Esodo 19:18

18 Or il monte di Sinai fumava tutto; perciocchè il Signore era sceso sopra esso in fuoco; e il fumo ne saliva a guisa di fumo di fornace; e tutto il monte tremava forte.

Esodo 19:18 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 19:18

And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke
Not from nature, as volcanos, but for a reason after given; it seemed to be one large body of smoke, nothing else to be seen but smoke; an emblem of the darkness of the legal dispensation, which was full of obscure types and figures, of dark shadows and smoky sacrifices, to which the clear day, of the Gospel dispensation is opposed, see ( 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 )

because the Lord descended upon it in fire;
in flaming fire, as the Targums, which set the mountain on fire, and caused this prodigious smoke; for if he, who is a consuming fire, but toucheth the hills and mountains, they smoke, ( Psalms 104:32 )

and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace
such an one as that which Abraham in vision saw, ( Genesis 15:17 )

and the whole mount quaked greatly;
to which circumstance Deborah refers in her song, when she speaks of mountains melting and flowing from before the presence of the God of Israel, and particularly of Sinai, ( Judges 5:4 Judges 5:5 ) , and the psalmist, who makes mention of the earth shaking, and the heavens dropping, and of Sinai being moved at his presence, ( Psalms 68:8 ) , it is probable there was an earthquake at this time, which sometimes attends thunders and lightnings, see ( Revelation 16:18 ) .

Esodo 19:18 In-Context

16 E al terzo giorno, come fu mattina, si fecero tuoni e folgori; e vi era una folta nuvola in sul monte, insieme con un suon di tromba molto forte; e tutto il popolo ch’era nel campo tremava.

17 E Mosè fece uscire il popolo fuor del campo, incontro a Dio; e si fermarono appiè del monte.

18 Or il monte di Sinai fumava tutto; perciocchè il Signore era sceso sopra esso in fuoco; e il fumo ne saliva a guisa di fumo di fornace; e tutto il monte tremava forte.

19 E il suon della tromba si andava vie più rinforzando grandemente; e Mosè parlava, e Iddio gli rispondeva per un tuono.

20 Il Signore adunque scese in sul monte di Sinai, sulla sommità del monte, e chiamò Mosè alla sommità del monte. E Mosè vi salì.