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Law of God
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it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace,
and the whole mount quaked greatly.” The divine Majesty descended
in a cloud with a glorious retinue of angels, who appeared as flames
of fire.
“And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed
louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount:
and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses
went up. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the
people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of
them perish. And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord,
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sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.”
Thus the Lord, in awful grandeur, spoke His law from Sinai, that
the people might believe. He then accompanied the giving of His
law with sublime exhibitions of His authority, that they might know
that He is the only true and living God. Moses was not permitted to
enter within the cloud of glory, but only draw nigh and enter the thick
darkness which surrounded it. And he stood between the people and
the Lord.
God’s Law Proclaimed
After the Lord had given them such evidences of His power, He
told them who He was: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought
thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” The
same God who exalted His power among the Egyptians now spoke
His law:
“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness
of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and shewing mercy unto
thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for
the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.