Exodus 19:8

8. All the people answered together From the language employed in the preceding verse, and from the nature of the case, we most naturally infer that this answer of the people was obtained, not in one open assembly of all the nation, but through the mediation of the elders . These elders, representing each a different portion of the people, would have ready means of communicating with the different tribes, and obtaining at short notice their sentiments on any important matter . The word together, accordingly, means here the oneness or unanimity of the people’s response . The answer returned was as that of one man . These two verses (7th and 8th) illustrate what any reader of sense ought to take for granted in such a history as this . We are not to suppose that every detail of communication is given. A great many small gatherings of the people may often have been held in different parts of the plain, and in the adjacent valleys, to hear the words of Jehovah; sometimes communications may have been delivered by numerous messengers without any public assembly. Any reasonable hypothesis of this kind is legitimate in interpretation.