Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 19:16
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that [was] in the camp trembled.
16. thick ] dense; lit. heavy (cf. on Exo 8:24). Not the word used in v. 9.
a trumpet ] Heb. shphr (so v. 19, Exo 20:18), properly a horn used especially (cf. the note on Amo 2:2 in the Camb. Bible) to give a signal or summons in war (Jdg 3:27), or to announce or accompany an important public event (1Ki 1:34; 2Sa 6:15). Not the ybl of v. 13b.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
16 19. On the third day the theophany takes place; and the people are brought forth by Moses to the foot of the mountain to meet God.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Exo 19:16-25
To meet with God.
Lessons
1. Upon Churches preparation, and sanctification God is ready to appear to them.
2. God will keep His day, His third day of appearance to His people.
3. In Gods appearance for covenant-making He giveth the discovery of Himself as He pleaseth.
4. Terrible signals God useth sometimes to declare His majesty to men (Psa 18:9).
5. The law given by Moses differs from Christs in darkness and deadliness (Heb 12:1-29.).
6. Suitable affections unto terrible appearances of God may be from nature and grace (Exo 19:16). It might be a spirit of bondage in some, but of free grace in others. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Gods terrors in the law are not to drive men from Him, but to bring them humbly to Him.
2. God hath appointed a Mediator to bring souls unto Him. They come not of themselves.
3. Upon the Mediators conduct souls may be bold to approach the terrors of the Lord.
4. Sinners must keep their standing appointed by the Mediator to find grace in the sight of God (Exo 19:17). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Great is the condescension of Jehovah unto men in giving law and covenant to them.
2. In Gods humbling Himself He keeps His distance and place above men.
3. In giving His law to men God calleth the Mediator to be by Him.
4. God withholds no discovery from His Church but that which would be deadly to them (Exo 19:21).
5. Among the congregation God hath appointed some to office for ministering to Him.
6. Such persons must be sanctified in their special place according to Gods will.
7. The more holy the persons and office are, the more deadly is their transgression.
8. Threatenings of death are primarily in grace to give life to souls (Exo 19:22). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. God seeth need for His ministers testifying and pressing on people His will when men do not.
2. The Mediators descent to men hinders not His ascent to God again for their good.
3. None but mediators must come so near to God as He appoints them.
4. Such as do, though under pretence of holiness, must perish (Exo 19:24).
5. The Mediator, as He must, so is He willing to be with Gods people at the law-giving.
6. It is Mediators work to teach all to souls that may fit them to a due reception of Gods covenant (Exo 19:25). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
God on Mount Sinai
I. The greatness of God. All powers of nature under His control.
II. The nearness of God (see 4:7-12).
III. The mysteriousness of God (see Psa 97:2).
IV. The holiness of God (see chap. 15:11; Isa 6:1-2; Rev 4:8; 1Pe 1:16).
V. The sovereignty and mercy of God (see Deu 5:24). (W. Forsyth.)
The highest ministry
(Exo 19:17):–The essence of religion is to realize the presence of God. Therefore we should hail as our highest benefactor the man who does for us as Moses did for Israel. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God.
I. In the operations of nature. Poets have sung of the sublimities and beauties of nature, and philosophers explain her secrets; but he does the noblest work who brings us face to face with natures God.
II. The events of providence. Many writers have done well in history and fiction, and have depicted with wondrous skill the varieties of character and incident, and the strange vicissitudes of human life; but he does best who shows us that there is a providence in the affairs of men, and that the Lord our God ruleth over all in righteousness and love.
III. The ordinances of the gospel. Preachers may be learned and eloquent, but it is only as they manifest Gods law to the conscience and Gods love to the heart that they do us real good. Prayer and praise are proper duties, but unless in them we rise to God they are meaningless and vain. (W. Forsyth.)
Vain curiosity
(Exo 19:21):–
I. It pries into secrets.
II. Breaks through boundaries.
III. Sacrifices reverence and self-respect.
IV. Recklessly rushes into danger.
V. Multiplies confusions and perils. Remember Eve, Uzziah. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
To meet with God.—
Coming to church to meet God
The people stood at the nether part of the mount; they listened with this very end in view: they came out of the camp to meet God, as God had commanded they should do. When you come up to the house of God keep this in view. There is, in the present day, as there was in the days of the apostle, such a thing as having itching ears, looking to man, instead of an humble and reverent desire to meet God. Brethren, be much in prayer; and when you leave your closets to attend public worship, say, I am now going to meet with God. As you enter His house, reflect, This is none other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven; oh that I may meet my Saviour; oh that His love may be shed abroad in my heart; oh that I may understand more of Gods plan for the salvation of sinners; oh that I may get my heart warmed by close communion with my God, and have my soul lifted up above the cares and pleasures of this sinful world! Were all our congregations to assemble thus, oh what a savour, and unction, and blessing we should experience! (George Breay, B. A.)
Communion with God
The windows of Somerset House that face the Strand are all double-cased, so as to deaden the roar of the traffic outside. It would be impossible to do mental work unless some such system were adopted. There is but one way to be in the world and not of it; it is to be shut in with God, away from the din of its cares, temptations, and strifes. Outside, confusion, hurly-burly; inside, quiet, peace, under the shadow of the Almighty.
Communion with God
When we think of Moses coming so near to Jehovah in His majesty, wielding the terrific agencies of flood and storm and fire, of darkness and lightning and the voice of trumpet exceeding loud–Mount Sinai rocking beneath His feet, and Moses alone drawing near the Awful Presence and talking with God face to face there–what shall we say of the possibilities of communion between man and his Maker? Whatever speculations we may have as to the means and methods by which the thought of God was borne to the mind of Moses, and the thought of Moses to the mind of God, the great fact of communion of mind with mind–thought meeting thought–of command from the superior party, received and obeyed by the inferior–is on the outer face of the whole history and admits of no question. God can speak to man so that man shall know the voice to be His, and comprehend perfectly its significance. Relations of obedience, confidence, and love on the part of man toward his Maker, are established, and God meets them with appropriate manifestations of His favour. (H. Cowles, D. D.)
Moses and Aaron united in the mount
The association of Aaron with Moses in the mount intimates evangelical instruction. It was the design of God, not only to declare the condemnation of sin, but to point out the way of justification and life. Their ministry united, the people cannot perish. It was in the presence of both that the words of the covenant were pronounced, showing that the functions of each were concerned in that dispensation. Moses would declare the law to the people; Aaron make reconciliation for sin. Infinitely glorious the surety of the everlasting covenant, our Divine Redeemer, of whom Moses in his prophetical office, and Aaron in his priestly, were but imperfect types. In Him was every qualification to mediate, and every right, that none need despair of redemption who trust in Him. (W. Seaton.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. Thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud – and the voice of the trumpet] The thunders, lightnings, c., announced the coming, as they proclaimed the majesty, of God. Of the thunders and lightnings, and the deep, dark, dismal, electric cloud, from which the thunders and lightnings proceeded, we can form a tolerable apprehension but of the loud, longsounding trumpet, we can scarcely form a conjecture. Such were the appearances and the noise that all the people in the camp trembled, and Moses himself was constrained to say, “I exceedingly fear and quake,” Heb 12:21. Probably the sound of the trumpet was something similar to that which shall be blown by the angel when he sweareth, by Him that liveth for ever, There shall be time no longer!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The
thunders and lightnings were sent partly as evidences and tokens both of Gods glorious presence, and of the anger of God, and the dreadful punishments due to the transgressors of the law now to be delivered; and partly as means to humble, and awaken, and convince, and terrify proud and secure sinners, that they might more reverently attend to the words and commands of God, more willingly yield obedience to them, and be more afraid of the violation of them.
A thick cloud was both a fit mean for the production and reception of the thunders and lightnings, and a signification as well of the invisible and unconceivable nature of God, as of the obscurity of the legal dispensation in regard of its types and shadows, & c., 2Co 3:13,18; 4:6.
The trumpet was a fit instrument, both for the promulgation of Gods law, and for the signification of that war that is between God and sinners.
All the people, Moses himself not excepted, as appears from Heb 12:21.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. on the third day in the morning,that there were thunders and lightnings, c.The descent of Godwas signalized by every object imagination can conceive connectedwith the ideas of grandeur and of awe. But all was in keeping withthe character of the law about to be proclaimed. As the mountainburned with fire, God was exhibited as a consuming fire to thetransgressors of His law. The thunder and lightning, more awful amidthe deep stillness of the region and reverberating with terrificpeals among the mountains, would rouse the universal attention athick cloud was an apt emblem of the dark and shadowy dispensation(compare Mt 17:5).
the voice of a trumpetThisgave the scene the character of a miraculous transaction, in whichother elements than those of nature were at work, and some other thanmaterial trumpet was blown by other means than human breath.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, c:] The sixth of the month, according to the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi on which day, as the Jews generally say t, the law was given, and which, they also observe, was a sabbath day: yea, they are sometimes so very particular as to fix the hour of the day, and say u, it was the sixth hour of the day, or twelve o’clock at noon, that Israel received the decalogue, and at the ninth hour, at three o’clock in the afternoon, returned to their stations:
there were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount; which were to awaken the attention of the people to what they were to hear and receive, and to strike their minds with an awe of the divine Being; and to add to the solemnity of the day, and the service of it; and to signify the obscurity and terror of the legal dispensation, and the wrath and curse that the transgressors the law might expect, even an horrible tempest of divine vengeance, see Heb 12:18
and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; or, “exceeding strong” w; being blown by the mighty angels, and by ten thousand them, with whom the Lord now descended:
so that all the people that was in the camp trembled, at the sound of it, it was so loud and terrible, and it so pierced their ears and their hearts: a different effect the Gospel trumpet the jubilee trumpet, the joyful sound of love, grace, and mercy, has upon sensible sinners, and on true believers: the law with its curses terrifies, the Gospel with its blessings comforts.
t T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 86. 2. Yoma, fol. 4. 2. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 5. p. 18. u Pirke Eliezer, c. 46. w “fortis valde”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
After these preparations, on the morning of the third day (from the issuing of this divine command), Jehovah came down upon the top of Mount Sinai (Exo 19:20), manifesting His glory in fire as the mighty, jealous God, in the midst of thunders ( ) and lightnings, so that the mountain burned with fire (Deu 4:11; Deu 5:20), and the smoke of the burning mountain ascended as the smoke ( for ), and the whole mountain trembled (Exo 19:18), at the same time veiling in a thick cloud the fire of His wrath and jealousy, by which the unholy are consumed. Thunder and lightning bursting forth from the thick cloud, and fire with smoke, were the elementary substrata, which rendered the glory of the divine nature visible to men, though in such a way that the eye of mortals beheld no form of the spiritual and invisible Deity. These natural phenomena were accompanied by a loud trumpet blast, which “blew long and waxed louder and louder” (Exo 19:16 and Exo 19:19; see Gen 8:3), and was, as it were, the herald’s call, announcing to the people the appearance of the Lord, and summoning them to assemble before Him and listen to His words, as they sounded forth from the fire and cloudy darkness. The blast ( ) of the shophar (Exo 19:19), i.e., the , the trump of God, such a trumpet as is used in the service of God (in heaven, 1Th 4:16; see Winer’s Grammar), is not “the voice of Jehovah,” but a sound resembling a trumpet blast. Whether this sound was produced by natural means, or, as some of the earlier commentators supposed, by angels, of whom myriads surrounded Jehovah when He came down upon Sinai (Deu 33:2), it is impossible to decide. At this alarming phenomenon, “ all the people that was in the camp trembled ” (Exo 19:16). For according to Exo 20:20 (17), it was intended to inspire them with a salutary fear of the majesty of God. Then Moses conducted the people (i.e., the men) out of the camp of God, and stationed them at the foot of the mountain outside the barrier (Exo 19:17); and “ Moses spake ” (Exo 19:19), i.e., asked the Lord for His commands, “ and God answered loud ” ( ), and told him to come up to the top of the mountain. He then commanded him to go down again, and impress upon the people that no one was to break through to Jehovah to see, i.e., to break down the barriers that were erected around the mountain as the sacred place of God, and attempt to penetrate into the presence of Jehovah. Even the priests, who were allowed to approach God by virtue of their office, were to sanctify themselves, that Jehovah might not break forth upon them ( ), i.e., dash them to pieces. (On the form for , see Ewald, 199 a). The priests were neither “the sons of Aaron,” i.e., Levitical priest, nor the first-born or principes populi , but “those who had hitherto discharged the duties of the priestly office according to natural right and custom” ( Baumgarten). Even these priests were too unholy to be able to come into the presence of the holy God. This repeated enforcement of the command not to touch the mountain, and the special extension of it even to the priests, were intended to awaken in the people a consciousness of their own unholiness quite as much as of the unapproachable holiness of Jehovah. But this separation from God, which arose from the unholiness of the nation, did not extend to Moses and Aaron, who were to act as mediators, and were permitted to ascend the mountain. Moreover, the prospect of ascending the holy mountain “at the drawing of the blast” was still before the people (Exo 19:13). And the strict prohibition against breaking through the barrier, to come of their own accord into the presence of Jehovah, is by no means at variance with this. When God gave the sign to ascend the mountain, the people might and were to draw near to Him. This sign, viz., the long-drawn trumpet blast, was not to be given in any case till after the promulgation of the ten words of the fundamental law. But it was not given even after this promulgation; not, however, because “the development was altogether an abnormal one, and not in accordance with the divine appointment in Exo 19:13, inasmuch as at the thunder, the lightning, and the sound of the trumpet, with which the giving of the law was concluded, they lost all courage, and instead of waiting for the promised signal, were overcome with fear, and ran from the spot,” for there is not a word in the text about running away; but because the people were so terrified by the alarming phenomena which accompanied the coming down of Jehovah upon the mountain, that they gave up the right of speaking with God, and from a fear of death entreated Moses to undertake the intercourse with God in their behalf (Exo 20:18-21). Moreover, we cannot speak of an “abnormal development” of the drama, for the simple reason, that God not only foresaw the course and issue of the affair, but at the very outset only promised that He would come to Moses in a thick cloud (Exo 19:9), and merely announced and carried out His own descent upon Mount Sinai before the eyes of the people in the terrible glory of His sacred majesty (Exo 19:11), for the purpose of proving the people, that His fear might be before their eyes (Exo 20:20; cf. Deu 5:28-29). Consequently, apart from the physical impossibility of 600,000 ascending the mountain, it never was intended that all the people should do so.
(Note: The idea of the people fleeing and running away must have been got by Kurtz from either Luther’s or De Wette’s translation. They have both of them rendered , “they fled and went far off,” instead of “they trembled and stood far off.” And not only the supposed flight, but his idea that “thunder, lightning, and the trumpet blast (which were silent in any case during the utterance of the ten commandments), concluded the promulgation of the law, as they had already introduced it according to Exo 19:16,” also rests upon a misunderstanding of the text of the Bible. There is not a syllable in Exo 20:18 about the thunder, lightning, and trumpet blast bursting forth afresh after the proclamation of the ten commandments. There is simply an account of the impression, which the alarming phenomena, mentioned in Exo 19:16-19 as attending the descent of Jehovah upon the mountain (Exo 19:20), and preceding His speaking to Moses and the people, made upon the people, who had been brought out of the camp to meet with God.)
What God really intended, came to pass. After the people had been received into fellowship with Jehovah through the atoning blood of the sacrifice, they were permitted to ascend the mountain in the persons of their representatives, and there to see God (Exo 24:9-11).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Divine Presence on Mount Sinai. | B. C. 1491. |
16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. 20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. 22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them. 23 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 24 And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them. 25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
Now, at length, comes that memorable day, that terrible day of the Lord, that day of judgment, in which Israel heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst of the fire, and lived, Deut. iv. 33. Never was there such a sermon preached, before nor since, as this which was here preached to the church in the wilderness. For,
I. The preacher was God himself (v. 18): The Lord descended in fire, and (v. 20), The Lord came down upon mount Sinai. The shechinah, or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of all the people; he shone forth from mount Paran with ten thousands of his saints (Deut. xxxiii. 2), that is, attended, as the divine Majesty always is, by a multitude of the holy angels, who were both to grace the solemnity and to assist at it. Hence the law is said to be given by the disposition of angels, Acts vii. 53.
II. The pulpit (or throne rather) was mount Sinai, hung with a thick cloud (v. 16), covered with smoke (v. 18), and made to quake greatly. Now it was that the earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, and the mountains skipped like rams (Ps. cxiv. 4, 7), that Sinai itself, though rough and rocky, melted from before the Lord God of Israel, Judg. v. 5. Now it was that the mountains saw him, and trembled (Hab. iii. 10), and were witnesses against a hard-hearted unmoved people, whom nothing would influence.
III. The congregation was called together by the sound of a trumpet, exceedingly loud (v. 16), and waxing louder and louder, v. 19. This was done by the ministry of the angels, and we read of trumpets sounded by angels, Rev. viii. 6. It was the sound of the trumpet that made all the people tremble, as those who knew their own guilt, and who had reason to expect that the sound of this trumpet was to them the alarm of war.
IV. Moses brought the hearers to the place of meeting, v. 17. He that had led them out of the bondage of Egypt now led them to receive the law from God’s mouth. Public persons are indeed public blessings when they lay out themselves in their places to promote the public worship of God. Moses, at the head of an assembly worshipping God, was as truly great as Moses at the head of an army in the field.
V. The introductions to the service were thunders and lightnings, v. 16. These were designed to strike an awe upon the people, and to raise and engage their attention. Were they asleep? The thunders would awaken them. Were they looking another way? The lightnings would engage them to turn their faces towards him that spoke to them. Thunder and lightning have natural causes, but the scripture directs us in a particular manner to take notice of the power of God, and his terror, in them. Thunder is the voice of God, and lightning the fire of God, proper to engage the senses of sight and hearing, those senses by which we receive so much of our information.
VI. Moses is God’s minister, who is spoken to, to command silence, and keep the congregation in order: Moses spoke, v. 19. Some think it was now that he said, I exceedingly fear and quake (Heb. xii. 21); but God stilled his fear by his distinguishing favour to him, in calling him up to the top of the mount (v. 20), by which also he tried his faith and courage. No sooner had Moses got up a little way towards the top of the mount than he was sent down again to keep the people from breaking through to gaze, v. 21. Even the priests or princes, the heads of the houses of their fathers, who officiated for their respective families, and therefore are said to come near to the Lord at other times, must now keep their distance, and conduct themselves with a great deal of caution. Moses pleads that they needed not to have any further orders given them, effectual care being taken already to prevent any intrusions, v. 23. But God, who knew their wilfulness and presumption, and what was now in the hearts of some of them, hastens him down with this in charge, that neither the priests nor the people should offer to force the lines that were set, to come up unto the Lord, but Moses and Aaron on, the men whom God delighted to honour. Observe, 1. What it was that God forbade them–breaking through to gaze; enough was provided to awaken their consciences, but they were not allowed to gratify their vain curiosity. They might see, but not gaze. Some of them, probably, were desirous to see some similitude, that they might know how to make an image of God, which he took care to prevent, for they saw no manner of similitude, Deut. iv. 5. Note, In divine things we must not covet to know more than God would have us know; and he has allowed us as much as is good for us. A desire of forbidden knowledge was the ruin of our first parents. Those that would be wise above what is written, and intrude into those things which they have not seen, need this admonition, that they break not through to gaze. 2. Under what penalty it was forbidden: Lest the Lord break forth upon them (v. 22-24), and many of them perish. Note, (1.) The restraints and warnings of the divine law are all intended for our good, and to keep us out of that danger into which we should otherwise, by our own folly, run ourselves. (2.) It is at our peril if we break the bounds that God has set us, and intrude upon that which he has not allowed us; the Bethshemites and Uzzah paid dearly for their presumption. And, even when we are called to approach God, we must remember that he is in heaven and we upon earth, and therefore it behoves us to exercise reverence and godly fear.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 16-25:
Jehovah came to Mount Sinai “the third day,” as He had promised. From the thick darkness came the “voice of the trumpet” The term in v. 13 is yobel, and is translated “cornet.” This word appears to be used interchangeably with shophar, which occurs in v. 19, and Ex 20:18.
The text indicates that Moses went up alone into the top of the mount where Jehovah met with him. God instructed Moses to repeat the warning to Israel, that none should approach the mount, lest he die. Moses protested that his warning was unnecessary, that precautions had already been taken. But Jehovah insisted, and so Moses went back once more to warn the people.
The precautions taken emphasize both the holiness and the grace of God: holiness, in that none might trespass into His presence; and holiness, in that He gave ample warning so that none might perish.
Heb 12:18-21 refers to the presence of Jehovah on Sinai, and the terrifying demonstrations of power accompanying this event.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
16. And it came to pass on the third day. We must bear in mind what I have already adverted to, that this terrible spectacle was partly to set the presence of God before their eyes, that His majesty might urge the beholders to obedience, and vindicate His doctrine from contempt, and partly to express the nature of the Law, which in itself produces nothing but mere terror. The air was disturbed by thunder and lightning’s, and the sound of the trumpet; the mountain was wrapped in smoke and darkness, that the people might humbly prostrate themselves before God, and solemnly embrace the covenant proposed to them; since religion never penetrates the mind so that it seriously receives God’s word until its vices are cleansed and corrected, and it is really subdued. And this fear is common also to the Gospel; for as in the promulgation of the Law God shook the earth, so when He speaks by the Prophet of the coming of Christ, and the restoration of His Church, He says, “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth,” etc. (Hag 2:6.) Thus, too, David, when he would point to God as the avenger of His Church, describes Him under this image; for no doubt when, in Psa 18:7, he says, “Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, — there went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured; he bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet,” he alludes to the history which Moses here relates. Hab 3:3 yet more plainly does so, — “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.” Meanwhile the other point remains, that the awful prodigies, at which the people needs must tremble, were added as seals to the promulgation of the Law, because the Law was given to cite slumbering consciences to the judgment-seat, that, through fear of eternal death, they might flee for refuge to God’s mercy.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16-20) Thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud.Compare with this description that of Deut. (Deu. 4:11-12), which is fuller in some respects:Ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. The phenomena accumulated to impress the people seem to have been loud thunder, fierce flashes of lightning, a fire that streamed up from the mountain to the middle of the sky, dense volumes of smoke producing an awful and weird darkness, a trembling of the mountain as by a continuous earthquake, a sound like the blare of a trumpet loud and prolonged, and then finally a clear penetrating voice. So awful a manifestation has never been made at any other place or time, nor will be until the consummation of all things. To regard it as a mere storm of thunder and lightning, or as an earthquake with volcanic eruptions, is to miss altogether the meaning of the author, and to empty his narrative of all its natural significance.
The voice of the trumpet.Heb., a voice of a trumpet. The trumpets blare is the signal of a herald calling attention to a proclamation about to be made. At the last day the coming of Christ is to be announced by the trump of God (1Th. 4:16). In the Apocalypse angels are often represented as sounding with trumpets (Rev. 8:7-8; Rev. 8:10; Rev. 8:12; Rev. 9:1; Rev. 9:14, &c.) when some great event is about to occur.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE SINAITIC THEOPHANY, Exo 19:16-20.
16. The third day in the morning The Scripture furnishes no certain data from which to determine the day of the week, or of the month, on which this theophany took place . Rabbinical and other speculations and conjectures on the subject are of no value . But there are some noticeable analogies between these three days and those intervening between the death and resurrection of our Lord, especially the preparations and ardent expectations among the more believing disciples, and the earthquake and lightning-like appearance of the angel that rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre . The one third day heralded the sublimest proclamation of law ever known to man, the other the grandest monumental fact of Christianity the revelation and pledge of immortality.
Thunders Hebrews, voices. The thunders and lightnings and thick (heavy) cloud upon the mount, the smoke and the fire and the quaking of the mountain, (Exo 19:18,) were adapted to impress upon the thousands of Israel profoundest convictions of the majesty and might of Jehovah. A sublimer picture than that here given is not to be found among all the writings of men. Whether the voice (or sound) of the trumpet exceeding loud was produced by natural or supernatural agency is difficult to determine, and yet the mention of it in connexion with the other supernatural occurrences here and in Exo 19:19, and in Exo 20:18, rather implies that it also was produced by supernatural means. In all these passages it is noticeable that the word trumpet (Hebrews, shophar) occurs, not yobel, as in Exo 19:13 above. To the imagery furnished by this sublime theophany the apostle alludes in 1Th 4:6.
The reader should compare the corresponding description in Deuteronomy 4, especially Deu 4:11-12; Deu 4:15; Deu 4:33; Deu 4:36. Kalisch observes: “The whole description of the fiery appearance of God in lightning and thunder and clouds, and the smoke of Sinai, and the terrible sound of the trumpet, is so majestically sublime and grand that it could only issue from a mind which, overwhelmed by the omnipotence and grandeur and majesty of God, exhausts the whole scanty store of human language to utter but a faint expression of the agitated sentiments of his soul.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And on the third day, when it was morning, it happened. There were thunders and lightning and thick cloud on the Mount, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet. And all the people who were in the camp trembled.’
On the morning of the third day what appeared to be a terrible electrical storm came on the mountain top. There was thunder and lightning and thick cloud. And from it came the sound of what seemed like an exceedingly loud trumpet. What caused this latter naturally speaking, if it was a natural manifestation, we do not know. It may well have been a deliberate representation of a trumpet blast announcing the arrival of the King. But through it all God was preparing to manifest Himself.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Terrifying Events of the Third Day
v. 16. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount. v. 17. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, v. 18. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, v. 19. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, v. 20. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount; and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount. And Moses went up, v. 21. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, v. 22. And let the priests also which come near to the Lord, v. 23. And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for Thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. v. 24. And the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou and Aaron with thee; but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest He break forth upon them, v. 25. And Moses went down to the people and spake unto them.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD UPON SINAI. All was ready. The fence had been made (Exo 19:23); the people had purified themselvesat least so far as externals went. The third day was comethere was a breathless hush of expectation. Then suddenly, in the morning, the presence manifested itself. “There were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud” (Exo 19:16); “and Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Exo 19:18) Or, as the scene is elsewhere (Deu 4:11, Deu 4:12) described by Moses”Ye came near and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.” The phenomena were not a mere “storm of thunder and lightning, whereof Moses took advantage to persuade the people that they had heard God’s voice”not “an earthquake with volcanic eruptions”not even these two combinedbut a real theophany, in which amid the phenomena of storm and tempest, and fire and smoke, and thick darkness, and hearings of the ground as by an earthquake shock, first the loud blast of a trumpet sounded long commanding attention, and then a clear penetrating voice, like that of a man, made itself heard in distinctly articulated words, audible to the whole multitude, and recognised by them as superhumanas “the voice of God” (Deu 4:33). It is in vain to seek to minimise, and to rationalise the scene, and tone it down into something not supernatural. The only honest course is either to accept it as a plain record of plain (albeit miraculous) facts, or to reject it altogether as the fiction of a romancer.
Exo 19:16
There were thunders. Literally, “voices,” as in Exo 9:23; but there can be no doubt that “thunder” is meant. A thick cloud. Compare above, Exo 9:9, and the comment ad loc. The voice of the trumpet. Literally, “a trumpet’s voice.” The word used for “trumpet” is not the same as in Exo 9:13; but the variation does not seem to have any importance.
Exo 19:17
Moses brought forth the people out of the camp. The camp itself must have been withdrawn to some little distance from the foot of the mount, so that a vacant space intervened between the first tents and the “fence” which Moses had caused to be erected almost close to the mount. Into this vacant space Moses now led “the people”i.e; the chief of the peopleso bringing them as near as they might come to God.
Exo 19:18
Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke. Literally, smoked, all of it. Kalisch suggests that “the dense clouds from which the thunders broke forth had the appearance of smoke.” But the reason assigned”because the Lord descended on it in fire,” seems to imply real smoke; and. the same re-suits from the comparison of it to “the smoke of a furnace.” The whole mount quaked greatly. Scarcely “through the vehemence of the thunder” (Kalisch), for thunder does not shake the earth, though it shakes the airbut rather by an actual earthquake. Compare Psa 18:7; Mat 27:51-54; Act 4:31; Act 16:26.
Exo 19:19
When the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder. This is a somewhat free translation; but it gives well the real meaning of the Hebrew. We may conclude that the trumpet’s blast was not continuous. It sounded when the manifestation began (Exo 19:16). It sounded again, much louder and with a much more prolonged note, to herald the actual descent of God upon the mount. This time the sound was so piercing, so terrible, so intolerable, that Moses could no longer endure to keep silence, but burst out in speech. Were his words those recorded in Heb 12:21“I exceedingly fear and quake”words not found now in the Old Testamentor were they others which have been wholly lost to us? It is impossible to say. His speech, however, had the effect of bringing the awful preparations to a close”Moses spake, and God. answered him by a voice, and the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai.”
Exo 19:20
On the top of the mount. Not, probably, on the highest point of the Sinaitic group, the Jebel Musa, which is out of sight from the plain Er-Rahah, where the Israelites must have been assembled; but on the highest part of the face of Sinai fronting that plain, the Ras Sufsafeh, which would be to the Israelites at the base “the top of the mount.” The Lord called Moses up. Perhaps with Aaron, who certainly accompanied him when he next ascended (Exo 19:24), and who seems to be glanced at in the phrase used at the end of Exo 19:23
HOMILETICS
Exo 19:16-20
God’s various modes of manifesting himself.
It has been well said that “when God reveals himself it is in a manner suitable to the occasion.” No revelation that he has made of himself has ever been so terrible in its material accompaniments as that at Sinai; and no occasion can ever be conceived of as more needing the employment of solemn, startling, and impressive circumstances. Here was a people gross of heart, delighting in flesh-pots, debased by slavery, careless of freedom, immoral, inclined to idolatry, which had to be elevated into God’s living witness among the nations, the depositary of his truth, the teacher of the rest of mankind for ages. Given the object of impressing such a nation permanently with the conviction that it had received a Divine revelation, and that very dreadful consequences would follow the neglect of it, and the need of the thunders and other terrors of Sinai becomes manifest. At other times and in other places God has pursued quite different methods. To Elijah he revealed himself in the “still small voice;” to Isaiah and St. John in visions; to the apostles generally in the solemn teaching of his Son; to St. Paul in ecstasies, wherein he heard unspeakable words. The contrast between the day of the giving of the law on Sinai and the day of Pentecost has often been noticed.
“When God of old came down from Heaven,
In power and wrath he came;
Before his feet the clouds were riven,
Half darkness and half flame.”
“But when he came the second time,
He came in power and love:
Softer than gale at morning prime,
Hovered his holy Dove.”
The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost and the coming of Jesus were, both of them, gentle and peaceful Epiphanies, suited to the time when God, having educated the world for four thousand years or more, was about to seek to win men to himself by the preaching of “good tidings”of the gospel of love. The clouds and terrors of Sinai would here have been out of placeunsuitable anachronisms. In complete harmony with the two occasions wereat Bethlehem, the retired village, the humble stable, the angels singing of peace on earth, the lone shepherds watching their flocks at nightin Jerusalem the voiceless wind, “mighty” yet subdued, the lambent light playing round the heads of holy men, the unseen inward influence shed into their hearts at the same time, impalpable to sense, but with power to revolutionise the world. And as God reveals himself to his Church in manifold ways, each fitting the occasion, so does he reveal himself to individuals. Now he comes clothed in his terrors. He visits with calamity or with sickness, or with that awful dread which from time to time comes over the soul, that it is lost, hopelessly lost, alienated from God for ever. Anon, he shows himself in gentler guisehe whispers hope, he instils faith, he awakens love. In every case he studies the needs of the individual, and adapts his revelation of himself to them. Now he calls by his preachers, now he warns by the “still small voice” of conscience; now he wakes men out of sleep by a sudden danger or a sudden deliverance; anon, he startles them out of a self-complacency worse than sleep by withdrawing himself and allowing them to fall. It is for man to take advantage of every Divine manifestation, to listen when God speaks, to obey when he calls, to make the use of each occasion which it was intended to have, to “receive God’s revelations of himself in his own way.”
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Exo 19:16-19
Sinai and Sion.
In studying these verses we cannot but be reminded of the picture drawn by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews of the contrast in respect of Church state and privilege between believers of the Old and believers of the New Testament dispensations. “Ye are not come,” he says, “unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” etc. (Heb 12:18-25). Briefly stated, what is set forth here is the contrast of legal with Gospel privilege. The writer is addressing Jews, who were in danger of apostatising from Christ. He seeks to dissuade them from going back to Judaism by showing them the vast superiority of the privileges which they enjoyed as Christians to those enjoyed under the law. We, who are Christians, and axe in no temptation to return to Judaism, approach the subject from a different side. But the verses are still of use as showing us, by contrast, the greatness of our privilege. We have,
1. the negative side of Christian privilegewhat we are delivered from, “Ye are not come,” etc.;
2. The positive side of Christian privilegewhat we have come to, “Ye are come unto Mount Sion,” etc. It will better suit our present purpose to view the contrast along different lines.
I. THE CONTRAST IS THE MOUNTAINS. Sinai and Sion.
1. Sinai. Sinai, the mountain of law, stands as the proper representative of the old economy. The Israelites, as seen above, were under a peculiar constitution. Bound to God by a covenant of law, they yet enjoyed many of the benefits of a state of grace. Sinai, however, was the proper representation of their economy. Divest that economy of all that it derived from the new and better covenant which has since superseded it, and it would have been a Sinai economy pure and simple. The law said, Do this and thou shalt live; and if the Israelite did not do it, it could award no blessing to him, could only condemn. This was the formal constitution. As placed under law, the people, in their approaches to God, were constantly coming anew to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire.
2. Sion. The first thing which strikes us here is
(1) That there was this contrast between Sinai and Sion within Israel itself. Sinai and Sion were, so to speak, the two poles round which the whole national and religious life of Israel revolved. As Sinai, the mountain of the law, represents their position under law, so the grace element in their economy comes to light in Mount Sion. As on Sinai, God descended in awful smoke and flame, so on Sion he dwelt in peace in the midst of Israel, giving forth his oracles, receiving his people’s worship, and dispensing mercy and favour from between the cherubim, above the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat. God came down for a season only on Sinai; on Sion, he was said to dwell (Psa 132:13, Psa 132:14). He appeared in terror on Mount Sinai; but Sion displayed the milder glories of his character. Sion was the place of salvation (Psa 14:7; Isa 46:13, etc.). In Sion God ruled; from it he sent forth strength and help; from it was to go forth the Gospel law (Psa 20:2; Psa 110:2; Isa 2:2, Isa 2:3). Yet Sion, under that economy, was only the type of something better. Grace at that time was only very imperfectly revealed; it was hidden under types and forms of law; it has now been made fully manifest, and the old covenant has been superseded by a better and enduring one.
(2) Sinai and Sion as representing the contrast between the two dispensations. Sion has not ceased to exist, it has only, so to speak, gone up higher. Its special seat is now in heaven. There is the throne of God; there, the capital or head-quarters of that great spiritual commonwealth, here denominated “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” and elsewhere, “the Jerusalem that is above,” “New Jerusalem,” in plain terms, the Church or kingdom of God on earth and in heaven. This heavenly Sion alone perfectly realises rod fulfils the idea embodied in the earthly one. Do we ask why the Church or kingdom of God, as respects its state of privilege, is in this text figured as on a mountainas a city set on Mount Sion? The answer is
1. Because the special seat of God’s holy abode in the midst of his Church is now literally in heaven, i.e; spiritually removed from, and exalted above the earth.
2. Because the kingdom of God is spiritually the highest thing on earthfounded on the highest order of ideas, on those principles of righteousness and justice which dominate all others.
3. Because it is, in point of fact, the central, commanding, controlling power in history.
4. Because entrance into it, and growth in its spirit and power, involves a spiritual riseis a true moral ascent. These facts evince the propriety of this figurative representation.
II. THE CONTRAST IN THE ACCESSORIES. Each mountain, in the passage in Hebrews, is made the centre of a scene. We have, accordingly, two groups of attendant circumstances, the details of which are placed studiously in contrast. The series of manifestations at Sinai has already engaged our attention, and we need not dwell upon them further. In contrast to Sinai is placed the picture of the convocation at Mount Sion. The picture is ideal; but the features in it are severally real, and the whole are needed to set forth Christian privilege in its completeness.
1. The mount is represented as crowned by “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”the city denoting that great spiritual polity into which believers are admitted, and in which they have rights of citizenship, but which, like every other polity, has an existence of its own, irrespective of the individuals who at any time compose its membership. The civitas endures, though the elves come and go. The ideas suggested are order, beauty, symmetry. God has founded this city. God defends it. It has salvation for walls and bulwarks. The capital of this great “City of God” is heaven; but believers, even on earth, are enfranchised members of it, and, spiritually, have come to it (Eph 2:19; Php 3:20).
2. Crowding the mount, thronging its sides, and hovering above, behind, around, is “an innumerable company of angels.” Cf. 2Ki 6:17, where the servant of Elisha saw the mountain “full” of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha; or Dan 7:10, where thousand thousands minister to the Ancient of Days, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him; or Rev 5:11, where the number of the angels round about the throne was “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” The truths figured are these two
(1) That the angelic hosts stand in a relation of ministry to the Church and kingdom of God (Heb 1:14); and
(2) That they take a deep interest in its fortunes (Eph 3:10; 1Pe 1:12). Their bright forms, crowding the mount, add augustness, splendour, and beauty to the scene.
3. The mount is further occupied by “the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven”this designation including the whole body of Christian believers both those on earth and those in heaven; the Church catholic, spiritual, invisible. “The whole family in heaven and earth””one Church, above, below.” But why called “first-born”? “They are partakers with Christ in all the privileges of that right of primogeniture, which properly and essentially belongs to him alone.” (Candlish.) The truth figured here is, that in Christ we are admitted to the “communion of saints.” “I believe in the holy Catholic Church I believe in the communion of saints.” Yet how little, sometimes, does this great privilege mean to us!
4. Another part of the assembly on the mount is denoted by the words”the spirits of just men made perfect.” These are the holy and good of the former dispensation, now admitted to equality of privilege and blessedness with Christians (cf. Heb 11:40).
5. God himself sits enthroned in the midst”Judge of all.” The expression reminds us of the writer’s design, which is not consolatory, but admonitory. It is still the holy God with whom we have to do, the Judge (cf. Rom 2:6; 1Pe 1:17) as well as Father; one who will punish disobedience to his voice now with even greater severity than he did of old (Heb 12:25, Heb 12:29). The God of Sinai and the God of Sion are after all the same God. What, then, makes the difference between Sinai and Sion? The answer is
6. “Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling.” It is Christ’s presence in the scene which has changed all the surroundings. To all these things, if we are indeed in Christ, we come. How?
(1) By coming to Jesus himself. To come to Jesus, as has been well said, is to come to all else that is here described. We may or may not realise our privileges; but they are there. We are members of the spiritual commonwealth, enjoy the ministry of angels, are part of the invisible Church, have rights of the first-born, etc.
(2) In the realisation of spiritual privilege (cf. 1Co 2:12).
(3) In the use of our rights.
(4) We shall “come” more perfectly at death. Hence
III. THE CONTRAST IN PRIVILEGE.
1. In the character of the privilege. In Israel’s case, the privilege was of so awful a kind, that the sense of privilege was well-nigh swallowed up in the terror which the scene inspired. How different with believers! Their approach to this spiritual mount is solemnising indeed, yet joyful. They have boldness in drawing nigh by the blood of Christ.
2. In the degree of the privilege. The Israelites were not permitted to ascend, or even to come near the mount. Bounds were erected to keep them back. Did they so much as touch it, they would perish. How cliff, refit the privilege of Christians, who not only ascend this spiritual Mount Sion, but are enrolled as citizens in its heavenly city, and have boldness to enter the holiest of all in their approaches to the throne of grace (Heb 4:14-16; Heb 10:19-23).J.O.
HOMILIES BY G. A. GOODHART
Exo 19:17
Prepare to meet thy God.
God’s revelation of himself to man is gradual, as man can bear it. [Cf. the way in which a parent reveals himself to his child, Isa 28:11, with stammering lips and a feigned tongue.] Israel had learnt to know God as a deliverer; must learn to know him further as a lawgiver and ruler.
I. THE SCENE. A long, broad valley. Rocks on each side widening out into a natural amphitheatre. Facing down the valley is a steep, precipitous mountain; grey, streaked with red. The whole scene, not unlike, on a huge scale, that presented by the avenues leading up to the Egyptian temples. It is a place where those accustomed to Egypt might expect to meet with God. “Now” probably the people may have thought, “we shall see for ourselves this mysterious Jehovah; he has brought us to his temple; he will introduce us to his shrine.”
II. THE MEDIATOR AND HIS MESSAGE. Israel is encamped. Moses ascends the mountain (Isa 28:3). Again God meets with him and sends a message by him to the people. Notice:
1. Reminder of what he has done for them already (Isa 28:4).
2. Obedience the condition of future favour (Isa 28:5). Fulfil the condition and the promise is secure. The earth itself is God’s temple; if Israel will obey and keep his covenant they shall be “a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”
3. The answer given (Isa 28:8). No hesitation, no expression of doubt. The promised blessing so attractive that they are ready to promise anything, never doubting their ability to fulfil their promise. It is easy enough to say “I will”the hard thing is to translate it into “I do.”
III. THE PROMISED INTERVIEW. The people shall be conscious of the presence of their God. Jehovah will publicly attest the authority of his servant, Notice:
1. The preparation. God requires it. It is easy for familiarity to breed irreverence; and irreverence soon leads on to low views of the Divine character. Love is degraded into mere kindliness; an easy-going people believe in an easy-going God. See here:
(1) The people have to prepare themselves for the meeting (Isa 28:10).
(2) The place has to be prepared. God reveals himself to prepared people in a prepared place. Why do so few have revelations nowadays? Some come to the prepared place, but they omit the personal preparation; others, even after personal preparation, lose much through neglecting the prepared place. We need to remember Ecc 5:1, and Heb 10:25.
2. The revelation. The third day comes (Heb 10:16). Storm, sound of trumpet, assembly of people without the camp, trembling, earthquake, intense suspense. “Now surely God will show himself. Can we endure the sight and live?” At length (Heb 10:19) “a voice”cf. Deu 4:12; “no similitude, only a voice.” For the present it is enough; reverence is the first lesson those whom God has delivered have to learn; “Hallowed be thy Name” is the first petition they are taught to offer. For effect (cf. Exo 20:18-22) which also teaches the object of the revelation. “That his fear may be before your faces that ye sin not.”
Conclusion. We have learnt many more lessons about God than the Israelites could then learn. Have we not too often slurred over or half-forgotten that first lesson?
“Let knowledge grow from more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well,
May make our music as before,
But vaster. We axe fools and slight;
We mock thee when we do not fear;
But help thy foolish ones to bear;
Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light.”
G.
Exo 19:19
Only a voice.
The people were expecting a revelationa vision of the hitherto unseen Jehovahit came, but not as they expected; no vision, only a voice (cf. Deu 4:12). The fact was the law was not a final, only a preparatory revelation; it is related to the Gospel as John Baptist was related to Christ. “A voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Consider in this view:
I. THE STRENGTH OF THE LAW.
1. It was a voicea Divine voice. In spite of the confusion not unmixed with disappointment, none doubted whence it came. It gave a Divine authority to the commandment even when given through a mediator.
2. It was adapted to the condition of those who heard it. A revelation must be fitted for those to whom it is addressed. (Illust. a highly-finished picture is of small value to the half-blind; they can better appreciate a rough sketch in coarse, bold outline.) The animal, or natural man, as exemplified in the character of Israel in the wilderness, could not have understood anything more spiritual; its religion is obedience. The natural man can only be reached by such sensual methods as his nature can respond to. Through them the spiritual nature, which is cradled in the natural, may be educated and fostered, prepared to receive in due course that higher revelation which befits it.
II. THE WEAKNESS OF THE LAW.
1. It was only a voice. As the spiritual nature grows (cf. infants attaining consciousness) it craves for something more than this. It needs not a voice only, but a presence. From the first we find Israel longing after a “similitude.” Even Moses (Exo 33:18) beseeches that God will show him his glory. Later the cry grows ever more distinct through psalmists and prophets, itself a continuous preparation for the fulfilment ultimately reserved for it.
2. Evidence in the law itself (cf. second commandment). A fence to guard an empty shrine, but a shrine kept empty only in preparation for some coming inmate. A preparation for the Incarnation. The Pharisee comes to worship the fence; the idolater ignores it; both illustrate the weakness of the merely “vocal” revelation.
III. CONTRAST WITH THE GOSPEL. Christ is “the Word made Flesh;” the express image of God. Not a voice only, but a person. The more perfect revelation indicates a fuller development in those to whom it is addressed, but we must remember that a fuller development implies also a greater responsibility. [The offence which we condone in the child, is unpardonable in the man. Mistakes made by the half-blind are no longer excusable when a man can see.] If Israel fell and was rejected, must not our far greater privileges be followed, if profaned, with deeper ruin? (Cf. Heb 12:25, Heb 12:26; 1Co 10:1-12.)G.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Exo 19:16. There were thunders and lightnings The most formidable agents in nature, air, fire, and light, in their most dreadful exertions, attended the Divinity on this solemn occasion: a retinue of glorious angels, bright as the living flame, surrounded him, Deu 32:2. All nature expressed the most extraordinary commotion at his presence; and a sound, like that of a trumpet, was sent forth by his angelic ministers, as the summons to appear before him. No circumstances can be more truly awful, than these mentioned by the sacred historian; as, perhaps, there never was upon earth so solemn and majestic a display of the Divine glory. See Psa 68:8. Jdg 5:4-5 and Deu 4:11.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here opens that solemn event, to which the Church, in after ages, frequently refers; of Israel’s hearing the voice of the Lord speaking to them. Deu 4:33 . If we spiritualize this passage, may we not compare the thunders and lightnings to those alarms and terrors which beset the soul, when the heart is roused to a sense of having broken the divine law?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that [was] in the camp trembled.
Ver. 16. There were thunders and lightnings. ] The law was delivered in this terrible manner; partly to procure reverence to the doctrine of it, and partly to set forth the nature and office of it; which is to terrify and thunder struck offenders.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the People Warned not to Approach the Mount
Exo 19:16-25
The holiness of God was taught in object lessons. The people must wash their garments, the mount must be fenced in, not a beast might graze upon the slopes, not a hand might touch the holy soil. Moses must twice descend to warn the people, Exo 19:14; Exo 19:21; Exo 19:25. Only he and Aaron might ascend. All was done to convince the people of the vast distance that intervened between themselves and God. It was the awe engendered by such provisions, and which pervaded the ancient dispensation, that led Peter to cry, when the divine glory of Jesus smote upon him: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Dare to believe that beneath every cloud of soul-anguish, bereavement, and trial, you will find the burning love of God. Clouds and darkness may be round about Him, but faithfulness and truth, judgment and mercy are at the foundation of His throne. Listen to the voice that bids you enter the pavilion, and remember Heb 12:18, etc.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
thunders: Exo 9:23, Exo 9:28, Exo 9:29, Exo 20:18, 1Sa 12:17, 1Sa 12:18, Job 37:1-5, Job 38:25, Psa 18:11-14, Psa 29:3-11, Psa 50:3, Psa 77:18, Psa 97:4, Heb 12:18, Heb 12:19, Rev 4:5, Rev 8:5, Rev 11:19
thick: Exo 19:9, Exo 40:34, 2Ch 5:14
voice: Rev 1:10, Rev 4:1
all the people: Jer 5:22, Heb 12:21
Reciprocal: Exo 19:11 – the Lord Exo 19:13 – when the trumpet Exo 19:15 – the third Exo 19:19 – And when Exo 20:21 – the people Exo 24:15 – a cloud Deu 4:10 – the day Deu 4:11 – stood Deu 5:5 – General 1Ki 19:11 – and a great Neh 9:13 – camest Job 37:2 – the noise Job 38:1 – General Psa 68:8 – Sinai Eze 1:4 – a great Eze 10:5 – the voice Nah 1:3 – his way Hab 3:3 – His glory Hab 3:10 – mountains Joh 12:29 – thundered 1Co 15:52 – last 1Th 4:16 – with the trump Heb 12:20 – if so much Rev 14:2 – of a
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 19:16. Now at length is come that memorable day, in which Israel heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst of the fire and lived, Deu 4:33. Never was there such a sermon preached before or since, as this, which was here preached to the church in the wilderness. For the preacher was God himself, Exo 19:18. The Lord descended in fire; and, Exo 19:20, The Lord came down upon mount Sinai.
The Shechinah, or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of all the people; he shined forth from mount Paran with ten thousands of his saints, attended with a multitude of the holy angels. Hence the law is said to be given by the disposition of angels, Act 7:53. He spake from mount Sinai, hung with a thick cloud, (Exo 19:16,) covered with smoke, (Exo 19:18,) and made to quake greatly. Now it was that the earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, and the mountains skipped like rams, (Psa 114:4-7,) that Sinai itself, though rough and rocky, melted from before the Lord God of Israel, Jdg 5:5. The congregation was called together by the sound of a trumpet exceeding loud, (Exo 19:16,) and waxing louder and louder, Exo 19:19. This was done by the ministry of angels, and made all the people tremble. The introductions to the service were thunders and lightnings, Exo 19:16. These have natural causes; but the Scripture directs us in a particular manner to take notice of the power of God, and his terror in them. Thunder is the voice of God, and lightning the fire of God, proper to engage both the learning senses of seeing and hearing.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God again used the symbol of fire to reveal Himself on this mountain (Exo 3:2-5). Fire is a symbol of His holiness that enlightens, purges, and refines. The smoke and quaking that accompanied the fire further impressed this awesome revelation on the people.
The priests referred to (Exo 19:22; Exo 19:24) were evidently young men (first-born?) that offered sacrifices before God appointed the Aaronic priests to this service (cf. Exo 24:5).
Comparative ancient Near Eastern studies have revealed that the covenant form and terminology that God used to communicate His agreement with Israel were common in Moses’ day. There were two basic types of formal covenants in the ancient Near East: parity (between equals) and suzerainty (between a sovereign and his subjects). The Mosaic Covenant was a suzerainty treaty. Such agreements characteristically contained a preamble (Exo 19:3), historical prologue (Exo 19:4), statement of general principles (Exo 19:5 a), consequences of obedience (Exo 19:5-6 a), and consequences of disobedience (omitted here). In 1977, Kenneth Kitchen wrote the following.
"Some forty different [suzerainty] treaties . . . are known to us, covering seventeen centuries from the late third millennium BC well into the first millennium BC, excluding broken fragments, and now additional ones still to be published from Ebla." [Note: Kenneth Kitchen, The Bible In Its World, p. 79.]
Thus the form in which God communicated His covenant to Moses and Israel was undoubtedly familiar to them. It enabled them to perceive better the nature of the relationship into which they were entering. [Note: See George E. Mendenhall, Law and Covenant in Israel and the Near East; Meredith Kline, The Treaty of the Great King; and F. C. Fensham, "Extra-biblical Material and the Hermeneutics of the Old Testament with Special Reference to the Legal Material of the Covenant Code," OTWSA 20 & 21 (1977 & 78):53-65.]
The Mosaic Law consisted of three classes of requirements: those governing moral life (the Ten Commandments), those governing religious life (the ceremonial ordinances), and those governing civil life (the civil statutes). The commandments expressed the righteous will of God (Exodus 20), the judgments governed Israel’s social life (Exo 21:1 to Exo 24:11), and the ordinances determined Israel’s religious life (Exo 24:12 to Exo 31:18). God gave the whole Law specifically for the nation of Israel (Exo 19:3). It is very important to recognize how comprehensive the Mosaic Law was and not limit it to the Ten Commandments. The rabbis, after Maimonides, counted 613 commands, 248 positive and 365 negative, in the law. Maimonides was a Jewish philosopher and exegete who lived in the twelfth century A.D. and wrote Sepher Mitzvoth ("Book of the Commandments"), the definitive Jewish list of laws in the Penteateuch. [Note: For a summary of Maimonides’ list, see the Appendix in Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., pp. 481-516.]
There were three categories of law in Israel.
1. Crimes were actions that the community prohibited under the will of God and punished in its name. Murder (Exo 21:12), adultery (Lev 20:10; Deu 22:22), and the kidnapping of persons for sale outside Israel (Exo 21:16) are examples of crimes. These offenses resulted in the punishment of the guilty party by the community as a community (Exo 21:12-16).
2. Torts were civil wrongs that resulted in an action by the injured party against the party who had wronged him. Assault (Exo 21:18-27), the seduction of an unmarried or betrothed girl (Exo 22:16-17), and theft of animals or other property (Exo 22:1-4) are examples of torts. Conviction resulted in the guilty party paying damages to the injured party (Exo 21:18-27).
3. Family law did not involve the courts, but the head of the household administered it in the home. Divorce (Deu 24:1-4), the making of slavery permanent (Exo 21:1-6), and adoption (cf. Gen 15:2; Gen 30:3; Gen 48:5; Gen 48:12; 2Sa 7:14; Psa 2:7) are examples. In these cases the head of the household acted unilaterally. He did not, however, have the power of life or death. [Note: See Anthony Phillips, Ancient Israel’s Criminal Law; and idem, "Some Aspects of Family Law in Pre-Exilic Israel," Vetus Testamentum 23 (1973):349-361, for further discussion of these categories.]
God gave the Mosaic Law to the Israelites for several purposes:
1. To reveal the holiness of God (1Pe 1:15)
2. To reveal the sinfulness of man (Gal 3:19)
3. To reveal the standard of holiness required of those in fellowship with God (Psa 24:3-5)
4. To supervise physical, mental, and spiritual development of redeemed Israelites until they should come to maturity in Christ (Gal 3:24; Psa 119:71-72)
5. To be the unifying principle that made the establishment of the nation possible (Exo 19:5-8; Deu 5:27-28)
6. To separate Israel from the nations to become a kingdom of priests (Exo 19:5-6; Exo 31:13)
7. To make provision for forgiveness of sins and restoration to fellowship (Leviticus 1-7)
8. To make provision for a redeemed people to worship by observing and participating in the yearly festivals (Leviticus 23)
9. To provide a test whether one was in the kingdom (theocracy) over which God ruled (Deuteronomy 28)
10. To reveal Jesus Christ.
J. Dwight Pentecost concluded his article on the purpose of the Law, from which I took the preceding 10 points, by pointing out the following.
". . . there was in the Law that which was revelatory of the holiness of God. . . ." There was also ". . . that in the Law which was regulatory." [Note: J. Dwight Pentecost, "The Purpose of the Law," Bibliotheca Sacra 128:511 (July-September 1971):233. See also idem, Thy Kingdom . . ., pp. 88-93.]
"It is extremely important to remember that the Law of Moses was given to a redeemed people, not to redeem a people." [Note: Ibid., p. 87. Cf. Johnson, p. 68.]
". . . it is also possible that the Pentateuch has intentionally included this selection of laws for another purpose, that is, to give the reader an understanding of the nature of the Mosaic Law and God’s purpose in giving it to Israel. Thus it is possible to argue that the laws in the Pentateuch are not there to tell the reader how to live but rather to tell the reader how Moses was to live under the law.
"This understanding of the purpose of the laws in the Pentateuch is supported by the observation that the collections of laws in the Pentateuch appear to be incomplete and selective. The Pentateuch as such is not designed as a source of legal action. That the laws in the Pentateuch are incomplete is suggested by the fact that many aspects of ordinary community life are not covered in these laws." [Note: Sailhamer, "The Mosaic . . .," pp. 244, 245.]
A movement that has gained some followers, especially in the United States, is the Christian Reconstruction movement, also known as the theonomy movement, and the Chalcedon school. Its central thesis is that God intended the Mosaic Law to be normative for all people for all time. Its advocates look forward to a day when Christians will govern everyone using the Old Testament as the law book. Reconstructionism rests on three foundational points: presuppositional apologetics, theonomy (lit. the rule of God), and postmillennialism. The main flaw in this system, from my perspective, is failure to distinguish God’s purposes for Israel from His purposes for the church. [Note: For a popular introduction to this movement, see Rodney Clapp, "Democracy as Heresy," Christianity Today (February 20, 1987), pp. 17-23. See also Robert Lightner, "Theological Perspectives on Theonomy," Bibliotheca Sacra 143:569 (January-March 1986):26-36; 143:570 (April-June 1986):134-45; and 143:571 (July-September 1986):228-45, for a scholarly dispensational critique; and Meredith Kline, "Comments on an Old-New Error," Westminster Theological Journal 41:1 (Fall 1978):172-89, for a scholarly reformed evaluation of the movement. The essay by Douglas Chismar and David Raush, "Regarding Theonomy: An Essay of Concern," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 27:3 (September 1984):315-23, is also helpful.]
"Theonomy used to be an attractive lens through which to read Scripture for many Christians, particularly in Reformed and Pentecostal circles in the 1970s and into the 1990s, among those who looked with horror at the secularization of society and longed for a more powerful Christian influence. Fortunately, as we begin the twenty-first century this movement has lost significant influence." [Note: Longman and Dillard, p. 76.]