Deuteronomy 5:24

24 and ye sayed: beholde, the Lorde oure God hath shewed us his glorye and his greatnesse, and we haue herde his voyce out of the fyre, and we haue sene this daye that God maye talke with a man and he yet lyue.

Deuteronomy 5:24 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 5:24

And ye said, behold, the Lord our God hath showed us his glory
and his greatness
In descending on Mount Sinai in the manner he did, and giving the law from thence with such solemnity; for there was a glory in the ministration of it, as the apostle argues ( 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 ) , it being delivered with so much majesty, and such a glorious apparatus attending it; see ( Deuteronomy 33:2 ) . Aben Ezra interprets this of the appearance of fire in which the Lord was, "and his greatness", of the thunders and lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet:

and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire;
the ten words, as the same interpreter rightly notes, which were vocally and audibly expressed out of the fire:

we have seen this day, that God doth talk with man, and he liveth;
they had proof of it in themselves; God had been talking with them out of the fire, and yet it did not reach and consume them, but they were still alive.

Deuteronomy 5:24 In-Context

22 These wordes the Lorde spake vnto al youre multitude in the mount out of the fyre, cloude and darcknesse, with a loude voyce and added nomoare there to, and wrote them in .ij. tables of stone and delyuered them vnto me.

23 But as soone as ye herde the voyce out off the darcknesse and sawe the hill burne with fyre, ye came vnto me all the heedes of youre tribes and youre elders:

24 and ye sayed: beholde, the Lorde oure God hath shewed us his glorye and his greatnesse, and we haue herde his voyce out of the fyre, and we haue sene this daye that God maye talke with a man and he yet lyue.

25 And now wherfore shulde we dye that this greate fyre shulde consume us: Yf we shulde heare the voyce of the Lorde oure God any moare, we shulde dye.

26 For what is any flesh that he shulde heare the voyce of the lyuynge God speakynge out of the fyre as we haue done and shulde yet lyue: