(1) On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai.
(1) בחדש, “on the first of the (third month);” the word חדש is used here as in Samuel I 20,18: מחר חדש, “tomorrow is new moon.” than a child born to them was sired by a gentile before they had converted.
(3) ביום הזה, ”on this day;” the day referred to is the day they broke camp in Refidim. It was the first day of Sivan which occurred on a Monday, according to the opinion of the majority of the scholars. There was unanimity among the scholars that the day of the revelation was Sabbath. (Shabbat 86)
According to the majority of the Rabbis who hold that that the revelation occurred on the sixth day of the month of Sivan, the first day of that month had to have been on a Monday. This is based on the month of Iyar during that year having had 30 days.
(4) ביום הזה באו מדבר סיני, “on this day they arrived at the desert of Sinai.” Rabbi Levi in Pessikta de Rav KahaneMandelbaum edition page 205), relates a parable [to explain that the Torah describing this detail conveyed a lesson worth taking to heart, Ed.] A king had a son who had recovered from a serious illness. He was told by a pedagogue that the son should go an elementary school forthwith. The father protested by saying to the pedagogue that his son was still too frail to go to school and be subjected to a strict regimen. He agreed to send him to school after a recovery period of three months. He intended to pamper him during these three so that he would recuperate faster.
(10) and the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and warn them to stay pure today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothes.
(16) On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.
(1) . בחודש השלישי, “in the third month.” This was the month of Sivan. The words ביום הזה mean that it was the first day of the month.
This is the day normally called חדש, such as in Samuel I 20,24 ויהי החדש וישב המלך אל הלחם לאכול, “It was on חדש and the King sat down to eat.” Another example of the word חדש referring to New Moon is found in the same chapter of the Book of Samuel three verses later: We read ויהי ממחרת החדש השני ויפקד מקום דוד, “It was on the second day of the New Moon celebration that David’s seat remained empty.”
The verse teaches you amongst other things that they observed two days of New Moon. This is what King Saul referred to when he inquired speaking to his son Yonathan: “why did the son of Yishai not appear either yesterday or today for the meal?”
Our sages in Shabbat 86 also state that the words ביום הזה mean that the Israelites arrived in the desert of Sinai on the first day of the month. They base this on the use of the word הזה in our verse here and the expression החדש הזה לכם in Exodus 12,2.
(1) The spoke to Moses, saying:
(14) Until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God, you shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears; it is a law for all time throughout the ages in all your settlements.
(15) And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering—the day after the sabbath—you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete:
(16) you must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the LORD.
(17) You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering; each shall be made of two-tenths of a measure of choice flour, baked after leavening, as first fruits to the LORD.
(18) With the bread you shall present, as burnt offerings to the LORD, seven yearling lambs without blemish, one bull of the herd, and two rams, with their meal offerings and libations, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.
(19) You shall also offer one he-goat as a sin offering and two yearling lambs as a sacrifice of well-being.
(20) The priest shall elevate these—the two lambs—together with the bread of first fruits as an elevation offering before the LORD; they shall be holy to the LORD, for the priest.
(21) On that same day you shall hold a celebration; it shall be a sacred occasion for you; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a law for all time in all your settlements, throughout the ages.
(22) And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the LORD am your God.
(1) ובקצרכם AND WHEN YE REAP [THE HARVEST OF YOUR LAND, THOU SHALT NOT MAKE CLEAR RIDDANCE OF THE CORNER OF THE FIELD] — Scripture repeats the prohibition here (although it has already been mentioned above, 19:9) in order to make one who transgresses this law infringe two negative commands.
R. Abdima the son of R. Joseph said: What reason had Scripture to place it (the law concerning the corner of the field) amidst those regarding the festival-sacrifices — those of Passover and Pentecost on this side of it, and those of the New Year, Day of Atonement and “the Feast” (Tabernacles) following on that side of it?
To teach you that he who leaves the gleanings, the forgotten sheaf and the corner of the field to the poor as it ought to be, is regarded as though he had built the Temple and offered his sacrifices therein (cf. Sifra, Emor, Chapter 13 11). (2) תעזב THOU SHALT LEAVE [THEM UNTO THE POOR] — leave these in front of them and they shall gather: you are not allowed to assist one of them to the injury of another poor man (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 3 5; Mishnah Peah 5:6).
(3) אני ה' אלהיכם I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD, Who am faithful to pay you your reward.