nlly, have grazed along its hnse. To imprcs.~ then that they may do so, so soon ns the trum- the Israelites with a due sense of the awful pet sounds long (ver. 1:1). But they do not majesty of God, and the sacrednese of every- ascend at that time (vcr. l!J), nor are they thing material that it brought into close rela- allowed to do so--on the contrary, Moses 1s tions with him, the mount itself was declared charged anew to prevent it(ver. 21-25); nor in- holy-none but Moses and Aaron might go up deed do the people ever o.scend, but only Moses, into it; none might touch it; even the stray Ae.ron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders beo.st that approached it must suffer death for (eh. xxiv. l, 2). What, then, is the pennis- its unwitting offence (ver. 13). Whosoever sion here given? When we scrutinise the touoheth the mount. The mountain may be passage closely, we observe that the pronoun "touched" from the plain-it rises so abruptly. "they" is in the Hebrew, emphatic, and, there- Bhe.11 be surely put to death. A terrible pun- fore, unlikely to refer to "the pe.ople" of ver. ishment, andono which, to modem ideas, seems 12. To whom then does it refer? Not, cer- oxcrssive. But it was only by terrible threats, tainly, to" the Elders" of ver. 7, which would and in some cases by terrible punishments be too remote an antecedent, bnt to thoso (2 Sam. vi. 7), that the Israelites could be chosen persons who are in the writer's mind, taught reverence. A profound reverence lies whom God was about to allow to ascend. Even at the root of all true religious feeling ; and these were not allowed to go up until sum- for the education of the world, it was requi- moned by the prolonged blast of the trumpet. site, in the ee.rly ages, to inculcate the neces- Ver. 14.-In obedience to the commands sity of this frame of mind in some very marked which he had received (ver. 10), Moses re- and striking way. turned to the camp at the foot of Sinai, and Ver. 13.-There shall not an hand touch it. issued the order that the people were to purify Rather," there shall not an hand touch him." themselves and wash their gannents during The transgressor shall not be seized and appre- that day and the next, and be ready for a hended, for that would involve the repetition great solemnity on the third day. He must of the offence by his arrester, who must over- also, at the same time, have given directions pass the " bounds " set by Moses, in order to for the construction of the fence, which was to make the arrest. Instead of seizing him, they hedge in the people (ver. 12), and which he were to kill him with stones or o.rrows from speaks of as constructed in ver. 28. within the" bound8," and the same was to he Ver. 15.--{:0me not at your wives. Com- done, if any stray beast approached the moun- pare 1 Sam. x.xi. 4, 5 ; 1 Cor. vii. 5. A similar tain. When the trumpet soundeth long, they obligation lay on the Egyptian priests(Porphyr. ~hall come up to the mount. By translating De .Abstin. iv. 7); and the idea which under- the same Hebrew phrase differently here and lies it was widespread in the ancient world in verse 12, the A. V. avoids the difficulty (See Herod. i. 198; Hesiod. Op. et Di. 733--1 ; which most commentators see in this passage. Tihul. Carrn. ii. l; 11. 11, 12.) The subject is According to the apparent construction, the well treated, from a Christian point of view, people e.re first told that they may, on no ac- by Pope Gregory the Fiist, in his answers to count, ascend the mountain (ver. 12), and S. Augustine's questions (Bede, Hist. Eccl. ii.).
HOMILETICS. Vera. 10-15. The awfulness of God's presence, and the preparation needed ere we approach him. I. THE AWFULNESS OF Gon's PRESENCE. The presence of God is awful, even to those holy angels who are without spot or stain of sin, having done the holy will of their Maker from their creation. But to sinful man it is far more awful. J\o man "can see God's face, and live" (Ex. x.xxi.ii. 20). Jacob was mistaken when he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Gen. xx.xi.i. 30). He had really wrestled with an angel (Hos. xii. 4). When Moses requested to see the Almighty's glory, he was told, "Thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen" (Ex. xxxiii. 23). "No man has seen God at a.ny time," says St. John the Evangelist (John i. 18). But, even apart from si2ht, there is in the very sense of the presence of God au awful terribleness. "I am troubled at his presence," said Job; "when I consider, I am afraid of him" (eh. xxiii. 15). "Truly the Lord is in this place," said Jacob, "and I knew it not. How dreadfiil is this place!" (Gen. xxvii.i. 16, 17). G0<l is at all times everywhere; but he veils himself, he practically withdraws himself; a.nu, though he is where we are, we do not see him, or perceive him (Job xxiii. 8, 9). But, le, him revoal his presence, and at once all tremble before it. "Mine eye seeth him," says Job al,lain, "wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" ( eh. xiii. 5, o) "When I heard," says lfabakkuk, "my belly trembled my lips C].ltiveretl at the voice, 118 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. [en. XIX. 10-26.