Deuteronomio 5:26

26 Imperocchè, quale è la carne, qual ch’ella sia, che, avendo udita la voce del vivente Iddio, parlante di mezzo al fuoco, come abbiamo udito noi, sia restata in vita?

Deuteronomio 5:26 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 5:26

For who [is there] of all flesh
What man was there in any age, that was ever heard of or can be named:

that hath heard the voice of the living God;
who lives in and of himself, and is the author and giver of life to all his creatures, whereby he is distinguished from and is opposed unto the lifeless deities of the Gentiles; and which makes him and his voice heard the more awful and tremendous, and especially as

speaking out of the midst of the fire:
which was the present case:

as we [have], and lived?
of this there never was the like instance; for though some had seen God and lived, as Jacob did, and therefore called the name of the place where he saw him Penuel, ( Genesis 32:30 ) , and Moses had heard the voice of the angel of the Lord out of a bush, which seemed to be burning, and was not consumed, ( Exodus 3:2 Exodus 3:4 ) , yet none ever heard the voice of the Lord out of real fire, and particularly expressing such words as he did, but the Israelites. Zoroastres, the founder of the Magi among the Persians, and of their religion, seems to have had respect to this, and to have applied falsely this to himself, which belonged to Moses and the people of Israel; for it is said F11,

``one reason the Persians have fire in so much veneration is, because they say that Zoroastres, being caught up to heaven, did not see God, but heard him speaking with him out of the midst of fire.''


FOOTNOTES:

F11 Hyde Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. c. 8. p. 160.

Deuteronomio 5:26 In-Context

24 Ecco, il Signore Iddio nostro ci ha fatta veder la sua gloria, e la sua grandezza, e noi abbiamo udita la sua voce di mezzo al fuoco; oggi abbiamo veduto che, parlando Iddio con l’uomo, esso è rimasto in vita.
25 Ora dunque, perchè morremmo noi? perciocchè questo gran fuoco ci consumerà; se noi seguitiamo a udire ancora la voce del Signore Iddio nostro, noi morremo.
26 Imperocchè, quale è la carne, qual ch’ella sia, che, avendo udita la voce del vivente Iddio, parlante di mezzo al fuoco, come abbiamo udito noi, sia restata in vita?
27 Accostati tu, e ascolta tutto ciò che il Signore Iddio nostro dirà; e tu ci rapporterai tutto ciò che il Signore Iddio nostro ti avrà detto, e noi l’ascolteremo, e lo faremo.
28 E il Signore udì la voce delle vostre parole, mentre parlavate meco. E il Signore mi disse: Io ho udita la voce delle parole di questo popolo, ch’egli ti ha dette; essi hanno ben parlato in tutto ciò che hanno detto.
The Giovanni Diodati Bible is in the public domain.