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kindled fire and blackness...’ The earthly, local, associations of the divine epiphany fall wholly into the background. That which the writer describes is the form of the revelation, fire and darkness and thunder, material signs of the nature of God (12:29). Thus every element is one which outwardly moves fear; and in this connexion the mention of Sinai itself may well be omitted. The mountain is lost in the fire and smoke. It was, so to speak, no longer a mountain. It becomes a manifestation of terrible majesty, a symbol of the Divine Presence.

The fire is outward, material, derivative. It is palpable, to be ‘felt,’ like the darkness of Egypt (Ex. 10:21 genhqhvtw skovto" ... yhlafhto;n skovto" ), and has been kindled from some other source. So Philo speaks of puro;" oujranivou fora'/ kapnw'/ baqei' ta; ejn kuvklw/ suskiavzonto" ( de decal. § 11, 2.187). The use of the partic. yhlafwvmeno" brings out that which was felt in actual experience as distinguished from the abstract nature of the object.

Chrysostom says tiv to; yhlafwvmenon pu'r pro;" to;n ajyhlavfhton qeovn ; oJ qeo;" ga;r hJmw'n, fhsivn, pu'r katanalivskon (Heb. 12:29).

Primasius expands this thought well: Non enim accessistis ad tractabilem et accessibilem (l. accensibilem ) ignem , id est, non accessistis ad visibile et palpabile lumen ignis, quod visu corporeo tractari possit, sicut de veteri Judaico populo legimus; sed ad invisibilem et incomprehensibilem Deum.
kai; gnovfw/ ...] The several features of the awful manifestation are taken from Deut. 4:11; 5:22; Ex. 19:16 ff. The ‘blackness’ ‘thick darkness’ ( oJ gnovfo" ,

lp+,r:[}hâ; ) was that into which Moses entered ‘where God was’ (Ex. 20:21).

Comp. Philo, de mut. nom. § 2, 1.579; de vit. Moys. i. § 28, 2.106.

Heb. 12:19. kai; savlp. h[cw/ ...] The ‘sound of a trumpet’ is mentioned in Ex. 19:16; 20:18; aiJ de; savlpigge" wJ" basilevw" parovnto" : tou'to ga;r kai; ejn th'/ deutevra/ parousiva/ e[stai (OEcum.). Comp. Matt. 24:31; 1 Thess. 4:16. \Hco" occurs again Lk. 4:37; Acts 2:2. The ‘voice of words’ is mentioned in Deut. 4:12.
h|" (sc. fwnh'" ) oiJ ajkouvsante" ] Even that which was most intelligible, most human, the articulate voice, inspired the hearers with overwhelming dread: which voice they that heard intreated that no word more should be spoken to them , that is by God Himself, but only through Moses (Ex. 20:19).

For parh/thvsanto see Heb. 12:25; Acts 25:11; 1 Tim. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:23. The word admits the construction with and without a negative particle
(
paraitei'sqai prosteqh'nai and parait. mh; prosteqh'nai ). For the former compare Lk. 23:2; Rom. 15:22; and for the latter 1 John 2:22; Gal. 5:7. By aujtoi'" must be understood toi'" ajkouvsasin not toi'" ajkousqei'sin , the hearers not the words.

Heb. 12:20. oujk e[feron ...] for they could not bear that which was enjoined .... Vulg. non enim portabant quod dicebatur. Ex. 19:12 f. The most
impressive part of the whole command is taken to convey its effect:
If even a beast ...

The form in which the command is conveyed ( to; diastellovmenon ) presents it as ringing constantly in their ears ( quod dicebatur ). The word diastevllesqai does not occur again in the Epistles; elsewhere in the N. T. it is only used in the midd. sense: Mark 7:36; 8:15 & c.

Heb. 12:21. The fear which was felt by the people was felt also by the


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