Deuteronomy 5

Deuteronomy 5:7-8

Deu. 5:7, 8. That this first commandment has respect to worshipping other gods; but the second has respect to worshipping the true God by images, is confirmed by chap. Deuteronomy 4:16-18. The people were in danger of representing God by some image of bird or beast, or some other animal, because the Egyptians, that were a neighboring nation, and a people among whom they had dwelt, represented all invisible things by images or hieroglyphics.

Deuteronomy 5:26

Deu. 5:26. These words, with the context, lead us to suppose that the apprehension that seemed to be so generally fixed in the minds of God’s people of old came from a tradition handed down from the ancient patriarchs, that sinful man could not have immediate access to God, and intercourse with Him who is a consuming fire; and that the presence of God, and to have to do with Him directly without a Mediator, would be the sinful creature’s immediate destruction. See Exodus 33:20; Genesis 32:30; Exodus 24:11; Judges 13:22; Judges 13:23. See Pool, Synop. on Exodus 33:20. See verse Exodus 33:24of this chapter, and Deuteronomy 4:33; Judges 7:22; Judges 7:23. From Judges 13:22; Judges 13:23,… it appears that this notion was not from an apprehension that death would be the natural consequence of so great and terrible a sight but that sinful men in such a case would be exposed to be slain by the anger of God.