Exodus 19:16, commentary and pictures

On the third morning at Sinai thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud covered the mount and a trumpet sounded exceeding loud, so that all the people in the camp trembled. The trumpet-like summons was made by the angelic host attending the divine Majesty, sounding long and louder and louder until it rose above the tumult and the whole earth trembled. It was the solemn hour when God came down to speak His law directly and audibly in the hearing of all the people, slowly and distinctly, that they could not claim ignorance or confuse His requirements with human traditions. The overwhelming power and glory displayed belonged to the exalted character of that law, to make the people know God's will, revere Him as Lawgiver, Creator and Ruler, and understand the sacredness, permanence and solemn authority of His commandments. That majesty and terror foreshadows the second coming of Christ and the judgment, when the trump of God shall summon living and dead from the whole earth to meet the Judge and the law will be revealed in its majesty as the standard of character.

Historical Setting at Sinai

Exodus 19:16 belongs to the time soon after the encampment at Sinai when Israel was taken into close and peculiar relation to the Most High and incorporated as a church and nation under His government. With upraised hand they entered a solemn covenant to do all the Lord had spoken, pledging to accept Him as ruler and becoming in a special sense the subjects of His authority. In that covenant they became His denominated people pledged to obey all His commandments, His peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation if they would obey His voice and keep His covenant. These signs of thunder, lightning, thick cloud and exceeding loud trumpet marked the solemn occasion when the ten precepts were spoken and the great work of giving the Ten Commandments was done.

Before the manifestation the Lord promised to come to Moses in a thick cloud so that the people might hear when He spoke with him and believe him forever. Moses was charged to set bounds about the mount and to go down and warn the people and the priests not to break through to gaze, lest many perish and lest the Lord break forth upon them. Only Moses and Aaron were permitted to come up, for His presence made the mountain sacred so that neither man nor beast could touch it on penalty of death.

Moses brought the people out of the camp to the nether part of the mount at its base to meet with God, while Sinai was altogether on smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire with smoke as a furnace and the whole mount quaking greatly. He then climbed the steep and rugged solitary heights alone to talk with God, and as the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder Moses spoke and God answered him by a voice. He stood between the people and the Lord, drawing near and entering the thick darkness surrounding the cloud of glory, and Moses and Aaron went up amid the awful glory to receive the law from the lips of God. His form was hidden by the cloud while His voice was heard throughout the camp, speaking the Ten Commandments slowly and distinctly as a wondrous communication to humanity.

This full evidence that God was in the mount, the God who will not bear iniquity, was given to a people delivered from Egyptian slavery who had never had such knowledge of God as the true God before. Four hundred years of bondage had corrupted them by idolatry and many had lost knowledge of His law amid idolatry, while lives spent among the symbols and ceremonies of Egyptian worship obscured the knowledge of God. Therefore God led them apart from Egypt to Sinai to separate them from the world and prepare them to receive His word. There, where nothing attracted the senses or diverted minds from Him, the lofty mountains towering above the vast multitude and the rocks immovable except by the power of the divine will taught them their own nothingness in His sight. Beside those rocks He communicated with men and revealed His glory, proclaiming in power that they might know His will and fear and obey Him forever.

The nineteenth and twentieth chapters of Exodus are of great importance and should be often repeated, and the instruction in them should be sacredly observed. They belong to the account of the Lord coming down on Sinai to give His law with awe-inspiring grandeur and with promises attached to obedience to His commandments. They teach that the Lord is the only true God and demands that His people be obedient to His Word. Obedience to that law is the highest education given to humanity, and at a time when every device is used to draw people from truth all who stand on the Lord's side must keep holy the memorial of creation, the seventh day appointed when God finished His work in six days and blessed and sanctified it.

Preparation to witness Jehovah descend on the mountain in a cloud of glory included washing clothes, which taught God's purity and His concern for physical as well as moral well-being. The revealing of His glory, together with the pillar of cloud and fire that guided Israel, was a granted visible manifestation meeting their desire for something visible. It was given to establish faith in Him as the invisible, all-powerful Helper and only true God.

Signs of Divine Presence

On the third day in the morning thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud marked God's awe-inspiring presence, so that all the people in the camp trembled. It was the solemn occasion when God came down to meet Israel and speak His law directly, and Moses brought the people out of the camp to the foot of the mount to meet with God while Sinai was altogether on smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire with smoke ascending as the smoke of a furnace and the whole mount quaking greatly. This was full evidence before Israel that God was in the mount, the God who will not bear iniquity, and it made a solemn impression upon them, though their later doubt shows even so powerful an experience did not ensure continued trust. As the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder Moses spoke and God answered him by a voice, the Lord came down on the top of the mount and called Moses up, and then was the great work done of giving the Ten Commandments to Israel.

The trumpet-like sound summoning the people to meet with God was made by the angelic host attending the divine Majesty. It sounded long and waxed louder and louder until it rose above the war of the elements and the whole earth trembled and shook as if convulsed. A sound as of a trumpet summoned the people, Moses led them to the base, and the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder until the thunders ceased, the trumpet was no longer heard, the earth was still, and after solemn silence God spoke His law.

The summit was covered with a thick cloud that grew black and dense and swept downward until the whole mountain was wrapped in darkness and awful mystery. The cloud grew denser every moment in billowy, violently surging form like a pall over the mount, with vivid flashing lightnings from the darkness and peals of thunder echoing among the heights, reverberating from peak to peak and rolling down Horeb as groaning muttering thunders like supernatural voices, as if the mountain would break apart. Smoke ascended as from a furnace because the Lord descended in fire, with devouring fire and flame and smoke and fiery flames, tempest and blackness and darkness, the glory of the Lord looking like devouring fire. Earthquake shook the mountain from base to summit and the whole mount quaked greatly, groaning and trembling under the footsteps of God while the mountain shook and the people stood in awe of His majesty and power.

The divine Majesty descended in a cloud with a glorious retinue of angels appearing as flames of fire, and the mount was surrounded by angels when God spoke out of the thick darkness. His form was hidden by the cloud, but His voice was heard throughout the camp of Israel in trumpet-like tones. Light accompanied the manifestation as a symbol of God's presence, and the glory looking like devouring fire was the most sublime and awful symbol of God's presence ever witnessed, given to announce His law.

Giving of the Law

The morning of the third day marks the solemn meeting when God came down upon Sinai to speak His law directly and audibly in the hearing of all Israel. He uttered the Ten Commandments slowly and distinctly before the whole camp, and afterward wrote them on stone, so that no one could plead ignorance or confuse His requirements with human traditions. The awe of thunder, lightning, thick cloud, and exceeding loud trumpet made a solemn impression, yet even so great an experience did not by itself secure continued trust. The chapter belongs to the giving of God's law with promises attached to obedience, and obedience to that law is the highest education given to humanity.

The overwhelming display of power and glory was in keeping with the exalted character of the law itself. God joined this sublime exhibition to the declaration of His law so that the people would know His will, hold profound veneration for its Author, and never forget the scene. The signs impressed reverence for Him as Lawgiver and Creator and as the only true and living God and Ruler of the world, and set forth the sacredness, importance, permanence, and solemn authority of His law. His form was hidden by the cloud while His voice was heard throughout the camp in wondrous communication to humanity, and the terror it produced made even the careless tremble, drew the people back from the mount, and led them to ask that Moses speak to them lest they die. In this way the people were taught to fear transgression and to regard with reverence everything connected with God, whose presence made the mount so sacred that neither man nor beast could touch it on pain of death.

What was thus declared was not instituted as a new law at Sinai. It was the moral law, the old commandment which was from the beginning, spoken amid smoke and flame, thunder and earthquake. It had been given in Eden as the transcript of His character, and was afterward written on tables of stone by the finger of God. By it the will of the infinite God was revealed to a people called to make known to every nation, kindred, and tongue the principles of His government in heaven and in earth.

The Sabbath of the fourth commandment was spoken in that grandeur and written by God's own finger on the tables of stone. It still reads exactly as then spoken, commanding six days of labor and keeping the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord, with nothing there abolishing it or changing it to the first day. After four hundred years of Egyptian slavery that had corrupted Israel by idolatry, God called them out to obey His laws and to keep His Sabbath instituted in Eden, and by this solemn giving laid the foundation of many generations through teaching children the binding claims of His holy precepts. The care, holiness, and glory surrounding the commandments show their permanence, so that to behold the fourth commandment in that Sinai light brings trembling and mourning over trampling it by keeping a day handed down by heathen and papists instead of Jehovah's sanctified day. The Sabbath command belongs to the law whose knowledge and sacred obligation have been preserved, even when the power called the man of sin suppressed it and faithful souls kept its observance in hiding, and all who would stand on the Lord's side must keep holy the memorial of creation, the seventh day appointed when God finished His work in six days and blessed and sanctified it.

Israel was greatly exalted in being made depositaries of the law, entrusted not for themselves alone but to hand the precepts down and teach them to children and later generations for admonition. The grandeur of the audible voice marked the law's importance for all ages, and what was proclaimed applies now as truly as to ancient Israel and is to be kept today. The Sinai proclamation displayed God's mighty power in order to preserve humanity from total apostasy. Its sacred and exalted character is most fully estimated by those who accept Christ as Redeemer and foundation of the entire Jewish system.

Christ the Lawgiver

The Father and the Son were present upon the mount attended by a multitude of angels when the thunders and lightnings and thick cloud and exceeding loud trumpet made all the people in the camp tremble. The Son of God descended upon rocky Horeb to speak the law in the hearing of all the people, making the rocks His sanctuary and the everlasting hills His temple. The earth shook and trembled as if convulsed under the stately tread of the Lord Jehovah and His Son upon the mountain, while Moses and Aaron went up amid the awful glory to receive the law from the lips of God.

Christ in union with the Father proclaimed the law at Sinai amid the thunders to the assembled multitude of Israel after their deliverance from bondage in Egypt. He was the leader of the Hebrews marching from Egypt to Canaan, and He spoke the law in awful grandeur because many had lost knowledge of God's law amid idolatry, that they might know His will and fear and obey Him forever. He commanded attention when He gave the law through the trumpets and thunder, rather than through worldly pomp and grandeur, and the events displayed His exalted character. The thunder, lightning, thick cloud, and loud trumpet signaled His majesty and authority as Ruler of the world and impressed upon the people the law's sacredness and importance, which is to be obeyed. The principles of the law He proclaimed there were the same principles He later taught on the mount of the beatitudes.

The voice heard at Sinai when God proclaimed the law was powerful and unmistakable. That voice was Christ's voice, carrying the same divine authority when He rebuked those who were violating God's law in the temple.

Foreshadowing of Final Judgment

The meeting of God with Israel at Sinai took place in terror and majesty, and at the signal the summons to meet God was repeated along the camp until the people gathered pale and anxious around the mount in painful stillness. Then a mighty trumpet pealed from the mount amid terrific thunder and lightning, with earthquake shaking the mountain from base to summit and a black terrible cloud like a pall over it giving smoke and fiery flames. The thunder reverberated from peak to peak and rolled down Horeb as if the mountain would break apart and fall on the people, who fell prostrate, clung to one another in terror, and confessed long-concealed sins in repentance and humility, while the mountain groaned and trembled under the footsteps of God. Moses was called up and climbed the quivering mountain amid smoke and flame out of sight, then descended, and God spoke His holy law until the people retreated and left Moses alone. The majesty and terror of that scene foreshadows the judgment when Christ comes the second time, when the loud trumpet will resound from one end of the earth to the other, pierce the prison house of death, break the sleep of the dead, and raise them to receive according to the deeds done in the body.

The manifestation of power and burning glory was at the place chosen for the proclamation of the law, and because of sinfulness Israel was forbidden to approach the mount lest they be consumed by that glory, while the Father and the Son attended by a multitude of angels were present upon the mount. The terrors of Sinai were to represent to the people the scenes of the judgment and the great day of final retribution when God comes for the execution of these sacred statutes. As the sound of the trumpet summoned Israel to meet with God, so the voice of the archangel and the trump of God shall summon both the living and the dead from the whole earth to the presence of their Judge. That summoning shows how terrible His tribunal will be and how those who trampled His authority will endure His glory.

The glory and majesty that attended the declaration of the law included God and the holy angels present, with blackness and darkness, blazing lightning, thunder, tempest, earthquake, the trumpet waxing louder and louder, and the voice of God proclaiming the law that had been largely lost sight of amid Egypt's idolatry. That glory has faded from minds that should have kept it in remembrance. But when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven in His own glory and His Father's and the holy angels', the law will be revealed in its majesty as God's standard of character. Then the Sinai scene will be vividly brought before every mind, both commandment-keepers and transgressors, with the Eden institution of the Sabbath. It will convince those who broke the law in defiant rebellion, taught that it is no longer binding, confined the Sabbath of the fourth commandment to the Jews, and despised the prophets' warnings, that they are guilty of transgression.

Connections to Other Scripture

The awful grandeur of flame and smoke when the law was spoken stands in marked contrast to the quiet, beautiful morning of the Sermon on the Mount. On the third morning a thick cloud covered the mountain and grew denser every moment in billowy, violently surging form, with flashing lightnings and groaning, muttering thunders like supernatural voices reverberating from peak to peak. Trumpet-like sounds swelled louder and louder until rising above the war of the elements, while the earth shook and trembled as if convulsed under the stately tread of the Lord Jehovah and His Son upon the mountain. Thunder, lightning, thick cloud, loud trumpet, and trembling people filled the scene with solemn awe, and all that majesty was necessary to impress solemnity upon children of Israel whose lives had been spent among the symbols and ceremonies of Egyptian worship. Yet the principles proclaimed amid that terror were the same principles later taught on the mount of the beatitudes, for Christ proclaimed the law at Sinai and taught it again in blessing.

The same Mighty One who descended upon Sinai amid fire and smoke and thunder parted the Red Sea and made a way through Jordan for the children of Israel. That same power was manifested again in a terrible storm bursting upon the advancing Philistine host while the lamb was presented as a burnt offering. The storm strewed the earth with the dead bodies of mighty warriors.

The mighty manifestations of power and majesty at Sinai, with the trumpet waxing louder and the mountain wrapped in awful mystery, were among the events widely known to Balaam. They showed how terrible it is for finite people to oppose the infinite God.

Response and Present Application

All the hosts of Israel trembled with fear before the tokens of the divine presence, stood terror-stricken with every face pale, receded from the base of the mount, fell on their faces prostrate, clung to one another in terror, and confessed long-concealed sins in repentance and humility. Even Moses exceedingly feared and quaked amid the awful glory. The trembling of the whole camp, with even the best shaking with fear, shows the reverence due to God and to everything connected with Him, whose presence made the mount sacred. That fear is a lesson that people in every age have reason to tremble at God's will.

Overwhelmed with terror the people drew back from the mountain and implored that God's word come through Moses and not by the direct terrible voice, fearing to hear God directly lest they die. The memory of that terrifying glory and majesty in thunder, lightning, thick cloud and exceeding loud trumpet should have reminded Israel of God's holiness and their duty to obey Him and turned them from making idols. Preparation for witnessing the descent had included washing clothes, which taught God's purity and His concern for physical as well as moral well-being. Yet with the cloud of the Presence still resting in sight upon the mountain the people turned back in heart to Egyptian idolatry and represented that glory by an ox.

The law heard amid that display is to be meditated upon to gain clearer understanding of God's requirements, to humble the heart to receive further revelations, to be shielded from temptation, and obedience to it was the condition for inheriting the promised land flowing with milk and honey. The solemn impression made at Sinai did not by itself ensure continued trust, for later doubt followed the powerful experience. Even all the thunders and lightnings, the greatest and most fearful outward display of God's power, will not move those who refuse to be moved by the plain truths of God's word, nor would an angel's message awake them. Such hardened unbelief under Satan's influence leaves rebels in spiritual stupor and danger to be purged amid speedily coming judgments, trouble and bloodshed, so God's people must get ready.

The manifestation calls God's people into covenant relation that leaves no room for idolatry, requiring them to keep minds on the living God and serve Him lest they commit idolatry over humanity or anything on earth. It means God's image is to be produced in mind, in words and in character to be carried out in life, while judgment upon judgment is coming upon the earth. The nineteenth and twentieth chapters of Exodus are of great importance and should be often repeated and sacredly observed, teaching that the Lord is the only true God demanding obedience to His word, and at a time when every device is used to draw away from truth all who stand on the Lord's side must keep holy the memorial of creation, the seventh day appointed as rest when God finished creation in six days and blessed and sanctified it. That most sublime and awful announcement of the law written with nine other commands on stone for the government of all places God's sanction upon the command forbidding unchastity and proves He looks upon it with infinite loathing and abhorrence. Hearing those words spoken amid awful grandeur underscores the solemn authority of God's claims and the seriousness of His words, which can awaken sinners to their duty, while means spent on personal pictures should instead be put into missionary work with a missionary box in every house, and corrupting picture-taking and magazines brought into homes set aside and children taught to understand this.