Exodus 19:21

21 The LORD said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people not to break through to try to see the LORD, or many of them will fall dead.

Exodus 19:21 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 19:21

And the Lord said unto Moses, go down
As soon as he was got to the top of the mount he was bid to go down again to the bottom, with a message to the people:

charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze;
to see if they could observe any similitude or likeness of God, that they might have an idea of it in their minds, or make an image like unto it; to prevent which, the Lord, knowing the vanity and curiosity of their minds, ordered Moses to give them a strict charge not to transgress the bounds set them, or to break down or break through the fence of stones and sand, or hedge of bushes, brambles, and branches of trees, or whatever was placed for bounds:

and many of them perish;
or "fall" ^F26; by the hand of God; either fall by death, or into some grievous calamity, as the men of Bethshemesh perished through looking into the ark, ( 1 Samuel 6:19 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (lpn) (peswsin) Sept. "et corruant", Pagninus, Tigurine version; "et cadat", Montanus; "cadant", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius; so Ainsworth.

Exodus 19:21 In-Context

19 The blasts of the horn grew louder and louder. Moses would speak, and God would answer him with thunder.

20 The LORD came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain. The LORD called Moses to come up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

21 The LORD said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people not to break through to try to see the LORD, or many of them will fall dead.

22 Even the priests who come near to the LORD must keep themselves holy, or the LORD will break loose against them."

23 Moses said to the LORD, "The people aren't allowed to come up on Mount Sinai because you warned us and said, ‘Set up a fence around the mountain to keep it holy.'"