Devarim 5:24

24 And ye said, Behold, Hashem Eloheinu hath showed us His kavod and His gadol (greatness), and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the eish; we have seen today that Elohim doth talk with man, and he liveth.

Devarim 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.

Devarim 5:24 In-Context

22 These devarim Hashem spoke unto all your Kahal in the mountain out of the midst of the eish, of the anan, and of the thick darkness, with a kol gadol; and He added no more. And He wrote them in two luchot of even (stone), and delivered them unto me.

23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the choshech, (for the har did burn with eish,) that ye came near unto me, even all your Rashei Shvatim (Heads of Tribes), and your Zekenim (Elders);

24 And ye said, Behold, Hashem Eloheinu hath showed us His kavod and His gadol (greatness), and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the eish; we have seen today that Elohim doth talk with man, and he liveth.

25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great eish will consume us; if we hear the voice of Hashem Eloheinu any more, then we shall die.

26 For who is there of all basar, that hath heard the voice of the Elohim Chayyim speaking out of the midst of the eish, as we have, and lived?