And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke to me; and Jehovah said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people that have spoken to thee they have well spoken all that they have spoken.
At Sinai the people heard God speak out of the fire and begged never to hear that voice again, asking Moses to listen for them instead. God's answer is surprising: they were right — but what did He approve in people backing away from Him?
God's verdict is easy to misread as approval of Israel's promise to obey. (Older translations read "they have well said," where the ESV has "They are right.") One writer answers that by reading the whole context:
From this passage it might seem as though the Lord approved of their making a vow. But read the whole context, from verses 24-27. You will see at once that it says nothing at all about the vow. It expresses their terror at the consequences of their vow. They could not endure what God commanded... They were confessing their own inability to face God in the terrible character their proud legality had led Him to take. The Lord could never commend giving up free and unchanging grace for a sandy foundation of "works of law."
So the words God accepted were words of fear, not of confidence. Another writer shows where that fear left them standing:
This cry of fear was the proper, fitting fruit of the ground on which Israel now stood, as the Lord Himself afterwards says (Deut. 5:28-29). And according to this fear they stand far off. But the mediator draws near to the thick darkness where God was.
Was the people's promise to obey itself the problem? One writer draws a careful line between wanting to obey and staking everything on obeying:
It is not the intention or desire to obey which was presumptuous — that was all right... The presumptuous point was taking all the blessings and the covenant on this one ground: "If you will obey my voice, you shall be." They might have said, "We are afraid to rest all our blessings on our own obedience, in case we lose them."... They were bound to obey, and the intention to obey was right. But a covenant of blessing on that condition was the grossest ignorance of self. It was presumptuous.
What Israel asked for had an awkward side, and a beautiful one. The same plea that keeps God at a distance puts a man between Him and them:
They did not want to face judgment, but they did not mind if Moses faced it! However, in this Moses is a type of Christ, the Mediator.
The words God accepted here open the way to a promise later in this book: a Prophet like Moses. When God agrees with the people, He is agreeing that law cannot bring anyone near:
In the passage in Deuteronomy that Peter quotes, the people have already shown they cannot draw near to God. The Lord has agreed with their own statement of it — "They have well said that which they have spoken." Only then does He declare that He will raise up for them a new Prophet. If Moses had been enough, there would have been no need for another. But the Law was bound to fail to bring people near to God.
God's answer does not stop at approval. What He goes on to wish for them exposes the gap that terror could never close:
God desired not only their outward obedience, but that they should have hearts that delighted in obedience. However, this can only be true for Israel under the new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34). Meanwhile, they were to return to their tents with unchanged hearts.
Their problem was never lack of evidence. They had seen and heard more than any other nation:
He knew what was lacking on the part of the people. They had not "such a heart in them" as would incline them to godly fear and obedience... They had, as no other people had, a religion of both sight and hearing, yet without faith it was worth nothing.
- Confession. What God calls well said is not a promise to obey. It is Israel's confession that they could not face His voice.
- Distance. Their fear matched the ground they stood on: under law, people stand far off while a mediator goes near.
- Presumption. Wanting to obey was right; resting all blessing on the condition "if you obey" was ignorance of self.
- Prophet. God agreed that the people could not come near. So He promised another Prophet — the law was never going to bring anyone near.
- Heart. Terror could not change the heart. Only the new covenant gives hearts that delight in obeying.
Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments continually, that it might be well with them and with their sons for ever!
At Horeb, Israel was terrified by the fire and the voice, and begged Moses to listen to God for them. God said they had spoken well, and then wished this over them — so who can give such a heart?
The verse is not a command but a wish. God speaks the same way elsewhere, and it shows us something about Him.
Deuteronomy 5:29 and Isaiah 48:18 give us further witnesses to the deep tenderness and sympathies of the Lord. Before Israel sins, Scripture presents Him as longing that they may not sin, but remain a blessed people. After they have sinned, it presents Him as mourning over their evil and loss of blessing.
God had just approved their words. The problem lay somewhere the words could not reach.
In verse 29 of our chapter Moses gives us words spoken to him by the Lord Himself at that time. He knew what was lacking on the part of the people. They did not have "such a heart as this," which would incline them to godly fear and obedience. Later in this book we find Moses grieving over the same thing, and speaking of the people as having no "faith." No other nation had a religion of both sight and hearing as they had. Yet without faith it did them no good.
Their promise to hear and obey was sincere. But sincerity was not the problem. The ground they took was.
It is not the intention or desire to obey which was presumptuous — that was all right. What was presumptuous was taking all the blessings and the covenant on this ground: "If you will obey my voice, you shall be." They might have said, "We fear to have all our blessings depend on our own obedience, in case we lose them." In the covenant of Sinai, being God's people and getting the blessing rested on that "if"... They were bound to obey, and the intention to obey was right. But a covenant of blessing on that condition showed the grossest ignorance of self, and was presumptuous.
The verse ties fearing God to keeping His commandments. The fear comes first, and obedience springs from it.
They set before us the secret spring of the life God calls us as Christians to live from day to day. It is a life of simple, complete and unqualified obedience, and its spring is a heart that fears the Lord. We fear Him, not like slaves, but with all that deep, true, adoring love which the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts... A loving heart finds its very deepest joy in obeying all God's commandments. Nothing is of any value to God except what springs from a loving heart.
The wish changed nothing that day. It pointed to a change only a later covenant would bring.
God wanted more than outward obedience. He wanted them to have hearts that delight in obeying. But this can only be true for Israel under the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Meanwhile they went back to their tents (v.30) with unchanged hearts, while Moses stayed in the presence of God.
That new covenant removes the very condition Darby called presumptuous.
By all this God wants to show us what the human heart is — my heart, your heart — even when He has lavished all His care on us. As long as God acted on the principle of law, looking for fruit from responsible man, the same sad result had to follow... But God will not leave His people in that sad state. After proving that they cannot bring forth good fruit, He reveals Himself as their Redeemer. He takes on Himself the work of taking away their iniquity, and gives them a new heart inclined to obey Him. These are the terms of the new covenant He makes with them, in contrast with the old covenant made at Mount Sinai. The old covenant made obedience the condition of blessing. The new covenant has no "if." It is all of grace, and God does the whole work Himself.
- Longing. God is not cold toward His people's failure. Before they sin He longs for them to stay blessed; after they sin He mourns their loss.
- Lacking. They had a religion of sight and sound like no other nation, but no faith and no heart for God — so it did them no good.
- Presumption. Wanting to obey was right. But staking every blessing on the "if" of their own obedience showed they did not know their own hearts.
- Spring. The fear God asks for is not a slave's dread but adoring love. Obedience that does not flow from a loving heart is worth nothing to Him.
- Gift. What God wished for here, He later promises to give. He gives a new heart that wants to obey, under a covenant with no "if" — one where He does the whole work Himself.