Hebrews 12:19

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 12:18-29

Hebrews 12:18-Joel : . The theme of the epistle has been the contrast of the old and the new covenants, and this contrast is now summed up in a splendid closing passage. The first covenant was established on a “ mount that might be touched”— an earthly, material mountain [E. C. Selwyn, in JThS, xii. 134 , suggests pephepsalmenô , “ calcined.”— A. J. G.]— which was encircled with terrible manifestations of fire and darkness and storm. The voice in which the Law was proclaimed struck terror... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Hebrews 12:19

And the sound of a trumpet; which was most shrill and dreadful, it sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, giving a fearful alarm unto Israel to draw near to the Lord to hear his law to them, and covenant with them, and to see a type of their doom, if they transgressed it, in an obscure representation of the general judgment, Exodus 19:16,Exodus 19:19; Exodus 20:18; compare 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. And the voice of words: after which alarm, the Angel of the covenant... read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Hebrews 12:18-21

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTESHebrews 12:18. Might be touched.—A figure of speech for a “material” thing. “A palpable and enkindled fire.” For the terrors accompanying the giving of the law on Sinai, see Exodus 19:20.MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Hebrews 12:18-21Emblems of the Older Revelation.—The rhetorical character of this passage is very marked, and it should be treated as we properly treat rhetorical work. It is unreasonable to press for a precise meaning and a logical relation in the... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Hebrews 12:18-25

Hebrews 12:18-25 The Blessedness of the Christian Life. A Christian Jew is writing to Christian Jews, who stand in some danger of falling back to the religion they had abandoned. This writer is here, as every one sees, contrasting the two systems, the old and the new, the law and the Gospel, with a view to show which is indeed the thing he is showing all through his letter that the step from Moses to Christ had been in every respect a step forward and upward, that everything which they appeared... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Hebrews 12:18-29

Hebrews 12:18-29 Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. In this passage are mentioned seven great and solemn heavenly realities. I. Mount Zion. Mount Sinai represents the law. It manifests the majesty of God above us as creatures, the wrath of God against us as sinners; it reveals to us God's judgment and our condemnation; it convinces us of our guilt and of our strengthlessness; it represents the state of fear and darkness, of distance and alienation from God. It is winter, without sunshine, without... read more

Charles Simeon

Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae - Hebrews 12:18-25

DISCOURSE: 2339THE TRANSCENDENT EXCELLENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATIONHebrews 12:18-25. Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (for they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through... read more

Chuck Smith

Chuck Smith Bible Commentary - Hebrews 12:1-29

Shall we turn now to Hebrews, chapter 12.Wherefore, seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses ( Hebrews 12:1 ),What this does not mean is that the Old Testament saints, which are spoken of in chapter 11, are sitting there in heaven watching the activities on the earth. It doesn't mean that they are just watching us to see how we are going to react and respond and we've got this big gallery up here of Old Testament saints. It does mean that their life of faith and... read more

Joseph Sutcliffe

Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments - Hebrews 12:1-29

Hebrews 12:1 . Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Confessors and martyrs of the ancient church are here supposed to be the spectators of our course, and we are here called upon to follow these veterans of the faith. Their number is such that they are said to be a cloud, like the assembled multitudes seen on special occasions to witness some extraordinary spectacle. Nor is it the celestial host only that are interested in this contest; we are... read more

Joseph Exell

The Biblical Illustrator - Hebrews 12:18-24

Hebrews 12:18-24The mount that might be touchedSinai and ZionI.CHRISTIANITY IS A SPIRITUAL, NOT A MATERIAL, DISPENSATION. “The mount that might be touched”--a palpable mountain: the words indicate that the religion thereon proclaimed was a mass of ritual, legal service, and physical endurance; and not that spiritual surrender, and inner life of holiness, essentially belonging to the gospel. The apostle having elaborated this idea, shows that Christians have left behind them the barren Arabian... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Hebrews 12:19

19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: Ver. 19. And the sound of a trumpet ] Showing the nature of God’s law, to manifest God’s will, men’s sins, and to warn them of the wrath deserved; likewise to summon them to appear before the Judge. The voice of words ] That is, the delivery of the decalogue, called the words of the covenant,Exodus 31:18; Exodus 31:18 , the ten words. read more