Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. The boundary around the mountain is a spatial enactment of the holiness principle: the holy cannot be casually approached. The death penalty for touching the mountain is not arbitrary severity but the natural consequence of unsanctioned contact with the divine presence. Hebrews 12:20 cites this verse as evidence of the terrifying character of the Sinai covenant, contrasting it with the accessibility of the New Covenant. The limits set at Sinai do not represent God's permanent disposition toward humanity but the necessary protection of a holy God's presence among an unprepared people. The cross makes what the limits excluded accessible.

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