26. The mountain was touched at that one time; but GOD'S eternal habitation is described in ver. 22. — opsi, to the mount) The name of Sinai is elegantly passed over in silence, whereas Sion is mentioned. — xixov/curqj irvpl9 to the fire which burned) [But Engl. Vers., that burned with fire\. — xa/ yvtyy xat <rxoVw, and to mist [blackness] and darkness) Ephraim Syrus, f. 85, ed. Oxon., says, " There is no light without fire, nor darkness (ffxoros) without blackness or mist (yvopos)." Whence the strict meaning of the words is evident.1 We have already seen that the LXX. use the same expressions : £opo$ is a synonym of
19. Ka/ <raXflvyyo$ %%y, and the sound of the trumpet) Ex. xix. 16, LXX., tpuvri rqs ffdXrti'yyos q^ei psya. The trumpet rouses hearers to listen to what is said. — xa/ pwyJj fapdruv, and to the voice of words) So the LXX., Deut. iv. 12 : moreover the ten commandments are intended. The Decalogue, ib. ver. 13, pro nounced with a loud voice, ib. ch. v. 19 (22). — »k) Construed with dbxofattm?. — Kapyrfaavro) implored, that not a word more should be spoken, Ex. xx. 16 (19). — ^ vpoffreQqvai, that there should be no more added) Deut. v. 19 (22), in LXX., These words the Lord spake — and He added (tfpoffedqxs) no more : for the rest were subsequently committed to Moses.
20. To i/flNTriXX^ttoov, the interdict, that which was forbidden) that very command, Even if a beast, etc. The participle for the noun, as in the following verse. — xav &nplov d/y^ roD opovg, X/0o/3oX?j- Qriffsrai, if a beast should touch the mountain, he shall be stoned) The full text of Moses concerning the mountain is, " There shall not a hand touch it, for he shall surely be stoned or shot through with a dart ; whether it be man or beast, he shall not live," Ex. xix. 13. Here we have a twofold proclamation, that the beast is to be put to death by a dart, man by stoning. The apostle, studying brevity, expresses the subject out of the one sentence, the predicate out of the other, and leaves the rest to be supplied from these very words which are expressed. The expression is elliptical almost in the same way as at ch. vii. 5 ; Acts vii. 16,
1 r*o'<po? is the Germ, dunkelheit, gloom, or mist. It is related to darkness, Germ, finsterniss, as fire is to the light. Titotpos or £6Qos, mist, is the cause or embodiment of the <r»6ros. So goQos rw ffzorov?, mist of darkness, 2 Pet. ii. 17. — ED.