and let them be ready for the third day; for on the third day Jehovah will come down before the eyes of all the people on mount Sinai.
Israel had just promised to obey everything God said, and now God fixes the day of the meeting. Two days of preparation stand in between — and they raise the question: what could ever make a person fit to stand before God?
Until now God had acted and Israel had received.
Notice that everything now has to be done from their side. Moses was to sanctify them, and they were to wash their clothes. The moment they undertook to obey as the condition of blessing, they in reality accepted the responsibility of fitting themselves for God's presence. No doubt they gained in this way a kind of ceremonial qualification to meet with God. But God kept them at a distance, and that distance proved at once how short their efforts fell.
Sanctifying and washing each stand for something. And the God who came down that day did not show Himself as He does now.
In other words, in their natural condition they were not fit to meet a God of absolute holiness. Sanctifying is setting them apart from the evil natural to them. Their clothes stood for their habits, and those clothes were defiled. We too need washing from defiling habits. On the third day God Himself would come down on Mount Sinai to reveal Himself in a certain way. That revelation was not in grace, however, as it is today in the person of Christ, "God manifest in flesh."
The people did not choose how this was done. God set the terms of their fitness.
The people had to be sanctified to meet God, and sanctified in His own way. As God said when some came near to offer strange fire before Him, "Among those who are near Me I will be sanctified" (Lev. 10:3).
If washing clothes could never make a sinner fit for God, why order it? One writer answers from what the law itself was for.
For the same reason that He gave them the law — to test what was in their hearts, to bring out fully what was hidden there, to expose the corruption of their nature, and so to teach them their ruined and guilty condition. To some extent they learned how useless their own efforts were. Despite all their "sanctifying" and "washing" they could not draw near to God, and His voice terrified them. It is often like this in the experience of sinners… the only way to cleanse his robes from every spot and stain is in the blood of the Lamb. Only that makes them white enough to satisfy even the requirements of God's holiness.
Why the two-day wait? One writer reads the third day as a picture, and says it carefully.
The third day is often significant and typical; and so here it would seem to speak in figure of death. So on the morning of the third day the Lord came down on Mount Sinai, with all the marks of His awesome and terrible majesty. There were thunders and lightnings. They expressed judicial power — the attitude God's holiness must take when He comes into contact with sinners.
God came down in full view of the people, yet no one could approach Him. One writer states the result bluntly.
Look at that. "Draw near to me," says God, "and you die." And that is why the apostle says it was the "ministration of death" (2 Cor. 3:7).
Sinai is not the only mountain in the story. The difference between the two is the difference between judgment and grace.
As they were, and as Sinai was, they could not help shrinking back from God. There God was in His majesty of judgment — not in the love that comes down, puts itself under the burden, and takes it away. That could not happen at Sinai. There it was a just God in the presence of sinners only, so He could do nothing but overawe them and fill everyone with terror and the dread of judgment. Boundaries had to be set around the mountain… "But you have come," says the Spirit, "to Mount Zion." That is the mountain of God's intervention in grace, as Sinai was of man's responsibility.
- Promise — Israel agreed to obey as the condition of blessing. From that moment, making themselves fit for God was their job.
- Preparation — Sanctifying set them apart from the evil natural to them. Washed clothes stood for defiled habits. Real, but outward.
- Proof — God gave the command to expose them, not to qualify them. After all the washing they still could not draw near, and His voice terrified them.
- Distance — God came down where all could see, then fenced the mountain with a death penalty. He showed Himself and barred the way in one breath.
- Provision — What clothes-washing could never do, the blood of the Lamb does. Sinai stood for man's responsibility. Zion stands for grace — the love that comes down and carries the burden away.
And set bounds round about the people, saying, Take heed to yourselves, [not] to go up unto the mountain nor touch the border of it whatever toucheth the mountain shall certainly be put to death
Israel had just promised to do everything the LORD commanded. God's answer was a line drawn around the mountain that no one could cross and live. Why did God fence Himself off from the people He had just rescued?
The fence came right after Israel promised to obey.
The moment Israel made their vow, the moment they undertook to "do," everything changed. "And the LORD said to Moses, Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud... And you shall set limits for the people all around." This was a very marked change. The One who had just said, "I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself," now wraps Himself in a thick cloud. He says, "set limits for the people all around." The sweet tones of grace and mercy give way to the thunder and lightning of the fiery mountain. Man had presumed to talk about his miserable doings in the presence of God's magnificent grace. Israel had said, "we will do." So God put them at a distance, and then everyone could see in full what they were able to do.
Notice which way the command points. God is not inviting them closer.
There are no such words here as, "I will come to you." Quite the reverse. The word was, "Beware lest you come to Me." See Exodus 19:12, 24. It was impossible for man to get to God by way of law. Man could not climb over the barriers placed around that mountain. "By works of law shall no man living be justified." Under the law there is no possible way of access to God. "Keep off" is the stern utterance of the entire legal system.
Why should one touch cost a man his life?
All these details are deeply solemn. They show that man is utterly unable to stand on his own merits before God. They also teach that if the sinner ventures to come into contact with Him on that footing, it can only end in his own destruction. And God, apart from atonement, cannot meet the sinner on the ground of righteousness without destroying him. When will men learn that there is, and must be for ever, the most irreconcilable antagonism between holiness and sin? God must be against the sinner unless the claims of His holiness are met. And those claims are met only in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The ban reached even an animal wandering onto the slope, and even the men who carried out the sentence.
Every detail in this introduction to the giving of the law did more than show the infinite majesty of God. It pressed on sinful man that his natural place is distance from the Holy One. The mountain "burned with fire." Its summit was wrapped in "blackness, darkness, and tempest." The command not even to touch its edge was urgent in the extreme — "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned" (Hebrews 12:18-21). The offender was not only to die. His presumption was counted so gross that not even the men who put him to death were to touch him.
The people had washed their clothes and been set apart. The fence shows how far that got them.
Notice that everything now has to be done from their side. Moses was to sanctify them, and they were to wash their clothes. The moment they undertook to obey as the condition of blessing, they really took on the responsibility of making themselves fit for God's presence. No doubt they gained a ceremonial qualification to meet with God. But the very distance God kept them at proved at once how inadequate their efforts were. Man cannot cleanse himself for God. This is the lesson of all Scripture.
Believers are now told to draw near. One writer says what changed, and what did not.
This must have sounded striking to anyone who remembered the command given to Israel at Sinai: not to go up into the mountain, and not to touch the border of it, on pain of death (Ex. 19:12). Believers are now urged to draw near to God, into His very presence. Why this difference in divine directions? Men are no better. God is unchanged. But Christ has died for sinners. That is the difference.
- Promise — Israel's "we will do" changed the tone at once. The God who had carried them on eagles' wings now hid Himself in thick cloud.
- Distance — the fence made visible what they had chosen: under law the word is not "I will come to you" but "keep off."
- Death — a touch was fatal because holiness and sin cannot meet without atonement. The sinner who comes on his own merit is destroyed.
- Inability — washed clothes and ceremonial fitness could not carry anyone over the line; the distance itself proved their efforts inadequate.
- Access — God has not lowered His standard, and men are no better. Christ died, and now the people once fenced out are told to draw near.
not a hand shall touch it, but it shall certainly be stoned, or shot through; whether it be a beast or a man, it shall not live. When the long drawn note of the trumpet soundeth, they shall come up to the mountain.
God fences the mountain, and crossing the line means death — by stone or arrow, never by a human hand. Yet the same verse ends with an invitation, so why does the God who brought Israel out of Egypt fence Himself off at all?
The fence follows Israel's promise to keep the covenant. One writer marks the exact point where the tone changes.
The moment Israel spoke their "singular vow," the moment they undertook to "do," everything changed completely... This was a very marked change. He had just said, "I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself." Now He wraps Himself "in a thick cloud," and says, "set limits for the people all around." The sweet tones of grace and mercy give way to the "thunders and lightnings" of the fiery mount. Man had presumed to talk of his miserable doings in the presence of God's magnificent grace. Israel had said, "we will do." God must set them at a distance, so that everyone can see in full what they are able to do. God takes the place of moral distance, and the people are only too willing to have it so, for they are filled with fear and trembling.
The stones and arrows keep the executioners at a distance too. One writer takes that detail as a measure of the trespass.
Every incident in this introduction to the giving of the law showed the infinite majesty of God. It also pressed on sinful man that his natural place is distance from the Holy One... The command not even to touch the edges of the mountain was urgent in the extreme: "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned" (Heb. 12:20; older Bibles add "or shot through with a dart"). The offender was not only to die. His presumption was reckoned so gross that even the men who killed him were not to handle him.
The ban covers animals as well as people, and the invitation at the end has its own limit.
The display of Exodus 19 keeps the people at a distance... The prohibition included even beasts (v. 13). When the trumpet sounded long, they were to come near to the mountain, but no further — just near enough to be filled with awe and apprehension.
This is where the Bible's trumpet begins, and the sound belongs to God, not to Israel.
The first place in Scripture where we meet "the trumpet" is Exodus 19. It is introduced to us as "the herald of the presence of the divine Majesty." This was when the LORD formally displayed His glory on the top of Mount Sinai, to the people He had chosen for Himself to be their king... Here the trumpet was clearly God's.
The fence tells us what life under the law was like.
There are no such words here as, "I will come to you." Quite the reverse. The word was, "Beware that you do not come to Me." It was impossible for man to get to God by way of law. No man could climb the barriers placed around that mount. "By works of the law no one will be justified." Under the law there is no possible way of access to God. "Keep off" is the stern word of the entire legal system.
Israel had been making themselves ready for the meeting. The fence showed how much that preparation achieved.
Notice that everything now had to be done from their side. Moses was to set them apart for God, and they were to wash their clothes. The moment they undertook to obey as the condition of blessing, they in fact took on the responsibility of fitting themselves for God's presence. No doubt they gained a kind of ceremonial qualification to meet with God. But the very distance at which they were kept proved at once how inadequate their efforts were.
The New Testament reverses this command, and the reversal is the point.
This must have sounded striking to anyone who remembered the order given to Israel at Sinai: do not go up into the mountain, and do not touch its border — or you die (Ex. 19:12). For believers are now urged to draw near to God, into His very presence. Why this difference in divine directions? Men are no better. God is unchanged. But Christ has died for sinners. That is the difference.
- Distance follows the vow. The fence goes up right after Israel promises to obey. God steps back so they can see what their promise is worth.
- Distance is total. Man, beast, even the executioner's hand — nothing may touch the mountain. Distance is sinful man's natural place before the Holy One.
- Distance is the law's message. "Keep off" is the word of the whole system; no one gets to God by works.
- Distance is measured, not removed. The trumpet — Scripture's first, and God's own — lets them come only near enough to be filled with awe.
- Distance is ended by Christ. The same God now calls people to draw near. Men are no better and God is unchanged; Christ has died.
And Moses came down from the mountain to the people, and hallowed the people; and they washed their clothes.
Moses comes down from Sinai and does what the Lord told him: he sets the people apart, and they wash their clothes. It reads like a small practical note, yet it raises a large question: how can sinful people get ready to stand before a holy God, and who does the preparing?
The word does not mean the same thing everywhere in Scripture. The setting decides it. Here it marks the people off for God on the terms they had just accepted:
The setting in which this word appears always decides its meaning. Here it means the separation of the people — setting them apart to God on the ground of their promised obedience. No doubt it also meant separating them, in outward things, from everything unsuited to the presence of a holy God.
Their clothes carried a meaning too:
In other words, in their natural condition they were not fit to meet a God of absolute holiness. Sanctifying is setting them apart from the evil natural to them. Also, their clothes, speaking of their habits, were defiled, just as we too need washing from defiling habits.
From the moment they promised to obey, the preparing became their own task. Its limits showed at once:
Everything now had to come from their side. They had to learn what it means to deal with a God who is "of purer eyes than to see evil" and "cannot look at wrong" (Habakkuk 1:13)… Moses was to sanctify them. That meant setting them apart for God on the ground of their promised obedience. But it meant an obedience at a distance from God. This prescribed cleansing was only a ceremonial qualification. The distance from God remained. That was a solemn witness, as it was meant to be: outward cleansing could never give them a lasting place of nearness to God on the ground of their responsibility.
If the washing could never actually qualify them, the command was not pointless. It was designed to expose something, and what it exposed is repeated in every awakened conscience since:
In measure they learnt how useless their own efforts were. Despite all their "sanctifying" and "washing" they could not draw near to God, and they were terrified at His voice. It is often so in the experience of sinners. They wake up to some sense of their condition. They begin to try to improve themselves. They try to purify their own hearts and so qualify themselves for the favour of God. But they soon discover that all their efforts only bring their own sin and vileness to light. Or suppose they do weave a robe of self-righteousness and cover their faults for a time. The moment they come into God's presence, that robe looks like nothing but filthy rags in the light of His holiness. Man has no power to help himself. Until he learns this, he can never understand the one way to cleanse his robes from every spot and stain: the blood of the Lamb.
This outward setting apart did not do what the blood of Christ does:
They were set apart under flesh-and-blood conditions… The blood of Christ has not sanctified us outwardly. It has purged our consciences from dead works. That whole system was for man in the flesh; it did not deal with their souls or clear their consciences. The entire nation was sanctified when they came out of Egypt; it all had to do with their outward standing with God. Those sanctified were never free in heart and conscience, and were never able to worship God as we can today.
The people obeyed the instruction fully, yet the boundary around the mountain stayed in place. Commentators read that fenced-off mountain as a verdict on the whole arrangement:
Only Moses and Aaron were to be allowed on the mountain; the priests and the people were to be kept at a distance. This clearly shows that the law did not bring men near to God. There was a mediator and a priest between them and God, but the people were kept away from God. How very different it is in Christianity, for our Mediator has brought God near to us in grace.
Two promises stand side by side here — the people's "we will do" and God's "I will":
How precious it is to set these words of God, "I will," against the "we will do" of the people. God's "I will" is certain of fulfilment. The people failed in that promise again and again, and failed sadly. So they showed they had no power to enjoy relationship with God on the ground of their responsibility.
- Set apart. Sanctifying here means setting the people apart for God on the ground of the obedience they had promised.
- Washed. The garments they cleaned stand for habits — outward life scrubbed of what does not suit God's presence.
- From their side. Once they promised to obey, the preparing became their own work. It could produce only a ceremonial fitness.
- Still at a distance. Clean clothes did not clear a conscience, and the distance from God remained.
- God's "I will." What human effort could not secure rests on God's own promise — and on the blood of the Lamb, the only cleansing His holiness accepts.
And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day; do not come near [your] wives.
Israel had just promised to obey everything the LORD had said. Now God tells them how to get ready for the day He comes down on the mountain. The orders are simple. The people must wash, wait, and keep apart from their wives. But they raise a sharp question. Can people make themselves fit to stand before a holy God?
One question runs under these orders: who does the work of getting ready?
The people were to be "sanctified" for two days. The setting it appears in always decides what this word means. Here it means the separating of the people — setting them apart to God on the ground of their promised obedience. Everything, notice, now has to be done from their side. Moses was to sanctify them, and they were to wash their clothes. The moment they took on obedience as the condition of blessing, they in fact accepted the responsibility of making themselves fit for God's presence.
The washing was real. But did it bring them any nearer?
This required cleansing was only a ceremonial qualification. The distance from God was still kept. That distance was a solemn witness, and it was meant to be one: this outward cleansing could never give them a lasting place of nearness to God on the ground of their responsibility.
If the washing could not fit them for His presence, why did God ask for it?
Why then did the Lord give this command to Israel? He gave it for the same reason that He gave them the law: to prove what was in their hearts. It brought into full view what was hiding there. It exposed the corruption of their nature, and so taught them their ruined and guilty condition. In some measure they learned how useless their own efforts were. Despite all their "sanctifying" and "washing" they could not draw near to God, and His voice terrified them.
Another writer looks at what the whole scene was meant to teach them.
For two days they were to be set apart. They were to wash even their clothes. Boundaries were to be set, stopping anyone from touching the mountain, on pain of death. God was now to give the law, and it was important that the people who received it should have a deep sense of the holiness of the One who gave it.
The last clause of the verse reaches into marriage itself.
Moses brought this word to the people, so they were sanctified and washed their clothes (v. 14). He told them to be ready for the third day, keeping a sanctification even from a sexual relationship with their wives. Yet even these preparations did not soften the stern, forbidding character of God's display of awe-inspiring justice.
Why the third day, and not the next morning?
Note the expression "the third day." Set beside other similar scriptures, it would seem to picture the distance that death has brought in. Each passage, of course, must be taken in its own setting. Here it was on the morning of the third day that the Lord came down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
The people did everything commanded. Then the day came.
Every possible solemnity surrounded God's coming, and all the people in the camp trembled, despite the preparations they had gone through. If they had confidence in themselves before, it must now have been shaken, if not destroyed. If they were ready to meet God, why should they fear? Why then did they tremble at the signs of His presence? Because in their folly they had undertaken to meet Him on the ground of what they were in themselves and their own doings, instead of casting themselves on His mercy, His grace, and love.
So how does anyone become fit for God?
This is often how it goes with sinners. Awakened to some sense of their condition, they begin to try to improve themselves, to purify their own hearts, and to qualify themselves this way for God's favour. But they soon discover that the only effect of all their efforts is to bring their own sin and corruption to light. Man is utterly helpless. Until he learns this, he can never understand that the only way to cleanse his robes from every spot and stain is in the blood of the Lamb.
- Promise. The people had said they would obey. From that moment, getting fit for God's presence was their own job.
- Preparation. Washing clothes and being set apart was a real command. But it made them clean only on the outside.
- Purity. Even marriage was put on hold for those days. Nothing ordinary could compete with meeting God.
- Purpose. The command exposed the problem instead of solving it. It proved what was in their hearts and gave them a sense of God's holiness.
- Proof. On the third day the prepared nation still trembled and still stood at a distance. Self-cleansing can never close that gap; only the blood of the Lamb can.
And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet exceeding loud; and the whole people that was in the camp trembled.
On the third day God comes down on the mountain. The God who had carried Israel out of Egypt arrives in storm, cloud and a trumpet blast, and the whole camp shakes. Why does a rescued people tremble at the coming of their own Deliverer? And what is God saying through thunder instead of words?
One writer takes the storm, the cloud and the trumpet each in turn, then presses the question the trembling raises:
There were thunders and lightnings. They expressed judicial power — the way God in His holiness must act when He comes into contact with sinners. There was also a thick cloud on the mountain, showing that He stayed at a distance and hidden from view. The sound of the trumpet was very loud. It announced that God was coming, and it called the people together. All the people in the camp trembled, in spite of the preparations they had gone through. If they had confidence in themselves before, it was now badly shaken, if not swept away. For if they were ready to meet God, why should they fear?
The trumpet did not fade; it swelled. That rising volume, one writer says, was God taking the floor and leaving Israel nothing to say:
Along with other awe-inspiring displays, the blast of the trumpet not only continued long, but became louder and louder. This simply means that God was speaking to Israel so loudly as to totally silence any speaking on Israel's part, whether promises or anything else. The trumpet was an announcement for everyone to hear. Here God was announcing the giving of the law, which He was about to lay on the nation Israel as a stern demand. From the very start God was showing that He knew the law was a yoke of slavery Israel would not be able to carry.
God had just spoken of carrying them to Himself. The change of tone goes back to Israel's own promise to obey:
The moment Israel undertook to "do," everything changed... The One who had just said, "I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself," now wraps Himself in a thick cloud and says, set limits for the people all around. The sweet tones of grace and mercy give way to the thunder and lightning of the fiery mountain. Man had presumed to talk of his miserable doings in the presence of God's magnificent grace. Israel had said, "we will do," and so God put them at a distance, where everyone could see clearly what they are able to do.
The camp shook, but trembling by itself taught them little. Their alarm stands against a very different response — that of a man who truly saw God:
God showed Israel His terrifying majesty there and then, in a way this world has never known before or since. So the Jews boasted that no other religion began like theirs. Only their ancestors stood around that mountain of God. But were they not standing there in utter fear and trembling? Where was there shown the least real knowledge of God? Where was there any true sense of their own state in His sight? What a contrast with Job, who said, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5-6). How little they admitted that they were guilty sinners, and that there could be no approach to God until their sins were judged and taken away.
The terror reached the one man who went up the mountain:
Hebrews 12:21 gives a detail that Exodus does not mention: "So terrifying was the sight that Moses said, 'I tremble with fear.'" Exodus tells us that the people trembled, but that Moses, along with Aaron, went up into the mountain. Hebrews tells us how he shook as he did so.
The New Testament sets this mountain against another one:
Israel had come to Sinai, and that was the mountain that marked their whole course from beginning to end. And what was the result of it? As it began with darkness and distance, so it ended with misery and death. Being what they were, and Sinai being what it was, they could not help shrinking back from God. There God stood in His majesty of judgment. He was not there in the love that comes down, takes the burden on itself and carries it away... "But you have come," says the Spirit, "to Mount Zion" — the mountain of God's intervention in grace, as Sinai was of man's responsibility.
- Promise — Israel offered to "do," and the tone changed at once. Eagles' wings gave way to a thick cloud, and God took a place of distance.
- Distance — thunder and lightning showed judicial power, and the cloud showed a God who stayed hidden. The limits round the mountain told sinners to keep back.
- Silence — the trumpet grew louder and louder. God announced the law so loudly that no human promise could compete.
- Trembling — the whole camp shook, and so did Moses; yet fear alone gave them no true sense of God or of themselves.
- Zion — Sinai began in darkness and distance and ended in misery. Believers, the New Testament says, have come instead to the mountain of grace.
And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
Israel had promised to do everything the Lord commanded, and now the meeting day comes — thunder, a trumpet, and a burning mountain. Moses leads the nation out of the camp toward God, then halts them at the foot of the mountain — why call a people to meet Him and then fence them off?
The verse holds two things together that pull in opposite directions. Moses brings the people out to meet God, and at the same moment God shuts them out from the mountain.
All these details are solemn. They show that man cannot stand before God on his own merits. They teach at the same time that if a sinner dares to come into contact with Him on that footing, it can only end in his own destruction. Apart from atonement, God cannot meet the sinner on the ground of righteousness without destroying him... Seen in this light it is a moving scene. God was on Sinai in all the awful majesty of His holiness. The people stood in all their distance and guilt, trembling at what they saw and heard. They were shut off from the mountain, yet brought out of the camp to meet with God, and to receive the requirements of His righteous law which they had promised to obey.
The distance was not where God started with this people. It followed their own promise to obey.
The moment Israel made their vow, the moment they undertook to "do," everything changed... This was a very marked change. The One who had just said, "I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself" now wraps Himself in a thick cloud. He says, "Set bounds around the people." The sweet tones of grace and mercy give way to the thunder and lightning of the burning mountain. Man had dared to talk about his wretched doings in the presence of God's magnificent grace. Israel had said, "we will do," so God set them at a distance, to show in full what they were able to do.
Standing at the base, and no closer, was not a punishment but a protection.
Their safety lay in distance. God set bounds around them. They were not to go up the mountain or touch its border — "not a hand shall touch it."
The trembling of verse 16 might have sent the camp backwards. Moses moved them forward instead.
On the third day there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain. Then a trumpet sounded very loud, and the people trembled (v. 16). Yet Moses did not let them draw back. He brought them near to the foot of the mountain, to meet a God who was hidden behind the forbidding cloud... So God met their promise to obey Him!
Everyone else stopped at the border. Commentators read this single exception as a picture pointing forward.
This is shown from the outset. The people cannot draw near, not even through their representatives. The One who has come down to dwell among them must still hold them at a distance. God calls Moses alone to approach, as a picture of a greater Mediator.
Later Scripture looks back at this mountain and sets the Christian's place against Israel's.
In Hebrews 12 the Holy Spirit contrasts the position of Israel with that of the Christian. Israel had come to Sinai, and that was the mountain that marked their whole course from beginning to end. And what came of it? As it began with darkness and distance, so it ended with misery and death. Being what they were, and Sinai being what it was, they could not help shrinking back from God. There God was in His majesty of judgment — not in the love that comes down, takes the burden on Himself, and so takes it away. "But you have come to Mount Zion," says the Spirit — the mountain of God's intervention in grace, as Sinai was of man's responsibility.
What Sinai refused, the blood of Christ gives:
The people were far off, the leaders were not to come near, and had to worship at a distance. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, however, brings us near, and we can draw near. The legal covenant always puts man at a solemn and guilty distance from God; the covenant of grace brings man near to God.
- Promise. Israel's "we will do" changed the terms. Grace that carried them on eagles' wings gave way to a mountain wrapped in cloud.
- Distance. The bounds were mercy, not cruelty — their safety lay in not touching what they could not survive.
- Meeting. Moses led them out to meet God and stopped them at the foot of the mountain: summoned and shut out in the same breath.
- Mediator. The people could not go up. God called Moses alone to approach — a picture of a greater Mediator to come.
- Nearness. Sinai began in distance and ended in death; the blood of Christ does what the mountain could not, and brings us near.
And the whole of mount Sinai smoked, because Jehovah descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace; and the whole mountain shook greatly.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the sound of the trumpet increased and became exceeding loud; Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.
Sinai burns, gloom covers the mountain, and a trumpet blast keeps growing louder instead of fading. Into that noise Moses speaks and God answers him — so what did God say, and why did He come with such terror?
(Note: the ESV says "God answered him in thunder." Older translations say "God answered him by a voice," and the writers quoted below use that wording.)
No one in the camp blew this trumpet. One writer points to its first appearance in Scripture:
The first place in Scripture where we meet "the trumpet" is Exodus 19. It is introduced to us here as "the herald of the presence of the divine Majesty." This was when the LORD formally displayed His glory on the top of Mount Sinai, to the people He had chosen for Himself to be their king… Here the trumpet was clearly God's.
The blast does not settle; it swells. One commentator hears in that rising volume God drowning out anything Israel might say back:
Along with other awe-inspiring displays, the blast of the trumpet not only continued long, but became louder and louder. This simply means that God was speaking so loudly that Israel could not speak at all — no promises, nothing else. The trumpet was an announcement for everyone to hear. Here God was announcing the giving of the law, a stern demand laid on the nation Israel. From the very outset God was showing that He knew the law was a yoke of bondage that Israel would not be able to bear. Yet despite these awesome signs, Israel still did not understand this lesson of their inability to keep the law.
God's answer came as a voice. What He said first to Moses did not bring anyone nearer:
He was then called up to the mount. What was the nature of the first message he received? Barriers already stood around the mount. The place where God stood was holy ground, and anyone — man or beast — who so much as touched the mount would die. But even this was not enough. The LORD told Moses to go down and warn the people not to break through to look at Him, or many of them would perish (v. 21). Priests and people alike had to stay at a distance, except Moses and Aaron — in case the LORD should break out against them (v. 24).
The same writer draws a lesson from the whole arrangement: what happens when a sinner comes to God on his own merits?
All these details are deeply solemn. They show that man cannot stand before God on his own merits. They also teach that if a sinner comes to God on that footing, it can only end in his own destruction. Apart from atonement, God cannot meet the sinner on the ground of righteousness without destroying him. When will men learn that holiness and sin are, and must be forever, utterly opposed? God must be against the sinner unless the claims of His holiness are met. And nothing can ever meet those claims except the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The fire and the trumpet were not the worst of it:
There was also a burning with supernatural fire, more terrible than anything ordinary, along with darkness and gloom and storm… There was a trumpet's sound, never heard before or since, which grew louder and louder in its awful summons. And there was a voice of words, heard by every soul as God's, more terrifying than all the rest in its majesty and its deadly meaning for the conscience! So they begged above all that they might hear this voice no more, asking that Moses speak for them instead… The scene was so fearful that the very mediator they set their hope on said, as the inspired writer could confirm, I am terrified and trembling.
God did not refuse their plea. He answered it with a promise:
So terrified were the people that they begged the LORD not to address them in that way any more. To this He graciously responded, promising to speak to them later in a man — a prophet raised up from among their brothers, like Moses. This is none other than the Lord Jesus, in whom — in His words and ways — all the heart of God has been expressed. Meanwhile, Moses was appointed to act as mediator between God and the people.
- Voice one — the trumpet. It was God's own herald, announcing the presence of the divine Majesty on the mountain.
- Voice two — louder. The rising blast silenced Israel's promises. It announced a law God knew they could not bear.
- Voice three — the answer. God answered Moses, called him up, and sent him straight back down to keep priests and people away.
- Voice four — the words. The spoken words terrified them more than the fire or the trumpet, and even the mediator trembled.
- Voice five — the Man. God promised a prophet like Moses — the Lord Jesus, who shows the whole heart of God.
And Jehovah came down on mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain; and Jehovah called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
The Lord comes down onto the top of Sinai in fire and cloud. From there He calls one man up, while the rest of the nation stands fenced off below. God has come near, yet no one may approach Him. Why are the people He rescued now held at arm's length?
The descent follows Israel's promise to obey. One writer traces the whole change of tone to that promise:
Notice the result. The moment Israel made their vow, the moment they undertook to "do," the whole look of things changed... This was a very marked change. The One who had just said, "I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself" now wraps Himself "in a thick cloud." He says, "Set limits for the people all around." The sweet tones of grace and mercy give way to the thunder and lightning of the burning mountain. Man had dared to talk about his miserable doings in the presence of God's magnificent grace. Israel had said, "we will do," so God put them at a distance, to show fully what they were able to do.
The barriers taught a lesson about what happens when a sinner meets God on the basis of his own record:
All these details are deeply solemn. They show that man is quite unable to stand before God on his own merits. They also teach that if the sinner dares to come into contact with Him on such a footing, it can only end in his own destruction. Apart from atonement, God cannot meet the sinner on the ground of righteousness without destroying him.
Even touching the edge of the mountain carried the death penalty:
The plain truth set out at Sinai was that no sinner could stand there before God. There He told Israel not to go up the mountain or touch its edge: "Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death." No wonder the whole people in the camp trembled.
Out of a whole nation, only Moses climbs. Writers see something larger in that single figure:
And this is shown from the start: the people, even through their representatives, cannot draw near. He has come down to dwell among them, yet He must still hold them at a distance. God calls Moses alone to approach, as a picture of a greater Mediator.
At the top Moses receives a warning to carry straight back down:
Moses spoke and God answered by a voice, calling him to come to the top of the mountain to which God had come down. We do not know how His presence was shown there. But God at once sent Moses back down. He was to warn the people solemnly not to break through the boundaries around the mountain to see what they could, and so die. The priests were clearly allowed to come closer. Even they had to make themselves clean from all defilement, or suffer judgment from the Lord.
This arrangement shows what the law could and could not do:
Only Moses and Aaron were allowed on the mountain. The priests and the people had to stay at a distance. This shows that the law did not bring men near to God. There was a mediator and a priest between them and God, but the people were kept away from God. How different it is in Christianity! Our Mediator has brought God near to us in grace, and we come into His presence with God's great High Priest.
Commentators set Sinai against a second mountain:
Israel had come to Sinai, and that was the mountain that marked their whole course from beginning to end. And what was the result? As it began with darkness and distance, so it ended with misery and death. Being what they were, and Sinai being what it was, they could not help shrinking back from God. There God stood in His majesty of judgment. He was not there in the love that comes down, takes the burden on itself, and carries it away... "But you have come," says the Spirit, "to Mount Zion." Zion is the mountain where God steps in with grace. Sinai was the mountain of man's responsibility.
- Descent — God came down to the top of Sinai. But coming down is not the same as coming near: He wrapped Himself in a thick cloud and fenced the people off.
- Distance — the change came when Israel promised to obey. Once they said "we will do," God put them at a distance to show what they could really do.
- Danger — apart from atonement, God can only destroy the sinner who meets Him on the ground of righteousness. That is why touching the mountain meant death.
- Mediator — God called up one man alone, a picture of a greater Mediator. The law gave Israel a go-between, but never gave them access.
- Destination — Sinai began in darkness and distance, and ended in death. Zion is the other mountain, where God steps in with grace and takes the burden away.