Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 19:21-25

"And Jehovah said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto Jehovah to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also, that come near to Jehovah, sanctify themselves, lest Jehovah break forth upon them. And Moses said unto Jehovah, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou didst charge us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. And Jehovah said unto him, Go, get thee down; and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto Jehovah, lest he break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the people, and told them." — Exodus 19:21-25 (ASV)

GOD’S WARNING TO THE PEOPLE AGAINST APPROACHING TOO CLOSELY.

Warning was given, as soon as God announced His intention of descending upon Sinai, that the people must not approach too closely. “Bounds” were set, and the people were required to keep within them; actual contact with the mountain was forbidden under penalty of death (Exodus 19:12).

It is evident from Exodus 19:23 that the command to “set bounds” had been obeyed, and a fence was erected which would have required some force to “break through.” Furthermore, there can be no doubt that Moses had proclaimed the directions he received from God, forbidding any approach to the mountain and threatening death to those who should “touch” it.

Yet, it is evident from this concluding paragraph of the chapter (Exodus 19:21–25) that the first warning was insufficient. An intention “to break through, to gaze,” must have been held by many.

The existing priesthood, whatever its nature, shared this intention (Exodus 19:22). It always grates on people's feelings to be told that they are less holy than others, and we can easily understand that those who had previously acted as priests for the nation would resent their exclusion from “holy ground” to which the sons of Amram were about to be admitted.

Many among the people may also have shared this feeling, thinking that Moses and Aaron were “taking too much upon them, seeing that the whole congregation” was holy. Therefore, a further, very stringent command was required. Moses, having reached the summit, was sent down again from the top to the bottom to impress upon priests and people alike, in the most solemn way possible, the necessity of their observing the bounds set.