The eternal I AM had appeared to Moses in Horeb in the burning bush, and had taken up His dwelling-place, as it were, in the midst of a people in the furnace of affliction, to sustain and to deliver, and in that character He spoke to them out of the fire in the words of promise. Now that Israel was delivered from bonds, He appeared on the same mount once more, and in “His great fire” (Deut. 4:3636Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. (Deuteronomy 4:36), and 11 margin) that “burned unto the heart of heaven,” He demanded from them obedience.
At the call of God, Moses left the camp and came to the top of the mountain. Jehovah commissioned him to remind the house of Israel, how that He had borne them on eagles’ wings, and had brought them to Himself, and to inquire if the people would indeed hearken to His voice and keep His covenant, and by so doing be His peculiar possession in the midst of all the nations of the earth.
Moses thereupon returned to the camp, summoned the elders,. communicated to them the divine message and terms, and the elders laid them before the people. The nation, in solemn array, with one voice, responded, “All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (Ex. 19:88And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. (Exodus 19:8)). The people not only accepted the terms of the covenant offered them, which it certainly was their bounden duty to do, but they further declared their ability to obey God’s commands, which, without doubt, in the light of their recent rebellions, was a most serious misjudgment of human power.
Moses brought back the people’s answer to Jehovah, who bade them all be ready by the third day, when He would come down from heaven on Sinai before their eyes. The third day was already memorable in Israel, but never before on earth had such a day dawned as that which was about to arise. Preparations were ordained for it, all persons in the camp, and the mountain itself, being hallowed.
So Moses came again to the camp, and it was hallowed, and bounds were set about the mountain. He then returned to God. He received one message at a time, delivered it, and went afresh to God for further directions. Every step was taken with the most deliberate and reverent precision.
The third day dawned. Storm and darkness arrayed the mount of God; lightnings and thunderings attended upon the divine majesty, and from the heavens the trumpet call, long and loud, summoned all the people together. To the darkness and the dread Moses led them, and they waited at the footstool of Jehovah’s mountain-throne. He descended from heaven in fire to its summit, the smoke arose from it as that of a furnace, Sinai rocked and quivered, and the trumpet call in the heavens grew louder and louder. As this majestic call increased, a human voice from the valley responded on behalf of Israel. Then a voice from the heights above called Moses up to the top of the mount. And this was the divine communication. On no account should the people approach the mountain where Jehovah was. Moses might declare the bounds were secure and that such an effort would be impossible, but God caused him to descend forthwith, and to enjoin both priests and people not to break through, lest Jehovah should break forth upon them.
Every incident in this introduction to the giving of the law, not only indicated the infinite majesty of God, but impressed upon sinful man that his natural place is distance from the Holy One. The “mount burned with fire “; its summit was environed with “blackness, darkness, and tempest “; the command not even to touch its skirts was urgent in the extreme – “If so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart” (Heb. 12:18-2118For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) (Hebrews 12:18‑21)) – for the offender was not only to die, but so gross was the presumption reckoned, that he was not to be even handled by those who slew him. The thick cloud prevented any eye from penetrating the darkness, and no form was seen (Deut. 4:1212And the Lord spake 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. (Deuteronomy 4:12)).
The thunderings and lightnings symbolized heaven’s judgment on the sinful earth (See Rev. 4:55And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Revelation 4:5)) – the burning fire ascending to the heart of heaven symbolized the consuming nature of divine justice. No mediator interposed, no sacrifice stood in man’s stead. Darkness and fire surrounded the Most High, and from His awful throne issued “the fiery law,” the words of which Israel could not endure (Heb. 12:2020(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: (Hebrews 12:20)).
The words given, the measures taken, the physical surroundings existing, all fixed upon the people one reality – God was unapproachable!
A lax Christianity despises the unchanging government of the throne of God, but the terrors of Sinai are a revelation of His ever-existing and ever-changeless holiness, actual to this day and to eternity. And more, they are a revelation of the holiness which shall be manifested in the day of judgment yet to come, when the irresistible words, the trumpet of God, the lightnings and thunderings about His throne, the unquenchable fire, shall find response in rending rocks and a quaking earth, and in breaking hearts. God shall reveal Himself once more in His judgment to the children of men, and not to one nation only, but to the whole human race; not again demanding holiness, but executing judgment upon the unholy.
The words spoken out of the midst of the fire were ten in number. The plagues poured out upon Egypt had been ten. The divine dwelling-place in the sanctuary was a cube of ten. Symmetry of purpose and of plan is here apparent. A measure of divine completeness – a standard of divine perfectness, it may be termed – is presented in the revelation of God rendered from out of the midst of the fire.
The “ten words” were first spoken, afterward they were written. The two tables of stone upon which they were inscribed are a twofold witness – a witness to God, and a witness to man. There are different judgments as to how many commandments were written upon either table, and no one can positively state what was the case; and evidently God has not told us, for a definite end. We are to take them in their entirety, and we are not to regard one as of less importance than another. All were written by the finger of God. The ten words group themselves into two sections; in the first are contained four commands, in the second six. Four is the equal-sided square, that which so often in Scripture typically relates to God and yet looks out to all the world; six is that which is devoted to man.
The first three of the words pertaining to the first group, command man in three things. In rendering absolute subjection to the sole and exclusive sovereignty of God; in not lowering Him by any device to any conceptions derived from the creation He has made, and in not bowing down before such conceptions; and in the hallowing of His Name. The fourth recalls Jehovah’s work of creation, and requires the observance of a holy sabbath to Him. The first three words relate to the being, the majesty, and the holiness of God; the fourth relates to His creatorship.
In each of the commandments of the first group, and in the first of those of the second, these words “the Lord thy God” occur, binding the ten commandments together, as it were, in fives. The first and the last commandment of the second group address the thoughts of the heart in the honoring of parents and in not coveting. The center four protect the property, persons, character, and relationships of men.
Excepting the fifth commandment, all forbid. Their character is repressive. They deal with sinful man in his sinful surroundings. Those of the first group forbid apostacy, idolatry, and blasphemy, and the denial of the sabbath, as it relates to the Creator – all of which evils were prevalent on the earth when the law was given, and all of which prevail over the whole of the heathen world today. Those of the second group forbid general lawlessness, and the denial of human rights, evils in regard to one’s fellows, which ever characterize men who fear not God. Each table refers to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, or settlement in Canaan, and thus the whole of the ten words are from God to a people on earth redeemed by Him, and separated to Him, from the nations of the world at large.
“From Adam to Moses” (Rom. 5:13-1413(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (Romans 5:13‑14)) God had not formulated a law for man, and His coming down from heaven to address a nation at His feet, and to command their obedience, was absolutely a new thing on the earth. The age of law had commenced, and during its continuance God dwelt in the thick darkness, and spoke to man from afar off and though He made provision for man’s approach to Him through sacrifice, still, in the ten words themselves no provision whatever was made for man’s inability to keep them.
Now when “all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking,” “they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Ex. 20:18-1918And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. (Exodus 20:18‑19)). They felt their need of a mediator, and Jehovah answered, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken” (Deut. 5:2828And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. (Deuteronomy 5:28)).