Exodus 19:18

18 All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.

Exodus 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 ) .

Exodus 19:18 In-Context

16 On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled.

17 Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

18 All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.

19 As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply.

20 The LORD came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.