In bringing the people to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, it was not God’s intention to give them commandments to keep. When God first spoke to the people in Exodus 19, there was no thunder, darkness, or sound of a trumpet. There at the mountain the atmosphere was pleasant and quiet. Verse 4 says, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” The people had walked out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and to the mountain of God. But God said it was He who had carried them to Himself on the wings of an eagle. After likening Himself to a great eagle, the Lord went on to say that the people would be His personal possession and that they would be unto Him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (vv. 5-6). This is a word of grace not of law.
Because the people knew neither God nor themselves, God changed His attitude toward them and also caused a change in the atmosphere. He told Moses that He would come in a thick cloud. He also charged the people to sanctify themselves, to wash their clothes, and to observe the boundary, not to go up into the mount, nor to touch the border of it (Exo. 19:8-12). Then we see how dreadful and terrifying the atmosphere became; “and it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that 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 that was in the camp trembled” (Exo. 19:16). At this time the children of Israel were afraid to see God; only Moses went up alone (Exo. 20:21). Thus, God’s law was given through Moses (John 1:17).
Therefore, the law came in as an extra thing (Rom. 5:20, Darby); it was added because of transgressions (Gal. 3:19), and was not in the origination of God’s economy. It was added while God’s economy was proceeding because of man’s transgressions, until the seed, Christ, should come to whom God’s promise was made.
Exodus 20 has not been properly and adequately understood by many readers. They thought that this chapter only tells us how the law was given. But the basic concept in this chapter is that God reveals Himself to His people and thus enables them to know what kind of God they were approaching, what kind of God He was with whom they were having fellowship.
Concerning the matter of law, there is an important principle: the kind of law a person makes expresses the kind of person that one is. A law is always a revelation of what kind of person has enacted that law.
The first function of the law is not to expose us; it is to reveal God to us. After God brought His people into His presence to have fellowship with Him, to serve Him, to contact Him, to worship Him, and even to feast with Him, He made Himself known to them.
This revelation, however, is not given directly. Rather, it is given indirectly through the giving of the law. Apparently Exodus 20 is concerned with the giving of the law. Actually this chapter is concerned with the unveiling of God Himself. In decreeing the law, God made Himself known to His people. Through the law, they were able to understand what kind of God He is. The divine legislation is a revelation of God Himself.
According to Exodus 31:18, the two tablets of stones upon which the Ten Commandments were written were called the “two tables of testimony.” This indicates that the law is God’s testimony. As God’s testimony, the law testifies what kind of God our God is. Because the law as God’s testimony was placed in the ark, the ark was called the “ark of the testimony” (Exo. 25:21-22; 26:33-34). Moreover, because the ark was in the tabernacle, the tabernacle was called the “tabernacle of testimony” (Exo. 38:21; Num. 1:50, 53). The law is the testimony, the ark is the ark of the testimony, and the tabernacle is the tabernacle of testimony.