5:23-27 - When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me.

And you said, "The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.

With these verses the apparent contradiction between v4 and v5 we noted above may now be resolved. GenA had indeed heard God "face to face out of the fire on the mountain" (v4). V23 simply affirms what v22 has stated, that the people indeed heard Yahweh speak directly in "the voice out of the darkness, which the mountain was ablaze with fire." In response to this experience, however, GenA had made two decisions. First, they distanced themselves, deciding that it was safer not to hear Yahweh directly (vv24-26). The logic by which they arrived at their decision is perplexing:

"Yahweh has shown us . . . and we have heard his voice," v24a,

"We have seen that a man can live even if God speaks to him [directly]," v24b,

"But now why should we die?" v25a,

"This great fire will consume us . . ." v25b,

"We will die if we hear the voice of Yahweh any longer," v25c,

"For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God . . . and survived," v26,

"Go near and listen . . . then tell us whatever he tells you . . ." v27.

The experience of having beheld God's glory and heard his voice and yet live should have convinced them that it was an honor and gracious provision to hear God so directly. Instead they became so consumed by fear that they made a second decision—they asked Moses to become their intermediary (v27). Here we see a sad and inexplicable fact of 'the religious life': people would rather approach an intermediary than to approach God directly. Millions of Roman Catholic believers would rather go to or through their favourite saints than to come directly to the Son. Despite Jesus' promise that his sheep would know his voice (Jn 10:3), countless Christians continue to flock to meetings and conferences hoping that some 'Spirit-anointed man of God' would bring them a personal word from God. It was so with Israel, and their decision marked a defining moment in their history when Yahweh "added nothing more" to what he would say directly to the people. Henceforth, Yahweh's word would come through Moses, and in Israel's later history, through individuals whom he calls into his divine council. While most of those so called to declare the divine counsel in the future would find their authority to speak as a result of their appointment by Yahweh, and almost always against the will of the people, Moses here enjoys his authority by fiat of divine appointment and the people's.

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