Exodus 19:18, commentary and pictures

Mount Sinai was altogether wrapped in smoke because the Lord came down upon it in fire, with the smoke rising like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaking and shaking violently to its base. The summit was covered with a thick black cloud and darkness veiling His glory, with flashing lightnings, reverberating thunders, earthquake and tempest, and a long trumpet sound growing louder and louder until God's own voice spoke distinctly so all Israel heard. Amid that awful majesty He Himself proclaimed His law to the whole congregation, speaking the Ten Commandments aloud and afterward writing them on stone, not to begin a new law but to make known in hearing of all the will that already existed. The voice that shook the smoking mount was Christ's own voice in union with the Father, descending with a retinue of angels as flames of fire and commanding attention by the display of divine power. That scene of fire and smoke and quaking portrays the final judgment, when the trumpet shall summon living and dead before Christ coming in His Father's glory with His angels, and the law revealed in its majesty as the standard of character.

Setting at Sinai

The verse belongs to the opening dealings at Sinai soon after Israel's encampment, when Moses alone climbed the steep and rugged path to the cloud marking God's presence to meet with God. There God offered to take Israel into a close and peculiar relation as a church and nation under His government, to be a peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation if they would obey His voice and keep His covenant. Moses repeated the message to the elders, and the people answered that they would do all the Lord had spoken, thereby entering a solemn covenant accepting Him as ruler and becoming in a special sense subjects of His authority.

The smoke and quaking came on the morning of the third day, when Moses brought Israel out of the camp to the foot of the mount to meet with God. It followed Israel's solemn covenant with upraised hand to obey and their becoming His denominated people, and the Lord's promise to come in a thick cloud and speak with Moses so the people would believe him forever. It led directly to God answering Moses by voice, calling him to the top, commanding bounds around the mount and warning Moses, Aaron, the priests and the people not to break through to gaze lest many perish, and then to the giving of the Ten Commandments.

The revelation came three months after leaving Egypt, after God brought Israel out of four hundred years of slavery. They had been corrupted by idolatry and had largely lost knowledge of His law amid prevailing Egyptian symbols and ceremonies. He spoke His law to them there in awful grandeur with smoke and fire and quaking that they might know His will and fear and obey Him forever and keep His Sabbath instituted in Eden.

God chose the mountain, a part of His own creation rather than a building made by people, among His created works far from human buildings. He made the rocks His sanctuary and the everlasting hills His temple, where nothing would attract the senses or divert the mind from Him. The lofty mountains towering above the multitude and the sacred setting showed the Israelites their own nothingness and insignificance before His majesty and the sacredness of His law. The preparations for the encounter, including washing their clothes, taught the Hebrews about God's purity and showed that He cared for their physical as well as moral well-being.

Fire Smoke and Quaking

The whole of Mount Sinai was altogether covered with smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole mount quaked greatly and shook violently to its base. Every evidence was before Israel that God was in the mount, the God who would not bear iniquity. The summit was covered with a thick, black, dense cloud that grew denser every moment and swept downward until the whole mountain was wrapped in darkness and awful mystery like a pall. Thick darkness enshrouded God and veiled His majesty and glory as He spoke.

There were vivid flashing lightnings from the darkness, and groaning muttering thunders reverberating from peak to peak and rolling down the sides of Horeb. Tempest and earthquake shook the mountain from base to summit, so the people felt it would shatter and fall on them. The mount groaned and trembled under the footsteps of God. An exceeding loud trumpet-like sound summoned the people and sounded long and grew louder and louder till it rose above the war of the elements. God's trumpet-like voice and thunder shook the mountain from summit to base as He answered Moses by voice and spoke slowly and distinctly so that all Israel, a congregation of millions, heard.

The divine Majesty descended in a cloud with a glorious retinue of angels appearing as flames of fire. God the Father was present with the holy angels while Jehovah and His Son trod the mountain, marking their stately tread. The glory of the Lord on the top of the mount looked like devouring and consuming fire before the assembled multitude. The brilliant light surrounding the Lord was a symbol of His presence. God drew near behind a thick cloud and concealed His overwhelming glory so the people could hear His voice without being destroyed or consumed by the sight of His presence.

Moses led the people to the nether part and base of the mountain to meet with God. Then with calm and trustful faith he climbed far up the solitary quivering heights amid smoke and flame until lost to sight to talk with God face to face. Moses and Aaron went up amid the awful glory to receive the law from the lips of God, and the Son of God spoke to Moses from the mountaintop. All the people in the camp trembled and shook with fear at the exceedingly loud trumpet and the terrible signs. They fell on their faces, clung to one another, confessed long-concealed sins, stood terror-stricken with pale faces and eyes fixed in awe, receded from the base and shrank away in fear, and even Moses feared and quaked.

Overwhelmed with terror, the people retreated and implored that the word of God come to them through Moses and not by the direct terrible voice of God lest they die and lest they could not live. Moses answered that God had come to prove them and that His fear should be before them so they would not sin.

Proclaiming the Law

The fire and smoke and earthquake and thunder and lightning and trumpet accompanied God's own speaking of His law to Israel so they would know His will and believe and know that He is the only true and living God. He descended upon Mount Sinai in fire before the people delivered from Egyptian bondage, the mountain altogether covered with smoke ascending as the smoke of a furnace and quaking greatly, with a thick black dense cloud sweeping downward until all was wrapped in darkness and awful mystery. Amid that overwhelming presence with storm and shaking He gave the Ten Commandments, speaking them audibly to all the congregation of millions and later writing them Himself on tables of stone so they would not forget or confuse His requirements with human traditions. The display of divine power prepared them to hear, terrified them so they stood at a distance, and was meant to show them their sin and guilt before a pure and holy God. The giving of the law came with wonderful promises to the people if they observed His commandments.

He came down 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. Sinai was where God first proclaimed His law, not where the law began. The moral law so spoken is the old commandment had from the beginning, namely the ten commandments prohibiting other gods, idolatry, vain use of God's name, Sabbath-breaking, dishonor to parents, killing, adultery, stealing, false witness, and coveting.

After the thunders ceased and the trumpet stopped and the earth was still in solemn silence, God's voice spoke out of the thick darkness from the mount surrounded by angels. With His own lips in trumpet-like tones heard by all He spoke amid flame and smoke, marking the stately tread of Jehovah and His Son upon the mountain. The people stood terror-stricken with pale faces and eyes fixed in awe and receded from its base, then implored that the word come through Moses and not by the direct terrible voice lest they could not live, and Moses answered that God had come to prove them and that His fear should be before them so they would not sin.

The proclamation included the Ten Commandments together with the rules and statutes of God, given by the Son of God to Israel in that awe-inspiring setting of smoke and shaking fire. The precepts came from God, not from human thought or Moses, and Israel's prosperity depended on obeying them. The laws later recorded in books were as truly God's words as those spoken aloud at Sinai when the mountain trembled and emitted fire and smoke.

Character and Scope of Law

The smoke and quaking marked the solemn occasion when God manifested Himself to the people delivered from bondage, revealing His terrible majesty and solemn power and glory and sacred presence as Ruler of the world and Creator of heaven and earth, the only true and living God. The awesome display accompanied His proclamation of the law to Israel so they would know His will and fear and obey Him, impressing on them the holiness of the occasion. The awful grandeur and sublimity matched the exalted character of the Ten Commandments then spoken, displaying sublime power and glory so the scene would never be forgotten and would impress profound veneration for their Author. His presence made the mountain sacred so that neither man nor beast could touch it on penalty of death, teaching that everything connected with God and with His service must be regarded with greatest reverence. God accompanied the proclamation with displays of power and glory so the people would revere the Lawgiver, recognize Him as Creator, and understand the sacredness and importance and permanence of His law.

The law spoken there is unchangeable and changeless and eternal, first given in Eden as the transcript of His character and revelation of His will, lying at the foundation of God's government in heaven and in earth. He Himself descended upon rocky Horeb and made the rocks His sanctuary and the everlasting hills His temple, and the solid rock tablets on which He wrote by His own finger signify the immutability of His precepts. The display proves to all men the sacredness and importance of the law, for the Hebrews were only exalted as depositaries of the law to hand it down to every nation and kindred and tongue, and it was not given exclusively to Israel to be confined to them but was proclaimed as universal government. It was to be remembered and obeyed and taught to future generations to lay the foundation of many generations, its words applying to God's people now as truly as to ancient Israel and showing that His law and His commandments are important for all ages and are to be kept today. God chose the mountain, a part of His own creation rather than a building made by people, as the place to make Himself known and to reveal Himself audibly in a way unlike any other.

The proclamation in awful majesty was necessary because its precepts had to a great degree been lost sight of and corrupted through contact with heathenism and the idolatry of Egypt where many had lost knowledge of God's law. The fourth commandment still reads exactly as spoken then, the same as when written by His own finger on the tables of stone, commanding six days of labor and keeping the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. That Sabbath is the memorial of creation appointed as a day of rest after the work of creation in six days, blessed and sanctified by the Lord of heaven and earth and instituted in Eden, with nothing abolishing it or changing it to the first day. The announcement and sanction of the Ten Commandments amid the most sublime and awful display of God's presence the world ever witnessed, together with the writing of the law forbidding unchastity with nine other commands on tables of stone for the universal government of all people, proves that God looks upon unchastity with extreme loathing and abhorrence. The divine law thus proclaimed from Sinai in terrible grandeur is the highest education, teaching obedience to all God's commandments.

Christ Present at Sinai

The voice that shook Mount Sinai in fire and smoke and quaking was Christ's own voice, clear and ringing, proclaiming the law which the priests and rulers in the temple were transgressing. Jesus Christ Himself in union with the Father descended in fire upon Mount Sinai and spoke the moral law amid flame and thunder and tempest and trumpets, commanding attention through the awe-inspiring display of divine power. He proclaimed God's law amid the thunders of Sinai in awful grandeur to the assembled multitude of Israel after their deliverance from bondage in Egypt where many had lost knowledge of God's law in prevailing idolatry, that they might know His will and fear and obey Him forever. That law lies at the foundation of God's government, and the world's corruption, iniquity, crime, suffering and death come from failing to respect and obey it. The scene reveals His exalted character and points to His preexistence and future glory.

The same Christ who spoke it later expounded it, magnifying it and making it honorable by stripping away the rubbish of rabbinical tradition and human exactions, rescuing the commandments from error and placing them in the framework of the gospel in their true significance and exalted character without taking anything from the sacredness of a single precept. He showed that it penetrates to the motives of the heart so that the lover of self is a transgressor. That same divine presence that sanctified Mount Sinai and made the rocks His sanctuary now makes the temple sacred, demanding reverence for God's house. God Himself descended upon rocky Horeb to speak His law in the hearing of all the people, and the Son of God spoke to Moses from the mountaintop. He came with a grand and awful exhibition of power and glory, amid thunders and lightnings and thick cloud on the top of the mountain, with His voice as a trumpet exceeding loud, and with smoke and quaking, so the people would be impressed and fear to transgress His commandments.

The law He spoke there is unchangeable, and the solid rock tablets on which He wrote it signify the immutability of His precepts, including Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and rocky Horeb became a sacred place to all who love and revere the law of God. When Jesus stood in the temple to cleanse it, His clear, ringing voice echoing through the arches sounded like that same voice that shook Sinai of old. He stood in commanding dignity with divine light on His countenance, towering above the multitude, reading inmost thoughts and hidden motives, arraigning the crowd before God as the Judge will arraign men at the last day and revealing Him as the Majesty of Heaven standing among men. Moses talked with God face to face amid the thunder and lightnings of Sinai, and this meeting marks Moses as one favored by God above all others who lived on earth. Because Moses lived on earth as a man and experienced human sorrow and suffering, and because as leader of Israel he stood in the place of Christ, communing with Christ and following His directions, he was fitted to be chosen by the Father with Elijah to bring the glory of heaven to Christ on the mount of transfiguration and to comfort Him by talking with Him about the completion of His mission and especially His coming sufferings at Jerusalem.

Foreshadowing Final Judgment

The smoking, quaking majesty of the mount vividly portrays the judgment at Christ's second coming, when the trumpet will resound from one end of the earth to the other, penetrate the prison house of death, break the sleep of the dead and raise them to receive according to deeds done in the body. The display of power that marked the place chosen for proclaiming the law was meant to represent the scenes of the Judgment and shows how terrible God's tribunal will be when He comes to execute those sacred statutes. Those who have trampled His authority will be unable to endure His glory in the great day of final retribution, and because of their sinfulness Israel was forbidden to approach the mount lest they be consumed by that glory.

The trumpet that summoned Israel to meet with God foreshadows the voice of the archangel and the trump of God that will summon the living and the dead from the whole earth to their Judge. The presence of the Father and the Son with a multitude of angels on the mount foreshadows Christ coming in the glory of His Father with His angels to sit upon the throne of His glory with all nations gathered before Him. At the last great day, when the Son of man 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 commandment-keeping soul and every transgressor, convicting those who taught that the law is no longer binding and that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was only for the Jews and who showed contempt for God's warnings, pronouncing guilty everyone who disregarded a Thus saith the Lord.

The verse means God wants His image produced in mind, in words and in character, and calls for beginning at the Old Testament and paying heed to what God said with His own voice at Sinai, because judgment upon judgment is coming upon the earth. The thunders and lightnings display speedy coming judgments for which God's people must get ready, because the judgments of Almighty God are speedily coming and the rebels who refuse to be moved must and will be purged out. In the mighty shaking now commenced, taking a bold and unyielding stand for the truth and giving all to buy the field must be a freewill offering, for God compels no one to sacrifice or obey, and all who are unwilling to so stand and sacrifice will be shaken out. The same Mighty One who showed His power at Sinai amid fire, smoke and thunder manifested it again in a terrible storm that struck the Philistine army as it advanced against Israel.

Required Human Response

The whole overwhelming display was necessary to impress its solemnity upon minds worn down by life among Egyptian symbols and ceremonies, and to stamp the scene so deeply that it would never be forgotten but remain clear and distinct in remembrance. It was fitted to awaken profound veneration for the Author of the law, with awe and fear that would lead Israel to know His will and to fear and obey Him forever, and to fear to transgress and break His commandments. It prepared them to hear the law and to recognize their sin and guilt before a pure and holy God, and to trust its Author.

The grandeur displays the sacred and enduring character of the law and lays the foundation of many generations, charging parents to teach children the binding claims of the holy precepts. The trembling of the mountain to its base displays the sacredness of those precepts, which must never be lost sight of, and the lessons taught while Israel abode at Sinai were to keep their influence till the close of time, so that youth today are to learn those same lessons amid the scenes of nature and the everlasting hills.

The events at Sinai reveal God's glory, and the instruction given there is meant to be obeyed. The nineteenth and twentieth chapters of Exodus are of great importance and should be often repeated and sacredly observed, for the Lord there stands revealed as the only true God who demands obedience to His Word. That obedience means standing on the Lord's side and keeping holy the memorial of creation, the seventh day appointed as rest after six days of work and blessed and sanctified by the Lord of heaven and earth, at a time when every device is used to draw people away from truth and righteousness. The precepts came from God and not from human thought or Moses, they are important for all ages and are to be kept today, and Israel's prosperity depended on obeying them.

The setting itself, with Israel brought to draw near the mount to hear what is commanded, illustrates the individual duty to approach God in order to understand His expressed will and then obey it. Yet even such signs cannot move those who refuse to be moved by the plain truths of the word, and an angel's message cannot awaken them. Even the thunders and lightnings and the terrible display of divine power at smoke-covered, greatly shaking Sinai would fail to move a person hardened by unbelief and ensnared by Satan.

Israel standing in fear before God's majesty as the mountain quaked is a lesson for later times, that people still have equal reason to tremble at God's will. The manifestation displayed His power as He delivered Israel from Egypt and established them in Canaan, preserving people from turning wholly to idolatry. Those mighty manifestations in bringing Israel from bondage showed how terrible it is for finite people to oppose the infinite God.

Remembering the mountain's smoke and shaking should have made the covenant obligation to obey unmistakable and should have led the people to reject idolatry even at personal risk. The glory that sanctified the mountain and the voice that shook it remained in view of the congregation, recalling the awe and terror felt only weeks earlier when the command to have no other gods was given. Even with the cloud of the Presence still before them resting on the mount, and with the pillar of cloud and fire guiding them granted to meet their desire for something visible and to establish faith in Him as the invisible all-powerful Helper and only true God, they turned back in their hearts to Egypt and represented His glory by an ox. His presence there honored Israel despite their errors, disobedience and rebellion.