Exodus Chapter 19 verse 13 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 13. - There shall not an hand touch it. Rather, "there shall not an hand touch him." The transgressor shall not be seized and apprehended, for that would involve the repetition of the offence by his arrester, who must overpass the "bounds" set by Moses, in order to make the arrest. Instead of seizing him, they were to kill him with stones or arrows from within the "bounds," and the same was to be done, if any stray beast approached the mountain. When the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. By translating the same Hebrew phrase differently here and in verse 12, the A. V. avoids the difficulty which most commentators see in this passage. According to the apparent construction, the people are first told that they may, on no account, ascend the mountain (ver. ,12), and then that they may do so, so soon as the trumpet sounds long (ver. 13). But they do not ascend at that time (ver. 19), nor are they allowed to do so - on the contrary, Moses is charged anew to prevent it (ver. 21-25); nor indeed do the people ever ascend, but only Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy eiders (Exodus 24:1, 2). What, then, is the permission here given? When we scrutinise the passage closely, we observe that the pronoun "they" is in the Hebrew, emphatic, and, therefore, unlikely to refer to "the people" of ver. 12. To whom then does it refer? Not, certainly, to "the Elders" of ver. 7, which would be too remote an antecedent, but to those chosen persons who are in the writer's mind, whom God was about to allow to ascend. Even these were not allowed to go up until summoned by the prolonged blast of the trumpet.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(13) There shall not an hand touch it.--This translation gives an entirely wrong sense. The meaning is, beyond all doubt, "There shall not a hand touch him," i.e., the transgressor. To stop him and seize him, another person must have transgressed the bounds, and so have repeated the act which was forbidden. This course was to be avoided, and punishment was to be inflicted on the transgressor by stoning him, or transfixing him with arrows, from within the barrier.Whether it be beast or man.--Though beasts are innocent of wrong-doing, and are thus no proper objects of punishment, yet the law of God requires their slaughter in certain eases--e.g. (1) when they are dangerous (Exodus 21:28); (2) when they have become polluted (Leviticus 20:15); (3) When their owner's sin is appropriately punished through their loss (Exodus 13:13). In the present case, it could only be through the culpable carelessness of an owner that a beast could get inside the barrier.When the trumpet soundeth long.--Comp. Exodus 19:19.They shall come up to the mount.--Rather, into the mount. The expression used is identical with that of the preceding verse, and there rendered "go up into the mount." Thus the act forbidden in Exodus 19:12 is allowed in Exodus 19:13; it is not, however, allowed to the same persons. The word "they" (hemah) in this present place is emphatic, and refers to certain privileged persons, as Moses and Aaron (Exodus 19:24), not to the people generally. . . .