John Calvin Commentary Exodus 19:18

"And mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." — Exodus 19:18 (ASV)

And all the people saw the thunderings.²¹⁸ Because in the parallel passage Moses discusses more extensively what he here only mentions briefly, I will also defer my full exposition of it. If he had been the only spectator of God’s glory, his testimony would be less credible. Then, after reporting the ten commandments—which God Himself spoke with His own sacred lips so the people could hear—he adds that, at the same time, the lightnings shone openly, the mountain smoked, the trumpets sounded, and the thunder rolled. It follows, therefore, that by these conspicuous and illustrious signs, the law was confirmed before all the people, from the greatest even to the least.

The confession of the whole people is added; overwhelmed with alarm, they plead with God to speak no more. For they could no longer despise the voice of the man whom they had willingly requested as their mediator, lest they be consumed by the awful voice of God.

He sets before them the purpose for which those signs had appeared to terrify them: namely, that God might subdue them to obedience. They were terrified, then, not so that they might be stupefied with astonishment, but only so that they might be humbled and submit to God.

And this is a special privilege: that the majesty of God, before whom heaven and earth tremble, does not²¹⁹ destroy but only tests and examines His children.

²¹⁸ Au passage de Deuteronome, que nous verrons tantost. — Fr..

²¹⁹ There is a play on the words in the Latin here: “Non exanimet, sed tantum examinet.”