Exodus 19:19, commentary and pictures

On the third morning after Israel encamped at Sinai to meet with God, while the long trumpet blast grew louder and louder amid fire and earthquake, Moses spoke and God answered him in an audible voice before all the people. The trumpet sound was made by the angelic host attending the divine Majesty, and God's own voice itself was like a trumpet exceeding loud, rolling down the mountain and swelling until it rose above the thunder. That answering voice was the direct preparation for God Himself speaking His already-existing moral law aloud with His own lips in the hearing of all, leaving them no excuse for disobedience. The Divine Legislator who descended and spoke was the Son of God, Christ in union with the Father, attended by angels upon the mount. As the trumpet summoned Israel to meet with God, so the scene foreshadows the judgment when Christ comes the second time and the trump of God shall summon the living and the dead before Him.

Time and Setting at Sinai

Three months after leaving Egypt, soon after the encampment at Sinai, a people delivered from Egyptian slavery were taken into a close and peculiar relation to be incorporated as a church and a nation under the government of God. The promise was that in obeying His voice and keeping His covenant they would be His peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This Moses returned and repeated to the elders, and the people answered that all the Lord had spoken they would do, thus entering a solemn covenant accepting Him as ruler and becoming in a special sense the subjects of His authority. The manifestation was given to give them a knowledge of God they had never had, with proof that He was God, a God who would not bear iniquity. That unique revelation at Sinai showed the law's importance for all ages and the need to keep His commandments.

It was the morning of the third day after Israel was told to prepare, when Moses brought the people out of the camp to the foot of the mount to meet with God. They had been told to wash their clothes as preparation, an act that taught them God's purity and His care for physical as well as moral well-being. The summit was covered with thick black cloud sweeping downward until the whole mountain was wrapped in darkness and awful mystery. God stood upon the mount enshrouded in thick darkness and surrounded by a retinue of angels.

God drew near in a thick cloud and thick darkness that shielded the people from the glory of His presence so they could hear without being destroyed. Moses stood between God and the people, permitted to draw nigh into the thick darkness around the cloud of glory but not to enter within it. The long trumpet sound that grew louder and louder was made by the angelic host attending the divine Majesty, resembling a trumpet, until the whole earth trembled. The Lord came down upon the top of Mount Sinai in a cloud with a glorious retinue of angels appearing as flames of fire.

The mount 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. There were thunders and lightnings, vivid lightning from thick darkness, echoing thunder among the heights, earthquake shaking the mountain from base to summit, and the glory of the Lord like devouring fire on the top in sight of the assembled multitude. The cloud was thick and violently surging and increasing in denseness, with flashing lightnings, groaning muttering thunders caught up in reverberations from peak to peak, and earth shaking and trembling as if convulsed. Then the thunders ceased, the trumpet was no longer heard, the earth was still, and after a period of solemn silence the voice of God was heard speaking out of the thick darkness.

Bounds were set about the mount, making it sacred so that neither man nor beast might touch it on penalty of death. Moses was charged to go down and warn the people not to break through to gaze lest many of them perish. The priests who come near were to sanctify themselves lest the Lord break forth upon them, with Aaron alone to come up with Moses.

Moses alone climbed the steep and rugged path far up the solitary heights to meet God at the cloud marking Jehovah's presence. He ascended in full sight of the people with calm and trustful faith until lost in darkness amid rolling thunder, while the trumpet blast sounded long and grew louder and louder. There he spoke and God answered him by a voice, giving evidence before Israel that God was in the mount. Then the Lord came down upon the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses up to Him, and sent him down again with the charge to the people.

All the people in the camp trembled, shook with fear, and fell on their faces before the Lord. They shrank and receded from the base with faces pale as the dead, clinging to one another and confessing long-concealed sins in broken utterances with softened repentant hearts. Even Moses exceedingly feared and quaked. Overwhelmed, they pleaded for the word to come through Moses rather than by God's direct terrible voice lest they die.

Trumpet Sound and Answering Voice

As the people gathered at the foot of the mount, the long sound that grew louder and louder was made by the angelic host attending the divine majesty, a sound resembling a trumpet, until the whole earth trembled. It was first sounded by Moses and repeated by trumpeters all along the line, calling the people to hurry pale and anxious from their tents and gather around the mount in hushed solemn awe, and then it was answered by the mighty trumpet from the mount itself. With that answering sound came terrific thunder and lightning, earthquake shaking the mountain from base to summit, black cloud like a pall with smoke and fiery flames, and deafening thunder rolling down Horeb and through the earth as if the mountain would break apart and fall on them. The Lord came down upon the top of Mount Sinai in a cloud with a glorious retinue of angels appearing as flames of fire, called Moses up to the top, and Moses with calm and trustful faith ascended the quivering smoke- and flame-covered mount alone in full sight of the people until lost in darkness amid rolling thunder.

God's own voice was like a trumpet exceeding loud, rolling down the mountain in full volume amid thunder, fire, and quaking earth. It swelled louder and louder at intervals between bursts of thunder until it rose above the war of the elements, on the morning of the third day amid a thick, violently surging cloud increasing in denseness, flashing lightnings, groaning muttering thunders caught up in reverberations from peak to peak, and earth shaking and trembling as if convulsed. This marked the stately tread of Jehovah and His Son upon the mountain, with the rocks of Horeb made His sanctuary and the everlasting hills His temple, and with the mount altogether on smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire, the smoke ascending as a furnace, the whole mount quaking greatly, and the sight of the glory of the Lord like devouring fire on the top. The grand and awful exhibition of power and glory was to impress the people with reverence for God and the sacredness of His already-existing law and to cause them to fear to transgress His commandments.

While the trumpet blast sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him by a voice. Moses obeyed the mandate to come up and talk with God, climbed far up the solitary heights amid the awful glory, spoke, and God talked with him and answered him by a voice, after which the Lord came down upon the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses up to Him. This sound and answer were evidence before Israel that God was in the mount, a God who would not bear iniquity, come to a people delivered from Egyptian slavery to give them a knowledge of God they had never had with proof that He was the only true and living God. It marked the solemn encounter in which God proclaimed His law to Israel with solemn power, an awe-inspiring proclamation whose recent experience of God's presence should have taught them to trust Him and warned them against later doubt, demanding a substitute for Moses, and turning to the golden calf. The verse belongs also to drawing near to the mount to understand what the Lord commands and then obey, for God speaks to the people through Moses and answers Moses there by a voice as the trumpet grows louder.

God's voice was heard by all Israel while His form was hidden in the cloud on the mountain, with thunder, lightning, smoke, and trumpet-like voice concealing His majesty and glory and filling the scene with awe. The trumpet and voice meant God proclaiming distinctly so His word would stay clear in their minds, namely the law given in Eden which is the transcript of His character, revealing His will and character, then written on tables of stone by the finger of God. Amid thunder and lightning and terrible majesty, beside rocks immovable except by divine will, with lofty mountains causing the vast multitude to realize their own nothingness before God, He thus communicated with men to command attention.

Proclamation of the Law

The lengthening trumpet blast and the answering voice are the immediate preparation for God Himself to speak His moral law aloud, with His own lips, in the hearing of the whole congregation, so that all would understand the nature of His requirements and know Him as the only true and living God. That law was not new but already existed, and He condescended to come down and proclaim it audibly, His voice rolling down the mountain in full volume amid thunder, fire and quaking earth, making the occasion awe-inspiring and leaving the people with no excuse for disobedience. What He then spoke was the Ten Commandments, uttered in the hearing of all the people and afterward written on tables of stone by His own finger.

What was proclaimed is the law given in Eden, which is the transcript of His character, and its writing on solid rock signifies the immutability of His precepts and the unchangeable, eternal character of His word and will. The announcement amid the most sublime and awful symbols of the divine presence puts God's sanction upon the whole code for the government of all mankind, including the precept forbidding unchastity, proving He regards it with abhorrence. The speaking was made a scene of awful grandeur and sublimity in accordance with the exalted character of the law, with sublime exhibitions of power and glory amid flame, smoke, thunder and quaking earth, the sight of His glory like devouring fire on the top, so that even the best shook with fear and fell on their faces.

He joined the proclamation to displays of power and glory to fill the people with deep reverence for its Author as Creator of heaven and earth and Ruler of the world, and to show to all men the sacredness, importance and permanence of His law and the need to obey it, that they might never forget the scene. The ten precepts were not given exclusively to Israel, but Israel was made the depositary to preserve them and hand them down to later generations, for whom their history serves as admonition, and they are most fully estimated by those who accept Christ as Redeemer. Though erring, disobedient and rebellious, and fewest in number, they were still loved and chosen to be a special people above all people because He loved them and would keep the oath sworn to their fathers, and were brought out to meet Him as His peculiar treasure.

The revelation was given to a people brought from Egypt to Sinai and separated from the world and established to be preserved from apostasy, called to make known to every nation, kindred and tongue the principles of His government in heaven and earth and to build a foundation for future generations by teaching children that His precepts are binding. This unique revelation showed the law's importance for all ages and the seriousness of keeping His commandments. The mountain setting among His created works taught His majesty and the sacredness of His law, with lofty mountains causing the multitude to realize their nothingness, and beside rocks immovable except by divine will He communicated with men amid thunder, lightning and terrible majesty, proclaiming distinctly so His word would stay clear in their minds.

The Divine Legislator who descended and spoke was the Son of God, Christ in union with the Father, the leader who brought the Hebrews from Egypt toward Canaan and delivered Israel from bondage, speaking in awful grandeur to the assembled multitude so they might know His will and fear and obey Him forever. The Father and the Son attended by a multitude of angels were present upon the mount, and the stately tread of Jehovah and His Son was marked by thick surging cloud, flashing lightnings, reverberating thunders and convulsed earth, while Moses climbed far up the solitary heights to talk with God. The law thus spoken by Christ reaches the motives of the heart, and He later explained its true significance without diminishing its sacredness, distinguishing its requirements from human traditions that obscure them, since self-love is transgression.

Foreshadowing of Final Judgment

The majesty and terror of God speaking His holy law while the people retreated and left Moses alone foreshadows the judgment at the second coming of the Prince of heaven. As the trumpet summoned Israel to meet with God, with the call first taken up along the line until the people hurried pale and anxious from their tents to gather in hushed solemn awe around the mount, then answered by the mighty trumpet from the mount itself amid terrific thunder and lightning, earthquake shaking the mountain from base to summit, black cloud like a pall with smoke and fiery flames, and deafening thunder rolling down Horeb and through the earth as if the mountain would break apart and fall on them, driving the Hebrews prostrate in terror to cling to one another and confess long-concealed sins in broken utterances with softened repentant hearts, while Moses with calm and trustful faith ascended the quivering smoke- and flame-covered mount alone in full sight of the people until lost in darkness amid rolling thunder at the Lord's call to come up, so at the end the loud trumpet shall resound from one end of the earth to the other. That final trumpet shall penetrate the prison house of death, break the sleep of the dead, and bring them forward to receive according to the deeds done in the body.

The terrors of Sinai were to represent to the people the scenes of the judgment. As the sound of the trumpet summoned Israel to meet with God when He descended on the mount to proclaim His law, 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. As the Father and the Son attended by a multitude of angels were present upon the mount, 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. Because of their sinfulness Israel was forbidden to approach lest they be consumed by the burning glory of His presence, and the power manifested at the giving of the law shows how terrible His tribunal will be when He comes for the execution of those sacred statutes and how unable those who have trampled His authority will be to endure His glory in the great day of final retribution.

The trumpet that grew louder and louder as God answered Moses by voice accompanied the proclamation of the law amid Sinai's awe-inspiring signs. That scene with trumpet and divine voice will be vividly brought back to mind at the final judgment, when God's law asserts its authority and those who rejected it recognize their guilt. The manifestation of God's power at Sinai, when He answered Moses by a voice amid the growing trumpet sound, is recalled as a precedent for His intervention against the Philistines, when a terrible storm struck their advancing army.

Call to Remember and Obey

The nineteenth and twentieth chapters of Exodus are of great importance and should often be repeated with their instruction sacredly observed, studied, and taught to the people. Men and women are to be pointed to the instruction God gave His ancient people regarding His requirements in simple language that even children can understand as the reason for observance of the seventh day. The voice at Sinai gives God's law as the highest education, as instruction from God rather than from unsanctified human teachers, for the commandments came from God, not from Moses or any human mind. What He spoke with His own lips is to be heeded, so that His image is produced in mind, in words, and in character, and with judgment upon judgment coming upon the earth the Old Testament is to be studied and obeyed. The chapters teach that the Lord is the only true God who demands obedience to His Word, pointing back to the work of creation in six days followed by the appointment of the seventh day as a day of rest, blessed and sanctified. At a time when Satan uses every device to draw people away from truth and righteousness, all who stand on the Lord's side are called to keep holy the memorial of creation, and Israel's prosperity depended on obeying these awe-attended commandments.

The Lord coming down on Mount Sinai before Israel and giving His law presents the giving of the commandments together with wonderful promises for obedience. God Himself spoke the ten commandments with His own voice upon the mount in solemn and awful grandeur while the lightnings flashed and the thunders rolled, and the mountain trembled to its base at the voice that spoke His precepts. The fourth commandment still reads exactly as then spoken, unchanged as when written with His own finger on the tables of stone, commanding six days of labor and rest on the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, blessed and sanctified as the memorial of six-day creation. Nothing abolishes it or changes it to the first day of the week, so that trampling it by observing a day handed down by the heathen and papists instead of the day sanctified by Jehovah is transgression calling for humbling before God and mourning over past transgressions. The precepts so spoken are sacred and their sacredness must never be lost sight of, and the lessons God taught Israel while they abode at Mount Sinai were to keep their influence till the close of time. Youth are to learn those same lessons amid the scenes of nature and the everlasting hills, for the law was proclaimed with awe-inspiring grandeur so the people would know God's will and fear and obey Him, and its knowledge was thereafter preserved, including the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.

As the trumpet sounded longer and louder at Sinai, Moses spoke and God answered him by a voice, when God and angels came to Israel and the law was spoken with solemn power and with glory and majesty amid terror. The people's recent experience of God's presence should have taught them to trust Him, but their later doubt led them to demand a substitute for Moses and turn to the golden calf. The memory of this display, together with Israel's covenant to obey God, should have warned them against turning to idolatry and led them to reject the demand for other gods.

Even the most sublime and awful symbols of God's presence the world ever witnessed — thunders, lightnings, trumpet, and voice — the most powerful outward display of divine warning, will not move those who will not be moved by the plain truths of the word of God. Even all those thunders and lightnings of Mount Sinai, so awesome that they could be expected to move a person, would fail to stir someone settled in unbelief and unaware of spiritual danger. An angel's message would not awake them, while the judgments of Almighty God are speedily coming.

The Lord's presence at Sinai sanctified the mount, and the same divine presence made the temple sacred when Jesus cleansed it. The voice that proclaimed the law at Sinai as the trumpet sounded louder and louder is identified with the clear, authoritative voice of Christ as He rebuked the desecration of the temple. The trumpet and thunder marking the giving of the law commanded attention to Christ's exalted character, without worldly pomp or grandeur.

God's trumpet-like voice was heard by the whole congregation at Sinai, swelling louder and louder at intervals between bursts of thunder until it rose above the war of the elements. It took place on the morning of the third day amid a thick, violently surging cloud increasing in denseness, flashing lightnings, groaning muttering thunders caught up in reverberations from peak to peak, and earth shaking and trembling as if convulsed, marking the stately tread of Jehovah and His Son upon the mountain. Moses obeyed the mandate to come up and talk with God, climbed far up the solitary heights amid the awful glory, spoke, and God talked with him and answered him by a voice, and then the law was spoken amid flame and smoke. The people stood terror-stricken with faces pale as the dead, receded from the base, and were overwhelmed by the grandeur and terrible majesty, and when Moses and Aaron went up to receive the law from the lips of God and returned, the people implored that the word come through Moses and not by the direct terrible voice of God lest they die. Moses answered, Fear not, for God is come to prove them and that His fear may be before them that they sin not, and all the majesty was necessary to impress solemnity upon Israel whose lives had been spent among the symbols and ceremonies of Egyptian worship. Writing the law forbidding unchastity with nine others on tables of stone for the government of all mankind, and announcing the Ten Commandments amid that awesome display, puts God's sanction upon it and proves God looks upon unchastity with infinite loathing and abhorrence. These mighty manifestations showing His power and majesty were known even to Balaam and made clear that it is terrible for finite people to oppose the infinite God, and their grandeur stands in marked contrast to the quiet beauty of the morning when Christ gave the Sermon on the Mount.

The giving of God's law at Sinai, when the Lord manifested Himself in awesome grandeur and spoke to Moses amid lightning and thunder and flame with His glory resting on the mountain and the mountain shaking, left an enduring impression on those who witnessed it. The display proclaimed God's authority as Ruler of the world and was meant to impress the people with the law's sacredness and the importance of obeying it, and to inspire confidence in its Author. Obedience to God's requirements is a sign of relationship with the heavenly Father. The law was proclaimed there in an awe-inspiring display of God's majesty, and its words are changeless and eternal, so it should be presented clearly and solemnly that people recognize God's claims and their duty to obey while Israel listened in solemn awe, impressed with God's power and majesty.