20:18-21
The presence of God, the thunder and the lightning, scared off the people. So they trembled and stood far off. Man in his sinful state cannot come near to God, and doesn’t want to. For there is a fear of God and a recognition of our own unworthiness. It is only the grace of God that enables us to approach the throne with boldness (Heb 4:16). So the people wanted Moses to be the intermediary. They wanted Moses to relay to them whatever God said, but did not want God to speak to them directly, believing that if He did then they would die. And in saying this they were probably right, Moses tells them not to fear, for God had come to test them. The fear of God was intended to stop them from sinning. So the people stood far off, and Moses went near to God.
20:22-26
Moses is to tell the people not to make idols of silver or gold. God had demonstrated that it was indeed He who was speaking to Moses, so hopefully the people would now listen. Instead they were to make altars of earth, and to sacrifice animals and that altar. Why an altar of earth? Perhaps because of its temporary nature? So wherever they worshipped the Lord He would meet with them and bless them. However, this does not seem to tie in with the later establishment of the temple. The possibility of making an altar of stone is also then mentioned. The prohibition of using hewn stones is probably because these would remind them of the altars that the Canaanites and others used.
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