Exodus 19:13, commentary and pictures

No one, whether person or animal, was to go up into Sinai or touch its border until the appointed signal was given, and only when the trumpet sounded long were they to come up to the mount. Whoever broke through and touched it was to die at once and with certainty, without a hand laying hold of him, but by being stoned or pierced through. The mount and its border were holy because God was present there and was coming down there to speak His law in awe-inspiring majesty, for wherever He manifests His presence that place is holy. The strict boundary was set to impress a rebellious people with profound veneration for God and for the authority and exalted character of His law, and to teach that everything connected with His service must be regarded with the greatest reverence. As Sinai was consecrated by His presence, so the house dedicated to Him is sacred by that same presence and must be kept separate from common use, and the cleansing and readiness required to hear His law then are required no less now of those who would meet Him.

Boundaries Around Sinai

Soon after the encampment at Sinai, Moses alone climbed the steep path toward the cloud marking the divine presence, where deliverance from Egypt was set as the ground for taking Israel into a close and peculiar relation to the Most High to be incorporated as a church and a nation under divine government. There the offer was made to make them a peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, if they would obey the voice and keep the covenant. When Moses repeated the message to the elders of Israel they answered that all that had been spoken they would do, thus entering a solemn covenant pledging themselves to accept Him as ruler and becoming in a special sense subjects of His authority.

Moses was to set bounds around the mount and place a barrier so that no one would go up into it or touch its border and neither man nor beast would intrude upon the sacred precinct before the appointed signal. No person or animal might touch the mountain, including its border, and only when the trumpet sounded long were they to come up to the mount. This order belonged to the preparation for the visible coming down on the third day, and the long trumpet blast marked when the people might approach.

Whether beast or man, whoever touched the mount was not to live but was surely to be put to death, and no hand was to touch the offender but he was to be stoned or shot through. Even venturing so much as to touch the mount brought instant and certain death, with the sentence falling equally upon person and animal that crossed the boundary.

During the intervening days of solemn preparation to appear before God the people were to sanctify themselves and be ready, with person and clothing freed from impurity and humiliation for sin. They were to wash their clothes and come with clean bodies, being cleansed and sanctified and made ready to meet God and hear His law. Without obeying that injunction to cleanse their clothing they could not so much as listen to the proclamation of the Ten Commandments.

Holiness Revealed at Sinai

The mount and even its border were holy because God was present there and was to descend there to proclaim His law in awe-inspiring grandeur and majesty. No person or animal was permitted to touch it or to cross the set boundary, and whoever did so, whether beast or man, was to be put to death without a hand touching him, by stoning or by being shot through, and was not to live. Only when the trumpet sounded long were the people to come up to the mount, after being cleansed and made ready, with person and clothing sanctified for His presence. Wherever God manifests His presence the place is holy, so a place consecrated by His coming down must be guarded, sanctified, and separated from common use.

The strict boundary and its penalty of instant and certain death for so much as touching the mount were given to impress rebellious Israel with profound and deep veneration for God as the author and authority of His laws. The barrier that kept neither man nor beast from intruding upon the sacred precinct taught the people to treat God's presence and the law proclaimed there with awe and reverence. For a people just delivered from Egyptian slavery it was evidence that God was present in the mount, a God who would not bear iniquity, giving them a knowledge of God as God that they had never had before. God purposed to make the speaking of His law a scene of awful grandeur in keeping with its exalted character, to impress that everything connected with His service must be regarded with the greatest reverence.

On that occasion He descended not to give a new law but to speak with an audible voice in the hearing of all the people His law which already existed. He made the declaration a scene of awful grandeur and sublimity in accordance with its exalted character, to impress profound veneration for the Author of the Ten Commandments. By this He showed to all men the sacredness and importance of His law and exalted Israel as the depositaries of the law to be handed down to all.

Sinful people were forbidden to approach when He descended to proclaim His law, lest they be consumed by the glory of His presence. The trumpet summoned them to meet God, and its terrors represented the judgment. At the final judgment the trumpet and the archangel's voice will summon the living and the dead from all the earth to stand before their Judge.

Reverence Required Today

As Sinai was made holy because God was present and came down there, no person or animal was allowed to touch the mount or even its border, and whoever did so was not to live but was surely to be put to death without a hand touching him, by stoning or shooting through. Wherever God manifests His presence the place is holy, and the same presence that consecrated Sinai makes sacred the temple dedicated to God, with the same voice that proclaimed the law at Sinai hallowing it. That holy guarding of ground set apart by God stands in direct contrast to turning the sacred temple into a marketplace and a house of merchandise, for what is dedicated to the Almighty must be treated as sacred and separated from common use. The people could approach only when the trumpet sounded long, and they were cleansed and sanctified and made ready for God's presence.

The instruction God gave at Sinai still remains needed in the present and is to guide conduct toward one another, and it is to be obeyed as carrying divine authority. It belongs to the account of the Lord coming down on the mount before Israel and giving His law with promises if they obeyed His commandments, proclaimed in the hearing of all the people in awe-inspiring grandeur and majesty as evidence of His mighty power. Those words spoken straight from the lips of God to Moses are to be studied for profit, and obedience to God's commandments is the highest education.

Cleansing was required preparation for hearing that holy law, for ancient Israel could not so much as listen to the proclamation of the Ten Commandments unless they had obeyed the injunction to wash, coming with clean bodies and clean clothing and with strict boundaries around the holy mountain. The same requirement holds now, and no less is required of God's people now, for the Ten Commandments cannot live in the hearts of persons of disorderly, filthy habits, nor can the sacred law be written upon the hearts of those who are not clean in person, in clothing, in their houses, and in mind, thoughts and words. Those who meet to worship God on the Sabbath should if possible wear a neat, well-fitting, comely suit distinct from week-day laboring clothes, because wearing work clothes to the house of worship dishonors the Sabbath and God, and neglect of cleanliness brings disease. God wants His children to be clean and holy and has not changed in this, but requires His children now to be as particular and careful as the children of Israel were to wash their clothes and in all things be clean and neat lest the Lord pass by and see their uncleanness, and this applies above all to those believing they are soon to be made immortal to dwell with holy angels and a holy God and to those preparing for translation to heaven. If persons among them are not clean and tidy and do not mend their ways after admonition upon admonition, the church must disfellowship them because His frown would be upon the camp.

The verse calls God's people to come up to a higher standard, because without that higher standard idolatry in one shape or another will be in their midst and will cut them away from strength. The instruction in Exodus 19 and 20 is of great importance and must be often repeated and sacredly observed, showing the Lord is the only true God who demands that His people be obedient to His Word. It calls all who would stand on the Lord's side, when Satan is using every device to draw people away from truth and righteousness, to keep holy the memorial of creation, the seventh day appointed as a day of rest after the work of creation in six days, blessed and sanctified by the Lord of heaven and earth.