(See the Chapter Comments for more information on the Covenant.)
The Proclamation of the Covenant (Exodus 20:1-17).
Here we have Yahweh's proclamation of His covenant directly to the people, and not through Moses, something which the people, having experienced it, pleaded that it might not happen again (Exodus 20:19). The fuller explanation then comes through Moses (Exodus 20:22). It will be noted that without being forced these verses cannot be put into chiastic form, stressing how they stand out from the remainder of the narrative.
‘And God spoke all these words, saying.'
As promised in Exodus 19:9 Yahweh speaks to Moses from the cloud which is on the mountain (Exodus 20:16) in full hearing of the people, while Moses stands among them. With these words Israel becomes a nation in its own right, a nation with Yahweh as overlord. They become ‘a kingdom', a theocracy where God is king, and they are designated to become a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6). The scope of the covenant is huge and its moral content unique.
The people gathered there would include the mixed multitude who had left Egypt with the children of Israel. They too, if it was their desire, would be incorporated within the covenant (Exodus 12:48). Thus they would all stand as one to receive His words.