And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
At Sinai the people were terrified by thunder, lightning, trumpet sound, smoke, cloud and glory as devouring fire, so they drew back and stood afar off, pleading for Moses to speak with them while asking that God not speak directly with them lest they die. Their terror was awe before His majesty and a new sense of guilt, as the rule of right showed them the offensiveness of sin and their separation from a pure and holy God who they feared would consume them. In asking for Moses as mediator they did not understand that Christ was their appointed Mediator and Advocate with the Father, without whose mediation they would have been consumed. Moses told them not to dread, for God had come to prove them and to set His reverent fear before them so they would not sin. Yet their solemn impression quickly vanished like smoke, and while Moses was withdrawn only forty days they broke the covenant just made by turning to the worship of a calf of their own making.
Scene at Sinai
At Sinai the people were terrified by the displays of God's presence — thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, smoke and cloud, tempest and thick darkness, and His glory as devouring fire on the summit — so that with failing hearts they removed and stood afar off at a distance. Filled with fear and reverence for His sacred majesty, splendor and overwhelming glory, they asked Moses to speak with them and they would hear, rather than have God speak directly with them lest they die. Their fear and awe kept them at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was and stood between the people and the Lord.
The proclamation came on the morning of the third day after the people were bidden to prepare to hear it, after God had rescued them from bondage in Egypt. The Creator came down upon the holy mount, with the Father and the Son present, enshrouded in thick cloud and standing upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels. The law was not instituted at Sinai but was first publicly proclaimed there, repeating the commandments given in Eden, spoken distinctly with solemn impressiveness and awful grandeur in the hearing of all the people. What was thus proclaimed was also engraved by God's own finger on tables of stone as sacred directions.
After the people's plea God called Moses up into the mount to receive and communicate the laws for Israel. The awful power of the utterances seemed more than quaking frames could bear, so that even Moses feared and quaked.
Meaning of Request
The plea records the people asking Moses to speak with them, promising they would listen, while begging that God not speak directly with them lest they die. They feared they could not endure His glory, majesty, and power, and that direct speech from Him would bring death. Their cry arose from terror and reverence before His sacred majesty in thunder, lightning, trumpet sound, and the smoking mountain.
That terror was awe and reverence joined to a new awareness of their true condition. As God's great mirror and great rule of right was presented before them in awful majesty in the hearing of all the people, their true condition was revealed and they realized as never before the offensive character of sin and their own guilt in the sight of a pure and holy God. Overwhelmed with guilt, falling on their faces in terror and quaking, they feared to be consumed by the glory of His presence, feeling separated from His holiness and greatness and afraid that direct judgment by Him would not take account of human weakness and frailty.
Their fear also reflected self-knowledge and unreadiness. They knew they were rebellious and acted on impulse, and their minds, impaired by slavery, were not yet prepared to grasp the full reach of the principles of the Ten Commandments.
Moses told them not to be afraid with dread, explaining that God had come to test and prove them and to put His fear and reverence before them so they would not sin. The lesson drawn is to fear sin itself and to avoid choices God cannot approve.
Christ the Mediator
At Sinai the terrified people asked Moses to speak with them instead of God, fearing that direct speech from God would bring death, and in this they wanted Moses to mediate for them. They did not understand that Christ was their appointed Mediator, and without that mediation they would have been consumed. Their request reflected their limited understanding of their guilt and sin and of the way to approach God.
Their cry meant they did not discern Christ as their Advocate with the Father, standing between God and sinful man and claiming erring Israel as the purchase of His own blood. They did not recognize in the terrifying voice the voice of the Angel who had conducted their travels from Egypt to Sinai. They saw Sinai's God only as Sovereign, Legislator, and Judge, while Sinai also reveals Him as a loving as well as a just Father. The instruction given in the mount was given by Christ Jesus Himself, the same Teacher who spoke the directions on Mount Sinai and afterward spoke in human flesh.
Law God Proclaimed
Exodus 20 is the record of God's requirements for His people, the sacred directions and positive instruction proclaimed with awesome grandeur, majesty and glory when the Creator came down and spoke His law at Sinai. The law written by God's own finger on stone reveals His character and will and sets out the principles of His government for all nations. The words God spoke there are valid, the holy law and word given from the beginning, presented as the highest education for humanity to be learned through obedience.
The commandments were given to preserve people in integrity and to bring humanity into harmony with God, with obedience bringing blessing, keeping and protection. Their importance is shown in Christ's command to love the Lord God with all heart, soul, strength and mind, and the neighbor as self. Perfect obedience and purity as God is pure is required, to be revealed by keeping His commandments, and every provision against sin has been made. Keeping them is verity and truth, given so that keepers may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world through lust. To make this possible God gave His only begotten Son to come to this world to give humanity the example of sinless humanity, so that humanity may grasp the divinity in Christ Jesus, and every sinner who comes to God through Christ will have His arm encircle them to care for and protect them, still having trials and difficulties but having a helper who drives them close to the Saviour instead of divorcing them from God to find relief.
The display of power and glory accompanying the proclamation made plain the law's sacredness, importance, solemnity and permanence. It cannot be abolished but endures forever, and it will be presented as the standard of righteousness at the judgment, where people will receive life or death according to its principles. Profound veneration for the Author of the law as Creator of heaven and earth was intended to be impressed by manifestations attending God's speaking out of the thick darkness upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels.
The twentieth chapter gives the Word of God answering whether a person can be saved without keeping the Sabbath, revealing the will of God and His commandments including the Sabbath. It must be believed just as it reads and done as the Lord has directed, searched with earnest desire to know truth, with prayer for opened understanding and a mind willing to grasp every ray of light even when opposed to past belief, showing willingness to keep the Sabbath when the Lord shows the duty. It calls for keeping holy the seventh-day Sabbath as God's memorial of creation rather than observing the first day of the week, for the Sabbath command is not displaced by observance of the first day. To set aside one of the commandments God has given as Ruler of the world and present in its place the observance of a day that bears no sanctity is to usurp an authority that infringes upon His divine prerogatives, and Jehovah will deal with those who do so. The Sunday sabbath is a child of the papacy set forth to be observed as the Lord's Sabbath, and to obey that human law compels men to transgress the laws of Jehovah, while human enactments that conflict with the laws of God do not bear the stamp of divine approval.
Exodus 20, including this verse, belongs with Exodus 19-24 as instruction God gave to Moses in the mount that men are to obey, to be studied and presented before the people in full detail, needed now just as much as by the children of Israel in the days of Moses. Chapters 19 and 20 are of great importance and should be often repeated and sacredly observed, with instruction carefully observed, guarding against doing injustice and guiding dealings with one another. Exodus 20 presents the commandments of God and is to be read together with Exodus 31, especially verses 12 through the end of the chapter.
Call to Obey
The awe at Sinai should have humbled the people and turned their minds back upon their repeated unbelief whenever trial came. What they had already seen was enough to give them confidence that the Lord was leading them through Moses and would establish him as His servant, so that they could trust him continually and not merely use him for the moment as a go-between to shield them from God's voice.
Their promise to hear Moses did not keep them faithful. The solemn impression, the memory of the covenant, and the terror that had thrown them on their faces in fear and quaking vanished like smoke, even while God's glory still lay like devouring fire on the top of the mount. When Moses was withdrawn into the mount to receive the laws for Israel and his return was delayed, the people wearied of waiting, fell back to old habits of thought and feeling, and clamored for some visible representation of God. As soon as the signs and the voice ceased they broke their vows of allegiance and turned to an idol, worshiping a golden calf.
That fall was one of the greatest apostasies ever committed by a people who had received special favors and had just heard God's own voice speaking the ten commandments in awful grandeur. While Moses was gone only forty days they made a calf and sank to the lowest idolatry of worshiping the work of their own hands, breaking the covenant they had just made. Even the leaders seemed to lose reason, forgetting both their covenant and their terror when they had fallen on their faces in fear and quaking.
Their minds, impaired by slavery, were not yet ready to grasp the full reach of the principles of the Ten Commandments. Additional precepts were therefore given privately to Moses to explain and apply those commandments.
The same terror returns whenever sinners are impressed with the importance of the law and the solemnity of its proclamation, and in imagination stand in the presence of God and His Son and see His majesty and the high and holy principles of the law against personal impurity. Removed from the immediate glory of the mountain, those who turn away in that fear criticize the sternness of the law's requirements and ask for reassuring, smooth preaching instead. They do so because looking at their own lives in the light of that law fills them with terror.
At Sinai the people were terrified by thunder, lightning, trumpet sound, smoke, cloud and glory as devouring fire, so they drew back and stood afar off, pleading for Moses to speak with them while asking that God not speak directly with them lest they die. Their terror was awe before His majesty and a new sense of guilt, as the rule of right showed them the offensiveness of sin and their separation from a pure and holy God who they feared would consume them. In asking for Moses as mediator they did not understand that Christ was their appointed Mediator and Advocate with the Father, without whose mediation they would have been consumed. Moses told them not to dread, for God had come to prove them and to set His reverent fear before them so they would not sin. Yet their solemn impression quickly vanished like smoke, and while Moses was withdrawn only forty days they broke the covenant just made by turning to the worship of a calf of their own making.
Scene at Sinai
At Sinai the people were terrified by the displays of God's presence — thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, smoke and cloud, tempest and thick darkness, and His glory as devouring fire on the summit — so that with failing hearts they removed and stood afar off at a distance. Filled with fear and reverence for His sacred majesty, splendor and overwhelming glory, they asked Moses to speak with them and they would hear, rather than have God speak directly with them lest they die. Their fear and awe kept them at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was and stood between the people and the Lord.
The proclamation came on the morning of the third day after the people were bidden to prepare to hear it, after God had rescued them from bondage in Egypt. The Creator came down upon the holy mount, with the Father and the Son present, enshrouded in thick cloud and standing upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels. The law was not instituted at Sinai but was first publicly proclaimed there, repeating the commandments given in Eden, spoken distinctly with solemn impressiveness and awful grandeur in the hearing of all the people. What was thus proclaimed was also engraved by God's own finger on tables of stone as sacred directions.
After the people's plea God called Moses up into the mount to receive and communicate the laws for Israel. The awful power of the utterances seemed more than quaking frames could bear, so that even Moses feared and quaked.
Meaning of Request
The plea records the people asking Moses to speak with them, promising they would listen, while begging that God not speak directly with them lest they die. They feared they could not endure His glory, majesty, and power, and that direct speech from Him would bring death. Their cry arose from terror and reverence before His sacred majesty in thunder, lightning, trumpet sound, and the smoking mountain.
That terror was awe and reverence joined to a new awareness of their true condition. As God's great mirror and great rule of right was presented before them in awful majesty in the hearing of all the people, their true condition was revealed and they realized as never before the offensive character of sin and their own guilt in the sight of a pure and holy God. Overwhelmed with guilt, falling on their faces in terror and quaking, they feared to be consumed by the glory of His presence, feeling separated from His holiness and greatness and afraid that direct judgment by Him would not take account of human weakness and frailty.
Their fear also reflected self-knowledge and unreadiness. They knew they were rebellious and acted on impulse, and their minds, impaired by slavery, were not yet prepared to grasp the full reach of the principles of the Ten Commandments.
Moses told them not to be afraid with dread, explaining that God had come to test and prove them and to put His fear and reverence before them so they would not sin. The lesson drawn is to fear sin itself and to avoid choices God cannot approve.
Christ the Mediator
At Sinai the terrified people asked Moses to speak with them instead of God, fearing that direct speech from God would bring death, and in this they wanted Moses to mediate for them. They did not understand that Christ was their appointed Mediator, and without that mediation they would have been consumed. Their request reflected their limited understanding of their guilt and sin and of the way to approach God.
Their cry meant they did not discern Christ as their Advocate with the Father, standing between God and sinful man and claiming erring Israel as the purchase of His own blood. They did not recognize in the terrifying voice the voice of the Angel who had conducted their travels from Egypt to Sinai. They saw Sinai's God only as Sovereign, Legislator, and Judge, while Sinai also reveals Him as a loving as well as a just Father. The instruction given in the mount was given by Christ Jesus Himself, the same Teacher who spoke the directions on Mount Sinai and afterward spoke in human flesh.
Law God Proclaimed
Exodus 20 is the record of God's requirements for His people, the sacred directions and positive instruction proclaimed with awesome grandeur, majesty and glory when the Creator came down and spoke His law at Sinai. The law written by God's own finger on stone reveals His character and will and sets out the principles of His government for all nations. The words God spoke there are valid, the holy law and word given from the beginning, presented as the highest education for humanity to be learned through obedience.
The commandments were given to preserve people in integrity and to bring humanity into harmony with God, with obedience bringing blessing, keeping and protection. Their importance is shown in Christ's command to love the Lord God with all heart, soul, strength and mind, and the neighbor as self. Perfect obedience and purity as God is pure is required, to be revealed by keeping His commandments, and every provision against sin has been made. Keeping them is verity and truth, given so that keepers may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world through lust. To make this possible God gave His only begotten Son to come to this world to give humanity the example of sinless humanity, so that humanity may grasp the divinity in Christ Jesus, and every sinner who comes to God through Christ will have His arm encircle them to care for and protect them, still having trials and difficulties but having a helper who drives them close to the Saviour instead of divorcing them from God to find relief.
The display of power and glory accompanying the proclamation made plain the law's sacredness, importance, solemnity and permanence. It cannot be abolished but endures forever, and it will be presented as the standard of righteousness at the judgment, where people will receive life or death according to its principles. Profound veneration for the Author of the law as Creator of heaven and earth was intended to be impressed by manifestations attending God's speaking out of the thick darkness upon the mount surrounded by a retinue of angels.
The twentieth chapter gives the Word of God answering whether a person can be saved without keeping the Sabbath, revealing the will of God and His commandments including the Sabbath. It must be believed just as it reads and done as the Lord has directed, searched with earnest desire to know truth, with prayer for opened understanding and a mind willing to grasp every ray of light even when opposed to past belief, showing willingness to keep the Sabbath when the Lord shows the duty. It calls for keeping holy the seventh-day Sabbath as God's memorial of creation rather than observing the first day of the week, for the Sabbath command is not displaced by observance of the first day. To set aside one of the commandments God has given as Ruler of the world and present in its place the observance of a day that bears no sanctity is to usurp an authority that infringes upon His divine prerogatives, and Jehovah will deal with those who do so. The Sunday sabbath is a child of the papacy set forth to be observed as the Lord's Sabbath, and to obey that human law compels men to transgress the laws of Jehovah, while human enactments that conflict with the laws of God do not bear the stamp of divine approval.
Exodus 20, including this verse, belongs with Exodus 19-24 as instruction God gave to Moses in the mount that men are to obey, to be studied and presented before the people in full detail, needed now just as much as by the children of Israel in the days of Moses. Chapters 19 and 20 are of great importance and should be often repeated and sacredly observed, with instruction carefully observed, guarding against doing injustice and guiding dealings with one another. Exodus 20 presents the commandments of God and is to be read together with Exodus 31, especially verses 12 through the end of the chapter.
Call to Obey
The awe at Sinai should have humbled the people and turned their minds back upon their repeated unbelief whenever trial came. What they had already seen was enough to give them confidence that the Lord was leading them through Moses and would establish him as His servant, so that they could trust him continually and not merely use him for the moment as a go-between to shield them from God's voice.
Their promise to hear Moses did not keep them faithful. The solemn impression, the memory of the covenant, and the terror that had thrown them on their faces in fear and quaking vanished like smoke, even while God's glory still lay like devouring fire on the top of the mount. When Moses was withdrawn into the mount to receive the laws for Israel and his return was delayed, the people wearied of waiting, fell back to old habits of thought and feeling, and clamored for some visible representation of God. As soon as the signs and the voice ceased they broke their vows of allegiance and turned to an idol, worshiping a golden calf.
That fall was one of the greatest apostasies ever committed by a people who had received special favors and had just heard God's own voice speaking the ten commandments in awful grandeur. While Moses was gone only forty days they made a calf and sank to the lowest idolatry of worshiping the work of their own hands, breaking the covenant they had just made. Even the leaders seemed to lose reason, forgetting both their covenant and their terror when they had fallen on their faces in fear and quaking.
Their minds, impaired by slavery, were not yet ready to grasp the full reach of the principles of the Ten Commandments. Additional precepts were therefore given privately to Moses to explain and apply those commandments.
The same terror returns whenever sinners are impressed with the importance of the law and the solemnity of its proclamation, and in imagination stand in the presence of God and His Son and see His majesty and the high and holy principles of the law against personal impurity. Removed from the immediate glory of the mountain, those who turn away in that fear criticize the sternness of the law's requirements and ask for reassuring, smooth preaching instead. They do so because looking at their own lives in the light of that law fills them with terror.