seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 19:20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”
24 The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.”
25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”
24 The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.”
25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.
The easy English commentary explains these verses.
If anyone tried to pass the boundaries round the mountain they would die. Perhaps some people would try to do that because they were curious. Perhaps they wanted to know what would happen. But that would mean that they did not believe God’s words. Some people do not like to obey orders. So God warned them again. The priests must not think that they were different because of their special work. They must prepare themselves too so that God would not become angry. Everyone should approach God carefully.
Moses had warned the people already. And he had put marks on the boundaries. These boundaries should prevent the people if they tried to go onto the mountain. Moses and Aaron had to climb up the mountain. But everyone else must remember what God had said. If people tried to break through the boundaries, other people had to kill them.
Moses had warned the people already. And he had put marks on the boundaries. These boundaries should prevent the people if they tried to go onto the mountain. Moses and Aaron had to climb up the mountain. But everyone else must remember what God had said. If people tried to break through the boundaries, other people had to kill them.
But wait, there 's more to these verses, according to GodVine.
Let the priests also - sanctify themselves - That there were priests among the Hebrews before the consecration of Aaron and his sons, cannot be doubted; though their functions might be in a considerable measure suspended while under persecution in Egypt, yet the persons existed whose right and duty it was to offer sacrifices to God. Moses requested liberty from Pharaoh to go into the wilderness to sacrifice; and had there not been among the people both sacrifices and priests, the request itself must have appeared nugatory and absurd. Sacrifices from the beginning had constituted an essential part of the worship of God, and there certainly were priests whose business it was to offer them to God before the giving of the law; though this, for especial reasons, was restricted to Aaron and his sons after the law had been given. As sacrifices had not been offered for a considerable time, the priests themselves were considered in a state of impurity; and therefore God requires that they also should be purified for the purpose of approaching the mountain, and hearing their Maker promulgate his laws.
God knew that they were heedless, criminally curious, and stupidly obstinate; and therefore his mercy saw it right to give them line upon line, that they might not transgress to their own destruction.
I can hardly imagine... there were over 2 million people, among them priests, who according to Godvine, were heedless, criminally curious, and stupidly obstinate.... all gathered at the foot of the mountain where God was sitting. They had to hold on to their heedlessness, curiosity, and stupidity. If they saw someone about to try to go up the mountain, uninvited, then they had to stop them or God would wipe them all out.
The verses don't tell us if anyone stepped forward and was pulled back or killed by the others. With 2 million people milling around, it seems the odds are right for that to have happened to at least a few. Then again, there was that trumpet blast going on that would scare a lot of them off, right?
