And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
And all the people saw the thunderings ... Some have maintained that only Moses and the elders were present at the giving of the law. But this opinion is contrary to the whole tenor of the narrative, and is expressly contradicted by the statement in this verse, that not the leaders and representatives only, but "all the people" were before the mount, on an area sufficiently extensive to accommodate two million people-the plain es-Sebayeh, previously described, being three miles long and one and three-quarters broad (Drew's 'Scripture Lands'). "Saw the thunderings." Verbs that belong to the human senses are often put for one another, and particularly those denoting sight, as most of the mental impressions are produced through that medium. Thus, to, see a voice is an expression used by the apostle John (Revelation 1:12). As to the "lightnings" which flashed on its porphyry summit, and the trumpet-peals which made the mount, from its sharp, splintered pinnacles to its base, tremble at the voice of the Lord, see the note at Exodus 19:18. х halapiydim (H3940), the vivid flashes.]
And the mountain smoking. Harmer supposes that the trees and shrubs, which produce a very oily fruit, and grow in great abundance on the mount, were set on fire, and occasioned the dense smoke. Rationalists account for the whole phenomena on the hypothesis of the eruption of a volcano. But every part of the mount has been carefully explored, especially in modern times, and no traces appear that there ever was volcanic action.