Deuteronomy 5:25
Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.
At Sinai Israel witnessed the glory and greatness of the living God speaking with them from the midst of the fire on the burning mountain in darkness. This great fire, they feared, would consume them, and if they heard the voice of the Lord their God any more they would die, an encounter they believed no mortal could survive. They recognized that God had talked with human beings and they had lived, yet they dreaded further direct exposure to His voice. They therefore asked Moses to go near and approach God, to hear all He would say and speak it to them, promising to hear it and do it and obey.
The fearful request not to hear God's voice again revealed unbelief, for God wanted them to hear Him themselves, but hearing His words thrilled them so they asked for mediation instead. God answered that they had well said all they had spoken, and declared His desire that they would fear Him and keep all His commandments always so that it might be well with them and with their children forever. He takes no pleasure in punishing the transgressor though He must maintain the honor of His throne when His righteous laws are trampled, and He delights to bestow His blessings on all who value them. That desire covers all who live on earth till the close of time, all who come under the mediation of Jesus Christ, whose prosperity depends on obedience to God's requirements, so that the heart steadfastly fixed on the Lord treasures His law more as the masses disregard and despise it.
The verse stands within the repeated giving of God's commandment in Deuteronomy 4-8 and 5:22-33, showing what God required that they might be a holy people unto Himself. His spoken law was to be kept before children and obeyed in every part of life at home and in business. That instruction calls for sanctification of mind, soul, and body and perfect obedience to God's will, with no excuse accepted for disobedience to His commandments. Its precepts practiced prepare people to regain the Paradise lost through disobedience. That instruction is to be studied now because the day of God's great final review is near, when the people of this world must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for their deeds, and because the present is the time of investigation when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity.