Deuteronomy 5:5

5 I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you his words, for you feared the fire, and went not up into the mountain, and he said:

Deuteronomy 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 5:5

I stood between the Lord and you at that time
Between the Word of the Lord and you, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; that is, about that time, not at the exact precise time the ten commandments were delivered, for these were spoken immediately to the people; but when the ceremonial law was given, which was ordained by angels, in the hand of a mediator, ( Galatians 3:19 ) , and which was at the request of the people as follows, terrified by the appearance of the fire out of which the moral law was delivered:

to show you the word of the Lord;
not the decalogue, that they heard with their own ears, but the other laws which were afterwards given, that were of the ceremonial and judicial kind:

for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the
mount;
lest they should be consumed by it: and indeed bounds were set about the mount, and they were charged not to break through:

saying;
this word is in connection with the preceding verse, the Lord's talking out of the midst of the fire, when he said what follows.

Deuteronomy 5:5 In-Context

3 He made not the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are now present and living.

4 He spoke to us face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire.

5 I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you his words, for you feared the fire, and went not up into the mountain, and he said:

6 I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

7 Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight.