Exodus 19:21

21 The LORD said to Moshe, "Go down, charge the people, lest they break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

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 When the sound of the shofar grew louder and louder, Moshe spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

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

21 The LORD said to Moshe, "Go down, charge the people, lest they break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

22 Let the Kohanim also, who come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth on them."

23 Moshe said to the LORD, "The people can't come up to Mount Sinai, for you charged us, saying, 'Set bounds around the mountain, and sanctify it.'"