THE SECOND ASCENT OF MOSES INTO MOUNT SINAI.
(12-18) The great work still remained to be done. A series of laws had been laid down for the nation and accepted with unanimity (Exodus 24:3; Exodus 24:7). But “quid prosunt leges sine moribus?” It was necessary for the sustentation of the religious life of the people that a sacred polity should be instituted, a form of worship set up, and regulations established with regard to all the externals of religion — holy persons, holy places, rites, ceremonies, vestments, incense, consecration. Moses was directed to ascend into the mount, and hold prolonged communion with God, in order that he might learn the mind of God with respect to all these things. His prolonged stay for “forty days and forty nights” (Exodus 24:18) was necessary to give him a full and complete knowledge of all the details so elaborately set forth in Exodus 25-30, and again in Exodus 35-40, which thenceforth constituted the essentials of the external worship of Israel, whereby the minds and habits of the people were moulded and impressed in a far more efficacious way than could ever have been done by a mere set of abstract propositions, appealing only to the intellect. “Segnius irritant animum demissa per aures, Quam quœ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus.” The Decalogue and the Book of the Covenant had no doubt a considerable share in forming the character of the Hebrew nation; but a larger share must be assigned to the ritual and ceremonial which Moses was now instructed to set up, and which forms the main subject of the remainder of the Book.