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Exodus 20:18-21

Exodus 20:18-21

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public Domain

EXPOSITION

WITHDRAWAL OF THE PEOPLE, AND NEARER APPROACH OF MOSES TO GOD. The effect produced upon the people by the accumulated terrors of Sinai—"the thunderings and the lightnings, the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking"—the cloud, and the voice out of the cloud—was an awful and terrible fear. They could not bear the manifestation of the near presence of God; and therefore "they removed and stood afar off." It seemed to them as if, on hearing the voice of God, speaking out of the thick darkness, they must die (). Moses, upon their expressing these feelings, comforted them with an assurance that God had shown his terrors, not for their injury, but to put his fear in their hearts (), and allowed them to retire to a distance from the mount, while he himself "drew near unto the thick darkness where God was" ().

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Exodus 20 — OverviewExodus 20 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleAll things being prepared for the solemn promulgation of the divine law, we have, in this chapter, I. The ten commandments, as God himself spoke them upon Mount Sinai (ver. 1-17), as remarkable a portion of…Exodus 20 — OverviewExodus 20 · Treasury of Scripture KnowledgeExodus 20:1, The ten commandments are spoken by Jehovah; Exodus 20:18, The people are afraid, but Moses comforts them; Exodus 20:21, Idolatry is forbidden; Exodus 20:23, Of what sort the altar should be.Exodus 20 — OverviewExodus 20 · John Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleIn this chapter we have an account of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai; the preface to it, Ex 20:1, the ten commandments it consists of, Ex 20:8, the circumstances attending it, which caused the people to remove at…Exodus 20:1-18Exodus 20:1-18 · The Pulpit CommentaryThe moral law-General survey. View this law of the ten commandments as— I. AUTHORITATIVELY DELIVERED. "God spake all these words, saying," etc. (Exodus 20:1). An authoritative revelation of moral law was necessary—…Exodus 20:16-21Exodus 20:16-21 · The Pulpit CommentaryThe ten words. "And God stake all these words." "And the people stood afar off: and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." (Exodus 20:1, Exodus 20:21). Our subject is the law of the ten commandments,…Exodus 20:18Exodus 20:18 · The Pulpit CommentaryThe people saw the thunderings. The use of a specific verb for a generic one, with terms to all of which it is not, strictly speaking, applicable, is common to many writers, and is known to grammarians as zengma. "Saw"…
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