And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God and stationed them at the foot, the nether part of the mount. God descended upon Sinai in fire with thick cloud and smoke, lightning and thunder, earthquake and an exceeding loud trumpet, revealing His glory, majesty and authority as the only true and living God. There He Himself, even Christ in union with the Father, spoke the Ten Commandments aloud in the hearing of all the people, not as a new law but as His eternal law made clear and distinct after it had been obscured in Egypt. The awful grandeur of the giving showed the sacredness, importance and ever-binding permanence of that law as the transcript of His unchangeable character. As the trumpet summoned Israel to meet God, so the trump of God shall summon the living and the dead to the judgment, when Christ comes with His angels and the terrors of Sinai are repeated in final retribution.
Meeting Place and Moment
Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God and stationed them at the nether part, the foot, the base of the mount below it. The meeting took place as God descended upon the mountain in fire and cloud amid smoke and great shaking, with a glorious company of angels appearing like flames giving evidence that He is God who will not tolerate iniquity. The encounter was the direct setting in which God gave Israel His law and made promises conditional on obedience, leading to the speaking of the Ten Commandments.
It came soon after encamping at Sinai after three months of travel from Egypt, on the morning of the third day in response to a trumpet summons and after commanded preparation including washing of clothes and a solemn covenant with upraised hand to do all the Lord had spoken. On that third morning millions were brought out to stand at the base under thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud and an exceedingly loud trumpet that made all in the camp tremble, with Sinai smoking because the Lord descended upon it in fire with smoke like a furnace and great quaking and a trumpet growing louder and louder. The people had pledged to keep all His commandments and had become His denominated people, and they were called to prepare themselves to hear the law amid awful grandeur in keeping with the law about to be given.
The mountain setting among God's created works, far from human buildings and human constructions, gave Israel nothing to attract the senses or divert the mind from God. As the vast multitude looked at the lofty mountains towering above them beside rocks immovable except by divine will, they were helped to recognize their insignificance and nothingness before the Almighty. Sinai, also called rocky Horeb, was a mountain God chose as His own temple, where He made the rocks His sanctuary and the everlasting hills His temple. Brought apart from Egypt and the world to the mountain to receive His word, to have His glory revealed and His law proclaimed amid thunder and lightning, Israel met there a place made sacred to all who love and revere the law of God.
Moses went alone up the steep and rugged path to the cloud marking Jehovah's presence, stood between the people and the Lord, drew nigh and entered the thick darkness surrounding the cloud of glory, and talked with God face to face amid thunder and lightnings as God answered him by voice from the top of the mount. With Aaron he went up amid awful glory to receive the law from God's lips, while priests and people were charged not to break through to gaze or touch the mount on penalty of death lest many perish. A thick cloud and darkness mercifully shielded the people from the glory of His presence, yet as He stood upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels they could hear His voice speaking out of the thick darkness that enshrouded Him.
Divine Display and Terror
God came down upon the mount in fire, wrapped in a thick black surging cloud with smoke rising like the smoke of a furnace and devouring fire blazing on the top in the sight of all in dazzling light. Vivid lightnings flashed from the darkness, thunders muttered and echoed among the heights, tempest shook the earth, the whole mount quaked greatly, and a trumpet exceeding loud sounded long and waxed louder and louder until all in the camp trembled and the whole earth trembled. He stood upon the mount enshrouded in thick darkness, with a glorious retinue of angels attending the divine Majesty and appearing like flames of fire, and there was heard the stately tread of Jehovah and His Son upon the mountain with a trumpet-like voice that all could hear.
The display made known His glory, power, greatness, majesty, and authority as Ruler of the world, impressing confidence in its Author and the sacredness and importance of obeying what He spoke. It gave evidence that He is the only true and living God, and that He would not tolerate iniquity. It showed that with Him there is no change, so that His will, Word, promises, and covenant remain unchangeable, immutable, and eternal.
The tokens of His presence were so terrible that all in the camp trembled, the hosts shook with fear and fell on their faces, and even the best of Israel shook. The people stood terror-stricken with faces pale as the dead and eyes fixed in awe, then receded and shrank away from the base overwhelmed by grandeur and terrible majesty. Even Moses exceedingly feared and quaked.
Overwhelmed by the terrible voice, they begged that the word come through Moses and not by God's direct speech, crying to him to speak with them lest they die.
Covenant and Law Proclaimed
At the mount Israel was taken into a close and peculiar relation to God to be incorporated as a church and nation under His government, becoming in a special sense subjects of His authority pledged to accept Him as ruler. Moses went alone up the steep and rugged path to the cloud marking Jehovah's presence to receive the message for the people, then returned to the camp to repeat to the elders that obedience and keeping the covenant would make them a peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, to which they answered that they would do all the Lord had spoken and thereby entered a solemn covenant. With upraised hand they made a solemn covenant to obey all that the Lord had spoken and became His denominated people pledged to keep all His commandments, set apart to Him as His covenant people, a holy nation. The meeting was the direct preparation for the giving of the Ten Commandments, taking place on the third day in the morning amid thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud and an exceedingly loud trumpet that made all in the camp tremble, while Sinai smoked because the Lord descended upon it in fire with smoke like a furnace and great quaking and a trumpet growing louder and louder as Moses spoke and God answered by voice from the top of the mount where He called Moses up. There God graciously condescended to come down upon Mount Sinai after Israel had entered covenant to be His peculiar treasure, bringing them out of tents and encampments to meet with Him amid displays of divine power and terrifying signs of His presence that taught them reverence for His law, while the people stood at a distance in fear as the law was spoken.
God's presence made the mountain sacred, so neither man nor beast could touch it on penalty of death, teaching that everything connected with God must be regarded with greatest reverence, and priests and people were charged not to break through to gaze lest many perish. The meeting was made a scene of awful grandeur and sublimity in accordance with the exalted character of the law, with smoke as a furnace, fire, thunder, quaking earth, and a trumpet voice waxing louder and louder rolling down the mountain, so that even the best of Israel shook with fear and fell on their faces. God joined such sublime exhibitions of power to the declaration of His law so the people would never forget the scene and would be impressed with profound veneration for its Author, showing to all men the sacredness and importance of His law, and the people were bidden to prepare themselves and had pledged to prepare themselves to hear the law. Israel was greatly exalted by being made the depositaries of the law to hand it down to later generations and preserve its memory, for the ten precepts were not given exclusively to Israel.
There God, even Christ the Redeemer in union with the Father, spoke the Ten Commandments aloud with His own lips and voice in the hearing of all the people, and the law was also written by His finger on tables of stone and placed in the ark. The encounter was part of the solemn occasion when God and angels came to Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai, brought out of the camp to meet God as His presence descended upon the mountain, belonging to the account that leads to the speaking of the Ten Commandments and presenting this encounter as the setting in which God gave Israel His law and made promises conditional on their obedience. On the morning of the third day God spoke out of the thick darkness that enshrouded Him as He stood upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels and made known His law, descending upon the mount in fire in a thick cloud with a glorious retinue of angels appearing as flames of fire, while the whole mount was covered with smoke ascending as the smoke of a furnace and quaked greatly. The angelic host attending the divine Majesty summoned the people with a sound like a trumpet exceeding loud that waxed louder and louder until all the people in the camp trembled and the whole earth trembled, and the awful grandeur and sublime exhibition of authority accompanied the speaking of the law from Sinai so the people would believe and know that He is the only true and living God. Moses stood between the people and the Lord, drawing nigh and entering the thick darkness surrounding the cloud of glory without being permitted to enter within it, talking with God as God answered by voice, while a thick cloud mercifully shielded the people from the glory of His presence yet they could hear His voice through the cloud. God accompanied the proclamation with manifestations of His power and glory to impress the people with profound veneration for the Author of the law, the Creator of heaven and earth, and to show to all men the sacredness, importance, and permanence of His law, so that the people overwhelmed with terror shrank away from the mountain in fear and awe, crying to Moses to speak with them and not let God speak with them lest they die.
God came down not to give a new law but to proclaim aloud the law that already existed, speaking aloud in the hearing of all the people His law which already existed. Its authority had been obscured and largely lost during bondage amid Egyptian idolatry, the people having largely lost knowledge of the law during their bondage in Egypt. God made it known at Sinai to preserve people from apostasy, so that it would be made known, clear and distinct. Its declaration was accompanied by grandeur including God's presence, darkness, lightning, thunder, tempest, earthquake, and the trumpet growing louder as God proclaimed the law.
God brought Israel apart from Egypt and the world to bring them near Himself, leading them from Egypt to Mount Sinai to take them apart from the world, bring them near Himself, and prepare them to receive His word. There He talked with them through Moses, taught them His law, revealed His glory and will so they would know His will, fear Him, and obey Him, giving them evidence that He was God and would not tolerate iniquity. His purpose was to produce His image in them in mind, in words, and in character, which they are to carry out, and to reveal to them His glory and the will of the infinite God to a people called to make known to every nation, kindred, and tongue the principles of His government in heaven and earth. He proclaimed amid thunder and lightning and with terrible majesty and awe-inspiring grandeur, so His word would ever be clear and distinct, the same law given in Eden as the transcript of His character, with the words written on tables of stone by His finger, the Sabbath, the fourth commandment, being part of the law proclaimed there. The waiting that followed the gathering gave the people time to reflect on that law and prepare for further revelations, while the cloud of God's presence remained on the mountain where the people had gathered to meet God and hear His law.
Nature and Permanence of Law
The awful grandeur that accompanied the proclamation was fitted to the exalted character of the law, with smoke ascending as from a furnace, fire, thunder, quaking earth, thick darkness enshrouding Him as He stood upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels, and a trumpet voice waxing louder and louder, so that even the best of Israel shook with fear, fell on their faces, and shrank away in terror crying for Moses to speak lest they die. God joined such sublime exhibitions of power and glory to the declaration of His law so the people would never forget the scene, revealing His majesty and authority as Ruler of the world and Creator of heaven and earth, impressing them with profound veneration for its Author, inspiring confidence in Him, and showing to all men the sacredness, importance, and permanence of His law and the importance of obeying its ever-binding requirements. The scene at the foot of the mount before the Ten Commandments were spoken thus displays the law's sacred, enduring character and binding claims, meant to impress the people with His majesty and the sacredness of His requirements and to make them feel their human weakness before Him.
His law as His will, His Word, His promises, and His covenant of peace remains unchangeable, immutable, and eternal, more enduring than the mountains themselves, for with Him there is no change. The solid rock tablets on which He wrote that law signify the immutability of His precepts, and the rocky Horeb where the Son spoke to Moses from the mountaintop amid thunders and lightnings and the thick cloud, with a voice like a trumpet exceeding loud, was made by the rocks as His sanctuary and the everlasting hills as His temple sacred to all who love and revere the law of God. That same law given in Eden as the transcript of His character was proclaimed amid thunder and lightning and with terrible majesty so His word would ever be clear and distinct, with the words written on tables of stone by His finger to reveal the will of the infinite God. It is the old commandment from the beginning, namely the moral law and Ten Commandments for the universal government of all people, prohibiting other gods, idolatry, vain use of God's name, Sabbath-breaking, dishonor to parents, killing, adultery, stealing, false witness, and coveting, including the command forbidding unchastity upon which God looks with extreme loathing and abhorrence amid the most sublime and awful symbols of the divine presence ever witnessed.
The fourth commandment then spoken in solemn and awful grandeur while lightnings flashed and thunders rolled is unchanged and reads the same as when written by His finger on the tables of stone, commanding labor on six days and rest on the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, with nothing abolishing it or changing it to the first day. The ten commandments are kept close by Jehovah, overshadowed and protected by His holiness, so that keeping a day handed down by heathen and papists instead of the sanctified day tramples the fourth commandment and is transgression to be humbled over and mourned. The Sabbath was part of the law proclaimed there in awe-inspiring majesty so the people would know His will and fear and obey Him, and the gathering was part of God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt so they could keep the Sabbath and obey His commandments.
The law came from God, not from Moses or any human mind, spoken by Christ who was preexistent and equal with God, with the Father and the Son present upon the mount attended by a multitude of angels, the thunder and trumpet sounds commanding attention and showing His exalted character. Because of their sinfulness the people were forbidden to approach lest they be consumed by the burning glory of His presence, and God's presence made the mountain sacred so neither man nor beast could touch it on penalty of death, teaching that everything connected with God must be regarded with greatest reverence. Israel was greatly exalted by being made the depositaries of the law to hand it down, preserve its memory, and make its government known to later generations and to every nation, kindred, and tongue, for the ten precepts were not given exclusively to Israel. Obedience to all God's commandments is the highest education, taught by God rather than by unsanctified human teachers, on which prosperity depended, guarding against injustice and guiding how to treat one another, calling for love among believers and softened, subdued hearts, with Sinai chosen as His own temple where He revealed His glory and spoke His law aloud with unmatched grandeur to show the importance of God's law for all ages and the duty to keep His commandments.
Their preparation including washing their clothes teaches about God's purity and His care for their physical and moral well-being as they assembled at the base where He was to descend in a cloud of glory and speak the Ten Commandments. That same divine voice that proclaimed the law spoke through Christ when He rebuked the temple's misuse, confronting the priests and rulers for transgressing the law.
Foreshadowing Final Judgment
The trumpet that summoned Israel out to meet with God at the foot of the mount when He came down to proclaim His law foreshadows the voice of the archangel and the trump of God that shall summon both the living and the dead from the whole earth to the presence of their Judge. The terrors of Sinai represent the scenes of the judgment tribunal when God comes for the execution of those sacred statutes. Because of their sinfulness the people were forbidden to approach the mount, lest they be consumed by the burning glory of His presence. The Father and the Son were present upon the mount attended by a multitude of angels, and so Christ will come in the glory of His Father with His angels to sit upon the throne of His glory with all nations gathered before Him. That glory those who have trampled His authority cannot endure in the great day of final retribution.
The meeting at the mount to bring the people out to meet Him and to produce His image in them in mind and words and character carries warning that judgment upon judgment is coming upon the earth, so what God said there with His own lips must be heeded, beginning with the Old Testament. That manifestation of divine power amid fire and smoke and thunder when Moses led Israel from the camp to meet God at the foot of Sinai serves as a precedent for God's later intervention against the Philistines. The mighty manifestations of God's power and majesty at Sinai were known to Balaam and showed how terrible it is for finite people to oppose the infinite God.
Human Response and Warning
The people answered Moses' summons to meet with God by gathering at the mountain in solemn awe, and the terror of that scene brings hidden sins to confession and softens hardened hearts in repentance and humility. To draw near to the mount is to seek to understand what God commands so that each person can obey.
Despite solemn pledges of loyalty, and though overwhelmed by God's presence they had asked Moses to hear God's words for them, doubt and unbelief soon displaced trust. While waiting for Moses they demanded a visible substitute and turned to make the golden calf. The memory of that solemn encounter at Sinai, where God spoke His law in glory and majesty and Israel covenanted to obey, should have shown the horror of making other gods and should have strengthened refusal of their demand even at the cost of life.
Even the thunders and lightnings and trumpet of Sinai cannot move people who refuse to be moved by the plain truths of God's word. They cannot awake those settled in unbelief and unaware of danger, nor those who refuse an angel's message, no more than a message spoken by an angel in his own language could awake them.
That terrible majesty stands in marked contrast to Christ's gentle teaching on the grassy mount. On the third morning millions stood at the base under a thick surging cloud with flashing lightnings, muttering thunders reverberating from peak to peak, a trumpet swelling louder and louder, shaking earth, flame and smoke, the stately tread of Jehovah and His Son upon the mountain, and God's trumpet-like voice heard by all. The people stood terror-stricken with faces pale as the dead and eyes fixed in awe, then receded from the base overwhelmed by grandeur while Moses and Aaron went up amid awful glory to receive the law from God's lips. Such majesty was necessary to impress solemnity on minds shaped by Egyptian symbols and ceremonies, to prove them and put God's fear before them so they would not sin, causing them to beg that the word come through Moses and not by God's direct terrible voice lest they die.
Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God and stationed them at the foot, the nether part of the mount. God descended upon Sinai in fire with thick cloud and smoke, lightning and thunder, earthquake and an exceeding loud trumpet, revealing His glory, majesty and authority as the only true and living God. There He Himself, even Christ in union with the Father, spoke the Ten Commandments aloud in the hearing of all the people, not as a new law but as His eternal law made clear and distinct after it had been obscured in Egypt. The awful grandeur of the giving showed the sacredness, importance and ever-binding permanence of that law as the transcript of His unchangeable character. As the trumpet summoned Israel to meet God, so the trump of God shall summon the living and the dead to the judgment, when Christ comes with His angels and the terrors of Sinai are repeated in final retribution.
Meeting Place and Moment
Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God and stationed them at the nether part, the foot, the base of the mount below it. The meeting took place as God descended upon the mountain in fire and cloud amid smoke and great shaking, with a glorious company of angels appearing like flames giving evidence that He is God who will not tolerate iniquity. The encounter was the direct setting in which God gave Israel His law and made promises conditional on obedience, leading to the speaking of the Ten Commandments.
It came soon after encamping at Sinai after three months of travel from Egypt, on the morning of the third day in response to a trumpet summons and after commanded preparation including washing of clothes and a solemn covenant with upraised hand to do all the Lord had spoken. On that third morning millions were brought out to stand at the base under thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud and an exceedingly loud trumpet that made all in the camp tremble, with Sinai smoking because the Lord descended upon it in fire with smoke like a furnace and great quaking and a trumpet growing louder and louder. The people had pledged to keep all His commandments and had become His denominated people, and they were called to prepare themselves to hear the law amid awful grandeur in keeping with the law about to be given.
The mountain setting among God's created works, far from human buildings and human constructions, gave Israel nothing to attract the senses or divert the mind from God. As the vast multitude looked at the lofty mountains towering above them beside rocks immovable except by divine will, they were helped to recognize their insignificance and nothingness before the Almighty. Sinai, also called rocky Horeb, was a mountain God chose as His own temple, where He made the rocks His sanctuary and the everlasting hills His temple. Brought apart from Egypt and the world to the mountain to receive His word, to have His glory revealed and His law proclaimed amid thunder and lightning, Israel met there a place made sacred to all who love and revere the law of God.
Moses went alone up the steep and rugged path to the cloud marking Jehovah's presence, stood between the people and the Lord, drew nigh and entered the thick darkness surrounding the cloud of glory, and talked with God face to face amid thunder and lightnings as God answered him by voice from the top of the mount. With Aaron he went up amid awful glory to receive the law from God's lips, while priests and people were charged not to break through to gaze or touch the mount on penalty of death lest many perish. A thick cloud and darkness mercifully shielded the people from the glory of His presence, yet as He stood upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels they could hear His voice speaking out of the thick darkness that enshrouded Him.
Divine Display and Terror
God came down upon the mount in fire, wrapped in a thick black surging cloud with smoke rising like the smoke of a furnace and devouring fire blazing on the top in the sight of all in dazzling light. Vivid lightnings flashed from the darkness, thunders muttered and echoed among the heights, tempest shook the earth, the whole mount quaked greatly, and a trumpet exceeding loud sounded long and waxed louder and louder until all in the camp trembled and the whole earth trembled. He stood upon the mount enshrouded in thick darkness, with a glorious retinue of angels attending the divine Majesty and appearing like flames of fire, and there was heard the stately tread of Jehovah and His Son upon the mountain with a trumpet-like voice that all could hear.
The display made known His glory, power, greatness, majesty, and authority as Ruler of the world, impressing confidence in its Author and the sacredness and importance of obeying what He spoke. It gave evidence that He is the only true and living God, and that He would not tolerate iniquity. It showed that with Him there is no change, so that His will, Word, promises, and covenant remain unchangeable, immutable, and eternal.
The tokens of His presence were so terrible that all in the camp trembled, the hosts shook with fear and fell on their faces, and even the best of Israel shook. The people stood terror-stricken with faces pale as the dead and eyes fixed in awe, then receded and shrank away from the base overwhelmed by grandeur and terrible majesty. Even Moses exceedingly feared and quaked.
Overwhelmed by the terrible voice, they begged that the word come through Moses and not by God's direct speech, crying to him to speak with them lest they die.
Covenant and Law Proclaimed
At the mount Israel was taken into a close and peculiar relation to God to be incorporated as a church and nation under His government, becoming in a special sense subjects of His authority pledged to accept Him as ruler. Moses went alone up the steep and rugged path to the cloud marking Jehovah's presence to receive the message for the people, then returned to the camp to repeat to the elders that obedience and keeping the covenant would make them a peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, to which they answered that they would do all the Lord had spoken and thereby entered a solemn covenant. With upraised hand they made a solemn covenant to obey all that the Lord had spoken and became His denominated people pledged to keep all His commandments, set apart to Him as His covenant people, a holy nation. The meeting was the direct preparation for the giving of the Ten Commandments, taking place on the third day in the morning amid thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud and an exceedingly loud trumpet that made all in the camp tremble, while Sinai smoked because the Lord descended upon it in fire with smoke like a furnace and great quaking and a trumpet growing louder and louder as Moses spoke and God answered by voice from the top of the mount where He called Moses up. There God graciously condescended to come down upon Mount Sinai after Israel had entered covenant to be His peculiar treasure, bringing them out of tents and encampments to meet with Him amid displays of divine power and terrifying signs of His presence that taught them reverence for His law, while the people stood at a distance in fear as the law was spoken.
God's presence made the mountain sacred, so neither man nor beast could touch it on penalty of death, teaching that everything connected with God must be regarded with greatest reverence, and priests and people were charged not to break through to gaze lest many perish. The meeting was made a scene of awful grandeur and sublimity in accordance with the exalted character of the law, with smoke as a furnace, fire, thunder, quaking earth, and a trumpet voice waxing louder and louder rolling down the mountain, so that even the best of Israel shook with fear and fell on their faces. God joined such sublime exhibitions of power to the declaration of His law so the people would never forget the scene and would be impressed with profound veneration for its Author, showing to all men the sacredness and importance of His law, and the people were bidden to prepare themselves and had pledged to prepare themselves to hear the law. Israel was greatly exalted by being made the depositaries of the law to hand it down to later generations and preserve its memory, for the ten precepts were not given exclusively to Israel.
There God, even Christ the Redeemer in union with the Father, spoke the Ten Commandments aloud with His own lips and voice in the hearing of all the people, and the law was also written by His finger on tables of stone and placed in the ark. The encounter was part of the solemn occasion when God and angels came to Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai, brought out of the camp to meet God as His presence descended upon the mountain, belonging to the account that leads to the speaking of the Ten Commandments and presenting this encounter as the setting in which God gave Israel His law and made promises conditional on their obedience. On the morning of the third day God spoke out of the thick darkness that enshrouded Him as He stood upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels and made known His law, descending upon the mount in fire in a thick cloud with a glorious retinue of angels appearing as flames of fire, while the whole mount was covered with smoke ascending as the smoke of a furnace and quaked greatly. The angelic host attending the divine Majesty summoned the people with a sound like a trumpet exceeding loud that waxed louder and louder until all the people in the camp trembled and the whole earth trembled, and the awful grandeur and sublime exhibition of authority accompanied the speaking of the law from Sinai so the people would believe and know that He is the only true and living God. Moses stood between the people and the Lord, drawing nigh and entering the thick darkness surrounding the cloud of glory without being permitted to enter within it, talking with God as God answered by voice, while a thick cloud mercifully shielded the people from the glory of His presence yet they could hear His voice through the cloud. God accompanied the proclamation with manifestations of His power and glory to impress the people with profound veneration for the Author of the law, the Creator of heaven and earth, and to show to all men the sacredness, importance, and permanence of His law, so that the people overwhelmed with terror shrank away from the mountain in fear and awe, crying to Moses to speak with them and not let God speak with them lest they die.
God came down not to give a new law but to proclaim aloud the law that already existed, speaking aloud in the hearing of all the people His law which already existed. Its authority had been obscured and largely lost during bondage amid Egyptian idolatry, the people having largely lost knowledge of the law during their bondage in Egypt. God made it known at Sinai to preserve people from apostasy, so that it would be made known, clear and distinct. Its declaration was accompanied by grandeur including God's presence, darkness, lightning, thunder, tempest, earthquake, and the trumpet growing louder as God proclaimed the law.
God brought Israel apart from Egypt and the world to bring them near Himself, leading them from Egypt to Mount Sinai to take them apart from the world, bring them near Himself, and prepare them to receive His word. There He talked with them through Moses, taught them His law, revealed His glory and will so they would know His will, fear Him, and obey Him, giving them evidence that He was God and would not tolerate iniquity. His purpose was to produce His image in them in mind, in words, and in character, which they are to carry out, and to reveal to them His glory and the will of the infinite God to a people called to make known to every nation, kindred, and tongue the principles of His government in heaven and earth. He proclaimed amid thunder and lightning and with terrible majesty and awe-inspiring grandeur, so His word would ever be clear and distinct, the same law given in Eden as the transcript of His character, with the words written on tables of stone by His finger, the Sabbath, the fourth commandment, being part of the law proclaimed there. The waiting that followed the gathering gave the people time to reflect on that law and prepare for further revelations, while the cloud of God's presence remained on the mountain where the people had gathered to meet God and hear His law.
Nature and Permanence of Law
The awful grandeur that accompanied the proclamation was fitted to the exalted character of the law, with smoke ascending as from a furnace, fire, thunder, quaking earth, thick darkness enshrouding Him as He stood upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels, and a trumpet voice waxing louder and louder, so that even the best of Israel shook with fear, fell on their faces, and shrank away in terror crying for Moses to speak lest they die. God joined such sublime exhibitions of power and glory to the declaration of His law so the people would never forget the scene, revealing His majesty and authority as Ruler of the world and Creator of heaven and earth, impressing them with profound veneration for its Author, inspiring confidence in Him, and showing to all men the sacredness, importance, and permanence of His law and the importance of obeying its ever-binding requirements. The scene at the foot of the mount before the Ten Commandments were spoken thus displays the law's sacred, enduring character and binding claims, meant to impress the people with His majesty and the sacredness of His requirements and to make them feel their human weakness before Him.
His law as His will, His Word, His promises, and His covenant of peace remains unchangeable, immutable, and eternal, more enduring than the mountains themselves, for with Him there is no change. The solid rock tablets on which He wrote that law signify the immutability of His precepts, and the rocky Horeb where the Son spoke to Moses from the mountaintop amid thunders and lightnings and the thick cloud, with a voice like a trumpet exceeding loud, was made by the rocks as His sanctuary and the everlasting hills as His temple sacred to all who love and revere the law of God. That same law given in Eden as the transcript of His character was proclaimed amid thunder and lightning and with terrible majesty so His word would ever be clear and distinct, with the words written on tables of stone by His finger to reveal the will of the infinite God. It is the old commandment from the beginning, namely the moral law and Ten Commandments for the universal government of all people, prohibiting other gods, idolatry, vain use of God's name, Sabbath-breaking, dishonor to parents, killing, adultery, stealing, false witness, and coveting, including the command forbidding unchastity upon which God looks with extreme loathing and abhorrence amid the most sublime and awful symbols of the divine presence ever witnessed.
The fourth commandment then spoken in solemn and awful grandeur while lightnings flashed and thunders rolled is unchanged and reads the same as when written by His finger on the tables of stone, commanding labor on six days and rest on the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, with nothing abolishing it or changing it to the first day. The ten commandments are kept close by Jehovah, overshadowed and protected by His holiness, so that keeping a day handed down by heathen and papists instead of the sanctified day tramples the fourth commandment and is transgression to be humbled over and mourned. The Sabbath was part of the law proclaimed there in awe-inspiring majesty so the people would know His will and fear and obey Him, and the gathering was part of God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt so they could keep the Sabbath and obey His commandments.
The law came from God, not from Moses or any human mind, spoken by Christ who was preexistent and equal with God, with the Father and the Son present upon the mount attended by a multitude of angels, the thunder and trumpet sounds commanding attention and showing His exalted character. Because of their sinfulness the people were forbidden to approach lest they be consumed by the burning glory of His presence, and God's presence made the mountain sacred so neither man nor beast could touch it on penalty of death, teaching that everything connected with God must be regarded with greatest reverence. Israel was greatly exalted by being made the depositaries of the law to hand it down, preserve its memory, and make its government known to later generations and to every nation, kindred, and tongue, for the ten precepts were not given exclusively to Israel. Obedience to all God's commandments is the highest education, taught by God rather than by unsanctified human teachers, on which prosperity depended, guarding against injustice and guiding how to treat one another, calling for love among believers and softened, subdued hearts, with Sinai chosen as His own temple where He revealed His glory and spoke His law aloud with unmatched grandeur to show the importance of God's law for all ages and the duty to keep His commandments.
Their preparation including washing their clothes teaches about God's purity and His care for their physical and moral well-being as they assembled at the base where He was to descend in a cloud of glory and speak the Ten Commandments. That same divine voice that proclaimed the law spoke through Christ when He rebuked the temple's misuse, confronting the priests and rulers for transgressing the law.
Foreshadowing Final Judgment
The trumpet that summoned Israel out to meet with God at the foot of the mount when He came down to proclaim His law foreshadows the voice of the archangel and the trump of God that shall summon both the living and the dead from the whole earth to the presence of their Judge. The terrors of Sinai represent the scenes of the judgment tribunal when God comes for the execution of those sacred statutes. Because of their sinfulness the people were forbidden to approach the mount, lest they be consumed by the burning glory of His presence. The Father and the Son were present upon the mount attended by a multitude of angels, and so Christ will come in the glory of His Father with His angels to sit upon the throne of His glory with all nations gathered before Him. That glory those who have trampled His authority cannot endure in the great day of final retribution.
The meeting at the mount to bring the people out to meet Him and to produce His image in them in mind and words and character carries warning that judgment upon judgment is coming upon the earth, so what God said there with His own lips must be heeded, beginning with the Old Testament. That manifestation of divine power amid fire and smoke and thunder when Moses led Israel from the camp to meet God at the foot of Sinai serves as a precedent for God's later intervention against the Philistines. The mighty manifestations of God's power and majesty at Sinai were known to Balaam and showed how terrible it is for finite people to oppose the infinite God.
Human Response and Warning
The people answered Moses' summons to meet with God by gathering at the mountain in solemn awe, and the terror of that scene brings hidden sins to confession and softens hardened hearts in repentance and humility. To draw near to the mount is to seek to understand what God commands so that each person can obey.
Despite solemn pledges of loyalty, and though overwhelmed by God's presence they had asked Moses to hear God's words for them, doubt and unbelief soon displaced trust. While waiting for Moses they demanded a visible substitute and turned to make the golden calf. The memory of that solemn encounter at Sinai, where God spoke His law in glory and majesty and Israel covenanted to obey, should have shown the horror of making other gods and should have strengthened refusal of their demand even at the cost of life.
Even the thunders and lightnings and trumpet of Sinai cannot move people who refuse to be moved by the plain truths of God's word. They cannot awake those settled in unbelief and unaware of danger, nor those who refuse an angel's message, no more than a message spoken by an angel in his own language could awake them.
That terrible majesty stands in marked contrast to Christ's gentle teaching on the grassy mount. On the third morning millions stood at the base under a thick surging cloud with flashing lightnings, muttering thunders reverberating from peak to peak, a trumpet swelling louder and louder, shaking earth, flame and smoke, the stately tread of Jehovah and His Son upon the mountain, and God's trumpet-like voice heard by all. The people stood terror-stricken with faces pale as the dead and eyes fixed in awe, then receded from the base overwhelmed by grandeur while Moses and Aaron went up amid awful glory to receive the law from God's lips. Such majesty was necessary to impress solemnity on minds shaped by Egyptian symbols and ceremonies, to prove them and put God's fear before them so they would not sin, causing them to beg that the word come through Moses and not by God's direct terrible voice lest they die.