Go and Tell Them
22 Yahweh spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me. 23 When you heard the voice out of the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24 and you said, “Behold, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. We have seen today that God does speak with man, and he lives. 25 Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear Yahweh our God’s voice any more, then we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go near, and hear all that Yahweh our God shall say, and tell us all that Yahweh our God tells you; and we will hear it, and do it.” 28 Yahweh heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me; and Yahweh said to me, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever! 30 “Go tell them, ‘Return to your tents.’ 31 But as for you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.” 32 You shall observe to do therefore as Yahweh your God has commanded you. You shall not turn away to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the way which Yahweh your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
God speaks ten commandments and adds no more, and the people's request for a mediator is approved — followed by a wish.
He added no more Deuteronomy 5:22.
Three words, and they mark off the Ten from everything else in the book. These were spoken by God directly, to the whole assembly, out of the fire — and then the voice stopped. Everything after this chapter reaches the people through a man. The distinction is made by the text, not imposed on it, and it is reinforced by what happens to the two documents: these ten were written on two stone tablets, while the rest was written by Moses in a book and placed beside the ark Deuteronomy 31:26.
The people's reaction is fear, and their statement of it is theologically acute. We have seen today that God does speak with man, and he lives Deuteronomy 5:24.
That is not the complaint of people who learned nothing. They have grasped the extraordinary thing — that a human being can survive hearing God — and they have decided not to risk it twice. Why should we die? For this great fire will consume us Deuteronomy 5:25.
So they ask for an intermediary: go near, and hear all that Yahweh our God shall say, and tell us all that Yahweh our God tells you; and we will hear it, and do it Deuteronomy 5:27.
The request could be read as cowardice, and God does not read it that way. They have well said all that they have spoken Deuteronomy 5:28. The arrangement is approved, and the same approval is cited later as the origin of the promise of a prophet like Moses Deuteronomy 18:16–17. A people who knew they could not stand in the fire were right about themselves.
And then verse 29, which is unlike anything around it.
Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
God expresses a wish. Not a command, not a threat, not a prediction — a longing, about people he has just commended, for something he does not compel. He wants the obedience to come from a heart they do not yet have, and he will not produce it by making them.
That verse is the reason the book keeps returning to the heart, and it is answered at the far end: Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart... to love Yahweh your God with all your heart Deuteronomy 30:6. What God wishes for here he undertakes to do there.
The people are sent home to their tents, and Moses is told to stand here by me Deuteronomy 5:31. The whole rest of the book is the content of that conversation, delivered to people who asked not to be present for it.
settled What this mark means