Exodus 19:12

_AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, LO, I COME UNTO THEE IN A THICK CLOUD, THAT THE PEOPLE MAY HEAR WHEN I SPEAK WITH THEE, AND BELIEVE THEE FOR EVER. AND MOSES TOLD THE WORDS OF THE PEOPLE UNTO THE LORD._ Lo, I come ... in a thick cloud ... The deepest impressions are made on the mind through the medium of the senses; and so He who knew what was in man signalized His descent at the inauguration of the ancient church by all the sensible tokens of august Majesty that were fitted to produce the conviction that He is the great and terrible God. The whole multitude must have anticipated the event with feelings of intense solemnity and awe. The extraoradinary preparations enjoined, the ablutions and rigid abstinence they were required to observe, the barriers erected all round the base of the mount, and the stern penalties annexed to the breach of any of the conditions, all tended to create an ea...

12._And thou shalt set bounds. _By this symbol the Israelites were admonished to restrain their natural inquisitiveness, that they may be sober in their desires after knowledge, because God, by the teaching of His Law, only enlightens those who are as “little children.” We know how great is men’s natural curiosity, how forwardly they seek to penetrate the secrets of God, how daringly they indulge themselves, and how, by their irreverence, all religion and fear of God is extinguished in them; wherefore there was good cause why He should set these bounds, and restrain this perverse longing after unlawful knowledge. All would have wished to come, like Moses, to familiar converse with God; but they are commanded to stand within the boundaries, that they may obey God speaking to them by an interpreter. Thus are their modesty and docility proved, when they desire no more than is permitted them...

9-15 The solemn manner in which the law was delivered, was to impress the people with a right sense of the Divine majesty. Also to convince them of their own guilt, and to show that they could not stand in judgment before God by their own obedience. In the law, the sinner discovers what he ought to be, what he is, and what he wants. There he learns the nature, necessity, and glory of redemption, and of being made holy. Having been taught to flee to Christ, and to love him, the law is the rule of his obedience and faith....

Verse Exodus 19:12. _THOU SHALT SET BOUNDS_] Whether this was a _line_ marked out on the ground, beyond which they were not to go, or whether a _fence_ was actually made to keep them off, we cannot tell; or whether this fence was made all round the mountain, or only at that part to which one wing of the camp extended, is not evident. This verse strictly forbids the people from coming near and touching Mount Sinai, which was burning with FIRE. The words therefore in Exodus 19:15, אל תגשו אל אשה al tiggeshu el ishshah, come not at your wives, seem rather to mean, _come not near unto the FIRE_; especially as the other phrase is not at all probable: but the _fire_ is, on this occasion, spoken of so emphatically (see...

SET BOUNDS UNTO THE PEOPLE - The low line of alluvial mounds at the foot of the cliff of Ras Safsafeh exactly answers to the bounds which were to keep the people off from touching the mount: but the bounds here spoken of were to be set up by Moses....

EXPOSITION THE PREPARATION OF THE PEOPLE AND OF THE MOUNTAIN FOR THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD UPON IT. The people having accepted God's terms, the time had come for the revelation in all its fulness of the covenant which God designed to make with them. This, it was essential, they should perceive and know to come from God, and not to be the invention of Moses. God, therefore, was about to manifest himself. But ere he could do this with safety, it was requisite that certain preparations should be made. Before man can be fit to approach God, he needs to be sanctified. The essential sanctification is internal; but, as internal purity and holiness cannot be produced at a given moment, Moses was ordere

AND THOU SHALL SET BOUNDS TO THE PEOPLE ROUND ABOUT,.... That is, round about the mountain, by drawing a line, throwing up a foss or ditch, or else by laying up heaps of stones or sand, which might be come at easily, or bushes and branches of trees, which grew thick on the mount, from whence it had its name; but be it what will that were used, these were to signify, that so far the people might go, but no further, which their curiosity might prompt them to: SAYING, TAKE HEED UNTO YOURSELVES THAT YE GO NOT UP INTO THE MOUNT; so far were they from being allowed to go up to the top of it, that they were not allowed to ascend it at all, or to go any further than where the ascent or rise began; it was at their peril to ascend, and this was what they were to take heed unto, lest they incurred danger: OR TOUCH THE BORDER OF IT; it being the mountain of God, and relatively holy through his pre...

EXODUS 19. AWFUL REVELATION OF GOD IN FIRE AND CLOUD. Exodus 19:1 a P, Exodus 19:2 b - Exodus 19:3 a E, Exodus 19:3 b - Exodus 19:6 Rd, Exodus 19:7 a E, Exodus 19:11 b - Exodus 19:13 J, Exodus 19:14 E,...

SURELY PUT TO DEATH. Figure of speech _Polyptoton._ App-6. "A dying he shall die. "See note on Genesis 2:17....

WHOSOEVER TOUCHETH THE MOUNT, &C.— Houbigant, from the Samaritan, renders the first part of the 12th verse, _Thou shalt set bounds round about the mountain, and shalt command the people, saying,_ &c. What striking circumstances of terror attended the giving of the law! How different from the manner in which the mild and blessed JESUS preached the gospel of peace! The former was a severe _schoolmaster to bring us to him:_ the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews enlarges finely on this topic, ch. Exodus 12:18. Many of the versions render the beginning of the 13th verse, _There shall not an hand touch_ HIM; implying, that whoever approached the mountain, should immediately be put to death, by stoning, or shooting through with darts, _no hand_ offering _to touch him; i.e_. going within the consecrated bounds to drag the offender from thence to death. But I rat