shalt speak unto the children of Israel (y)." And when Moses had assembled the people, and delivered this gracious message from the Almighty, "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. 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. ... Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and be ready against the third day; for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the Mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the Mount shall be surely put to death." And on the third day "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the whole Mount quaked greatly. And the Lord spake unto them out of the midst of the fire; they heard (3) Ex. ch. 19. v. 3, &c. the the voice of words, but they saw no similitude, only they heard a voice. And he declared unto them his covenant, which he commanded them to perform, even ten commandments." And when the people saw these "terrors of the Lord," "they removed and stood afar off, and said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us" again," lest we die (z)." Moses and Aaron had been permitted to go up into the Mount, before the day of this most awful appearance of the Divine glory; but they were sent down to the people before the voice of God uttered the Law, which was afterwards "written by the finger of God upon tables of stone (a)," and given to Moses, when he was called within the cloud, which rested upon Mount Sinai, "to receive the statutes and the judgments," which he was commanded to teach the people. It is to be observed that the laws, which extend from the 20th to the 24th chapter of Exodus, (x) Ex. c. 19 and 20. (a) When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, and found Aaron and the people of Israel defiling themselves with all the abominations of idolatry, in a fit of wrath he broke these tables of stone; but the ten commandments were afterwards written upon two other tables of stone, by the express direction of God, in the same manner as before. Exodus, laws which, from their nature, must be considered as of general obligation, appear to have been given to Moses in the presence of all the people; for after their request that God would not again speak to them himself, it is said, "And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was; and the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven (b);" and then follows a number of statutes, and ordinances, and promises, and conditions, concluding with a command for Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, to come up towards the Mount to worship. God, as the representatives of the people, who stood at a distance; but they were ordered "to keep afar off" from the glory of the Lord, excepting Moses, who was alone allowed to "approach near the Lord;" and the history of this solemn covenant then continues thus: "And Moses came and told the people. all the words of the Lord, and all his judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said, will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded (b) Ex. c. 20. v. 21 and 22. builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel." And having offered sacrifices, "Moses took half of the blood, and put it into basons, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar; and he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people; and they said, All that the Lord hath said, will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.". Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, probably within "the borders," or a little way up the Mount, and "saw the glory of the God of Israel" appearing with a peculiar radiance, in confirmation of this solemn covenant. And afterwards, "the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the Mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them." Then Moses, after giving directions to the elders of the people for their conduct in his absence," went up into the Mount, and a cloud covered the Mount: and the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days, and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the Mount, in the eyes of all Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and was in the Mount forty days and forty nights (c);" and there God delivered to him those commandments, statutes, and ordinances, which are generally called the Law of Moses, or the Mosaic Dispensation. And it pleased God to distinguish Moses, after having been thus highly honoured by admission into the divine presence, by a kind of divine light which beamed from his countenance (d). And thus were the people constantly reminded that their Lawgiver was invested with divine authority (e). The laws thus delivered by God himself, with all these solemn preparations, and in a manner so peculiarly calculated to impress awe, and excite obedience, were of three sorts, moral, ceremonial, and civil. The moral law, which is comprised in the ten commandments," written with the finger of God," and the law of nature, as it is called, (c) Ex. c. 24, &c. Deut. c. 4, &c. (e) When it is said, "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend," we are to understand that God conversed with Moses, not in dreams and visions, as he did with other prophets, but in such a clear and plain manner as one person would converse with another. |