From fear of punishment to fear of Hashem

בפסוק אל תיראו כי לבעבור נסות אתכם בא האלקים כו' יראתו על פניכם לבלתי תחטאו.

On the posuk: "Do not fear, for it is in order to test you that Hashem has come… and so that His fear shall be upon your faces, that you not sin."

The Sefas Emes examines Moshe's words after the giving of the Torah, where the awe of Sinai is described both as a "test" and as a means to instill the fear of Hashem.

דאיתא בשם הבעש"ט ז"ל כי יראת העונש בא לעורר לבוא ליראת הרוממות.

For it is brought in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, that yiras ha'onesh (fear of punishment) comes to awaken a person to arrive at yiras haromemus (the fear born of Hashem's exaltedness).

The Baal Shem Tov teaches that the lower fear of punishment is not an end in itself but a stepping-stone toward the higher fear that flows from awe of Hashem's greatness.

ובנ"י היה להם יראת העונש כמ"ש פן נמות.

And Bnei Yisrael had the fear of punishment, as it is written: "lest we die."

At Sinai the people experienced the lower fear — terror of death — when they pleaded that Moshe speak with them lest they perish.

וכתיב בפרשת ואתחנן כי יראתם מפני האש.

And it is written in Parshas Va'eschanan: "for you were afraid because of the fire."

The Torah itself records that their fear at Sinai was provoked specifically by the fire.

וכמ"ש מזה שם שהי' יראתם מפני האש.

And as was explained about this there, that their fear was on account of the fire.

He underscores that the people's fear was a response to the outer, fiery aspect of the revelation.

ולא עליתם בהר כו'.

"And you did not ascend the mountain…"

Because of this fear they held back and did not ascend the mountain to the inner revelation.

ונבאר יותר עפ"י מה ששמעתי ממו"ז ז"ל למה הי' עשן במתן תורה לנקר עיני אנשים שאין ראוים למראה הגדול הזה כו'.

And we will explain further according to what I heard from my grandfather, of blessed memory: why there was smoke at the giving of the Torah — to dim the eyes of those who were not fit for this great vision.

The Sefas Emes cites his grandfather: the smoke at Sinai served to shield those not yet worthy of beholding the full revelation directly.

ונפרש לפי דרכנו כי זה עצמו ענין הכתוב והר סיני עשן כו' ירד עליו ה' באש.

And we will explain in our own way that this very thing is the meaning of the posuk: "and Har Sinai was smoking… for Hashem had descended upon it in fire."

The smoke and fire of the verse express this same idea of concealment guarding the inner light.

פי' שהיה הפנימיות נסתר והי' נגלה בחי' האש שהיא יראה תחתונה כדאיתא בזוה"ק אית יראה ואית יראה ע"ש בהקדמת בראשית.

The meaning is that the penimiyus (inner dimension) was concealed, and what was revealed was the aspect of the fire — which is the lower fear — as it is brought in the Zohar HaKadosh: "there is a fear, and there is a fear," see there in the introduction to Bereishis.

The inner essence of the revelation stayed hidden; the visible fire embodied the lower fear, while the Zohar distinguishes between this lower fear and a higher one.

וגם איתא בזוה"ק המשל לחכם שמסבב החבית שבו טוב הגנוז בסמים ממיתין כדי להבריח מליגע באור הגנוז ובזה נדחו האומות מלקבל התורה ע"ש פ' בלק.

And it is also brought in the Zohar HaKadosh the parable of the wise man who surrounds the barrel — in which a hidden good is stored — with deadly poisons, in order to drive others away from touching the concealed light; and through this the nations were repelled from receiving the Torah, see there in Parshas Balak.

Like a sage who guards a precious treasure with a wall of poison, Hashem surrounded the hidden light of Torah with the fearsome fire, which deterred the nations from approaching it.

ולכן הי' מבחוץ בחי' האש ובנ"י נתייראו מזה פן נמות.

And therefore on the outside there was the aspect of the fire, and Bnei Yisrael feared because of it, "lest we die."

The outer fire frightened even Bnei Yisrael, who reacted with the lower fear of death.

אבל משה רבינו ע"ה הגיד להם כי בעבור נסות אותם בא שיבואו מזה ליראת ה' לחיים.

But Moshe Rabbeinu told them that it had come "in order to test them," so that from this they would come to the fear of Hashem that leads to life.

Moshe reassured them that the terrifying fire was only a test — a means to lift them from fear of death to the life-giving fear of Hashem.

יראתו על פניכם לבלתי תחטאו היא יראה גדולה מגוף החטא לא מעונש:

"His fear upon your faces, that you not sin" — this is a higher fear, of the sin itself rather than of the punishment.

The goal Moshe points toward is the elevated yirah that recoils from sin itself because it distances one from Hashem, not merely from its punishment.

Summary: At Sinai the outer fire and smoke revealed only the "lower fear" — fear of punishment and death — which guarded the hidden inner light of Torah like poison surrounding a treasure, repelling the nations. But Moshe taught Bnei Yisrael that this fearsome revelation was a test, meant to lift them from the lower fear to the higher yirah of Hashem's exaltedness — a fear of sin itself, not of its punishment, which leads to true life.