Shemot 19:21

21 And Hashem said unto Moshe, Go down, warn HaAm, lest they push through toward Hashem to gaze, and many of them fall perishing.

Shemot 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.

Shemot 19:21 In-Context

19 And when the sound of the shofar was moving [closer], and grew louder and louder, Moshe spoke, and HaElohim answered him in thunder.

20 And Hashem came down upon Mt. Sinai, onto the top of HaHar; and Hashem summoned Moshe up to the top of HaHar; and Moshe went up.

21 And Hashem said unto Moshe, Go down, warn HaAm, lest they push through toward Hashem to gaze, and many of them fall perishing.

22 And let the kohanim also, which come near to Hashem, set themselves apart as kodesh, lest Hashem break forth upon them.

23 And Moshe said unto Hashem, HaAm cannot come up to Mt. Sinai; for You Yourself charged us, saying, Establish boundaries for HaHar, and set it apart as kodesh.