And Jehovah spoke to you from the midst of the fire ye heard the voice of the words, but ye saw no form; only [ye heard] a voice.
At Horeb the people stood before a burning mountain, and God spoke. They saw nothing of Him. They took in words, not a shape. Two questions follow: why did God show no form, and what does it mean that faith rests on a voice?
God came close enough to be heard and feared, yet He stayed hidden.
God came out from the unapproachable light to make His law known. He set out His demands on man — what He requires of him as one standing on his own responsibility. But He did not show Himself. He surrounded Himself with "a thick cloud" (Ex. 19:9). He spoke out of "fire and smoke" (v. 18) and "thick darkness" (Deut. 4:11). There was a display of majesty, power and authority. The storm and the shaking of the mountain were so great that the people trembled, and Moses himself was terrified (Heb. 12:21).
The word translated "form" here is the Hebrew temunah.
temunah, 'form, appearance,' which may not imply likeness. Num. 12:8; Deut. 4:12, 15, 16.
God showed nothing, so there was nothing to copy. Their whole duty ran through what they heard.
They saw nothing. God did not show Himself to them. He did not assume any bodily shape of which they might form an image. He gave them His word, His holy commandments, so plain that a child could understand them... So they had no need to imagine what God was like. No — that was the very sin they had been so faithfully warned against. They were called to hear God's voice, not to see His shape — to obey His commandments, not to make an image of Him.
One writer draws out what that missing shape protected them from.
The point pressed here is simple. When they came and stood before God — as far as anyone then could stand — they had seen no likeness of Jehovah. What a guard this was against the misuse of outward forms! God Himself did not disclose Himself by an external creature-shape... So this strikes a heavy blow at the pull towards idolatry.
The warning was not theoretical. Their own recent history had already proved the danger.
Again Moses insists that Israel saw no form when the Lord spoke to them at Horeb. The danger was real that they might corrupt themselves by making a carved image — in the form of a male or female, or of any animal, bird, reptile or fish (vv. 16-18). Israel's history had shown the need for such a warning. Right after God gave the law they made the golden calf, breaking the first law they had promised to keep (Ex. 32:1-4).
God's first words to Israel named Him as their rescuer. What He asks in return is love — but not a casual love.
They needed no proof that He exists or that He is powerful. He had used that power for them, and His first words declared Him their Deliverer out of slavery in Egypt. He did not claim their love without having done that which would secure it for Him. But this love must have reverence in it too. Nothing is more offensive than the over-familiar tone some people take towards God... Yet God would have us near Him — truly near — and the nearer we are, the more His majesty will impress us.
The same writer sets the tone of that day beside the way God speaks in the gospel.
"Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire" — Oh, how differently He speaks in the gospel of His grace! — "only a voice" — And "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."
What Sinai withheld, the Son supplies. That settles where we look for knowledge of God.
Jesus is declared to be the brightness of God's glory and the exact impression of His substance. He could say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." So the Son reveals the Father. And we know anything of the Son by the word, through the power of the Holy Spirit. So if anyone tries to form an image of God, or of Christ, by efforts of his mind or workings of his imagination, that is simply idolatry.
- Fire. God came out of the unapproachable light to state His demands. He came wrapped in cloud, fire and darkness: majesty on show, but He did not show Himself.
- Voice. They heard words and no more. The Hebrew word for "form" means appearance, and God gave them none.
- Word. They saw nothing, so everything hung on what they heard: hear God's voice, not see His shape; obey His commandments, not model Him.
- Guard. Showing no shape struck a blow at idolatry. Israel proved the warning was needed: they made the golden calf right after God gave the law.
- Son. What the fire hid, Christ reveals. He makes the Father known through the word, so picturing God in your imagination is still idolatry.
And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, the ten words; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.