Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 33:4

"And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments." — Exodus 33:4 (ASV)

When the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned.—It was significant that the people recognized this news as "evil." It is natural for sinful men to shrink from the near presence of God (Matthew 8:34; Luke 5:8), and so the Israelites had shrunk from it a short time before (Exodus 20:19).

Even now they would probably have feared too close a contact. Still, they were unwilling for God to cease being the leader and guide of the host; they valued His presence and protection, which they felt an angel could not adequately replace. Accordingly, when Moses communicated to them what God had said (Exodus 33:1–3), they "mourned"—that is, they not only grieved inwardly but also showed the outward signs of grief, making a public and, so to speak, national lamentation.

No man did put on him his ornaments.—Peoples of the East, both men and women, have always been fond of ornaments and taken extreme delight in them.

Herodotus tells us that the Persians who accompanied Xerxes into Greece generally wore collars and bracelets of gold (Histories 9.80). Xenophon says that the Medes indulged a similar taste (Cyropaedia 1.3.2). In Egypt, at the time of the Exodus, men of high rank generally wore collars, armlets, and bracelets, and occasionally anklets. The Assyrians wore armlets, bracelets, and earrings.

To strip oneself of one's ornaments was a great act of self-denial for people from these Eastern cultures. This was commonly done in mourning for a family bereavement and sometimes in cases of national misfortune (See Note on Exodus 33:1-6).