks to exegetically examine the promise in its immediate context and a wider context of the Pentateuch. This is done through an examination of the grammatical, syntactical and semantic implications of waw conjunction in the immediate literary context of the text and the text itself. The waw conjunctions between the clauses 5c, 6a and 6b in Exodus 19, are waw copulatives that function to create a hendiadys construction. This means the promises that God would make Israel his “possession”, a “kingdom of priest” and a “holy nation” are intricately related, overlapping and representing different aspects of a complex situation though not logically related. Furthermore, clauses 5c, 6a and 6b are logically contingent and consequential to clauses 5a and 5b. Stated more explicitly, Israel would become God’s possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation if they would listen to God’s voice and keep his covenant. A wider study of the promise in the context of the Pentateuch lead to the conclusion that God’s promise to make Israel a nation alludes to God’s Covenant to Abraham. Israel becomes a holy nation because of God’s presence among them. By mediating God to other nations, they act as a kingdom of priests. By being priests, they are a special possession to God.