NT Text: Hebrews 12:18-21
OT Source(s):
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Contrast + Typology
Significance: Description of Sinai covenant establishment—terrifying, impersonal, inaccessible. Fire, darkness, gloom, trumpet, voice, touch forbidden. Even Moses terrified. Sets up contrast with Mount Zion (12:22-24). Old covenant characterized by distance and fear; new covenant by access and celebration. The fearsome theophany underscores old covenant's character—mediated through Moses, maintained by distance, enforced by threat of death for touching the mountain. This inaccessible holiness contrasts dramatically with new covenant access "to Mount Zion... the heavenly Jerusalem" (12:22ff), where believers have already come through Christ's mediation.