Deuteronomy 5:26

For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 5:26. Flesh — Is here put for a man in his frail, corruptible, and mortal state.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:23-33 Moses refers to the consternation caused by the terror with which the law was given. God's appearances have always been terrible to man, ever since the fall; but Christ, having taken away sin, invites us to come boldly to the throne of grace. They were in a good mind, under the strong convictions of the word they heard. Many have their consciences startled by the law who have them not purified; fair promises are extorted from them, but no good principles are fixed and rooted in them. God commended what they said. He desires the welfare and salvation of poor sinners. He has given abundant proof that he does so; he gives us time and space to repent. He has sent his Son to redeem us, promised his Spirit to those who pray for him, and has declared that he has no pleasure in the ruin of sinners. It would be well with many, if there were always such a heart in them, as there seems to be sometimes; when they are under conviction of sin, or the rebukes of providence, or when they come to look death in the face. The only way to be happy, is to be holy. Say to the righteous, It shall be well with them. Let believers make it more and more their study and delight, to do as the Lord God hath commanded.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These verses contain a much fuller narrative of the events briefly described in Exodus 20:18-21. Here it is important to call attention to the fact that it was on the entreaties of the people that Moses had taken on him to be the channel of communication between God and them. God approved Deuteronomy 5:28 the request of the people, because it showed a feeling of their own unworthiness to enter into direct communion with God. The terrors of Sinai had done their work; they had awakened the consciousness of sin.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23-28. And … ye came near unto me—(See on [117]Ex 20:19).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Flesh is here put for man in his frail, corruptible, and mortal state, as Matthew 16:17 1 Corinthians 15:50 Ephesians 6:12 Hebrews 2:14.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For who is there of all flesh,.... What man was there in any age, that was ever heard of or can be named:

that hath heard the voice of the living God; who lives in and of himself, and is the author and giver of life to all his creatures, whereby he is distinguished from and is opposed unto the lifeless deities of the Gentiles; and which makes him and his voice heard the more awful and tremendous, and especially as

speaking out of the midst of the fire: which was the present case:

as we have, and lived? of this there never was the like instance; for though some had seen God and lived, as Jacob did, and therefore called the name of the place where he saw him Penuel, Genesis 32:30, and Moses had heard the voice of the angel of the Lord out of a bush, which seemed to be burning, and was not consumed, Exodus 3:2, yet none ever heard the voice of the Lord out of real fire, and particularly expressing such words as he did, but the Israelites. Zoroastres, the founder of the Magi among the Persians, and of their religion, seems to have had respect to this, and to have applied falsely this to himself, which belonged to Moses and the people of Israel; for it is said (k),"one reason the Persians have fire in so much veneration is, because they say that Zoroastres, being caught up to heaven, did not see God, but heard him speaking with him out of the midst of fire.''

(k) Hyde Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. c. 8. p. 160.

Geneva Study Bible

For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. flesh] Emphatic; it cannot endure immediate contact with spirit (Isaiah 31:3).

the living God] Rather, a living God, cp. Deuteronomy 4:33. The phrase always occurs in the O.T. without the article even when as in 1 Samuel 17:26; 1 Samuel 17:36, and Jeremiah 23:36 it is the living God who is meant. In Jeremiah 10:10 it is indefinite as here. These are all the instances of this form. Kindred forms in Joshua 3:10 indefinite; Hosea 2:1, 2 Kings 19:4; 2 Kings 19:16 definite.

Deuteronomy 5:26

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Deuteronomy 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exodus 20:18-20 (15-17). ואתּ (Deuteronomy 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Numbers 11:15 (cf. Ewald, 184, a.). Jehovah's reply to the words of the people (Deuteronomy 5:28-31) is passed over in Exodus 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, "Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me," i.e., would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deuteronomy 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deuteronomy 5:32, Deuteronomy 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.e., not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deuteronomy 17:11, Deuteronomy 17:20; Deuteronomy 28:14; Joshua 1:7, etc.), that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deuteronomy 4:40). וטוב, perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.