So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
Soon after the encampment at Sinai, Moses was called up alone by a steep and rugged path to the cloud marking the divine presence, and this verse records his return down to the camp to speak to the people. The message he brought down was God's covenant offer to take Israel into a close and peculiar relation to Himself and to incorporate them as a church and a nation under His government. Having returned, Moses summoned the elders of Israel and repeated the divine message to them. Their answer pledging to do all that had been spoken entered them into a solemn covenant accepting God as their ruler, making them in a special sense the subjects of His authority.
In obedience to God's repeated command to leave the mountaintop, Moses went down to warn the people and the priests not to break through the bounds set around the mount to gaze at God, lest God break forth upon them and many perish. He told them that only he and Aaron were to come up. This charge was backed by God's descent upon Sinai in fire with thunders, lightnings, thick cloud, a loud trumpet, smoke as of a furnace, and great quaking. Israel had been delivered from Egyptian slavery that they might gain a new knowledge of God, and this manifestation gave them evidence that He was God who would not bear iniquity.
The verse belongs to the account of the Lord coming down on Mount Sinai before the mighty host of Israel to give them His law, with wonderful promises if they would observe His commandments, a subject of intense importance. The law given there came directly from God, is the highest education, and calls for obedience to all His commandments. The instruction in Exodus 19 and 20 is of great importance, must be often repeated and sacredly observed, and teaches that the Lord is the only true God who demands that His people be obedient to His word.
That instruction includes that after working the work of creation in six days, the Lord of heaven and earth appointed the seventh day as a day of rest, blessed it and sanctified it. Those who would stand on the Lord's side when every device is used to draw people away from truth and righteousness must keep holy that memorial of creation. The verse shows God talking with the people through Moses, leading into what He goes on to speak in Exodus 20:1, which is something He wants everyone to understand.
Soon after the encampment at Sinai, Moses was called up alone by a steep and rugged path to the cloud marking the divine presence, and this verse records his return down to the camp to speak to the people. The message he brought down was God's covenant offer to take Israel into a close and peculiar relation to Himself and to incorporate them as a church and a nation under His government. Having returned, Moses summoned the elders of Israel and repeated the divine message to them. Their answer pledging to do all that had been spoken entered them into a solemn covenant accepting God as their ruler, making them in a special sense the subjects of His authority.
In obedience to God's repeated command to leave the mountaintop, Moses went down to warn the people and the priests not to break through the bounds set around the mount to gaze at God, lest God break forth upon them and many perish. He told them that only he and Aaron were to come up. This charge was backed by God's descent upon Sinai in fire with thunders, lightnings, thick cloud, a loud trumpet, smoke as of a furnace, and great quaking. Israel had been delivered from Egyptian slavery that they might gain a new knowledge of God, and this manifestation gave them evidence that He was God who would not bear iniquity.
The verse belongs to the account of the Lord coming down on Mount Sinai before the mighty host of Israel to give them His law, with wonderful promises if they would observe His commandments, a subject of intense importance. The law given there came directly from God, is the highest education, and calls for obedience to all His commandments. The instruction in Exodus 19 and 20 is of great importance, must be often repeated and sacredly observed, and teaches that the Lord is the only true God who demands that His people be obedient to His word.
That instruction includes that after working the work of creation in six days, the Lord of heaven and earth appointed the seventh day as a day of rest, blessed it and sanctified it. Those who would stand on the Lord's side when every device is used to draw people away from truth and righteousness must keep holy that memorial of creation. The verse shows God talking with the people through Moses, leading into what He goes on to speak in Exodus 20:1, which is something He wants everyone to understand.