Comentario sobre Deuteronómio 5:5

לאמר SAYING — This is to be connected with (v. 4), דבר ה' עמכם בהר מתוך האש “[face to face] the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire”, — לאמר, אנכי וגו׳, saying. “I am the Lord, etc.", ואנכי עמד בין ה׳ וביניכם WHILST I STOOD BETWEEN THE LORD AND YOU.

I STOOD BETWEEN THE ETERNAL AND YOU AT THAT TIME, TO DECLARE UNTO YOU THE WORD OF THE ETERNAL. For Moses would go up to the mountain and hear the words of G-d and come down and tell them to the people, until G-d spoke with them face to face.¹²³Verse 4. This is an allusion to all that is mentioned in the section In the third month,¹²⁴Exodus 19:1. beginning with Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob¹²⁵Ibid., Verse 3. [and concluding with] And the Eternal said unto him, Go, get thee down.¹²⁶Ibid., Verse 24. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that this [occurrence referred to in the verse, I stood between the Eternal and you etc.,] happened after the Revelation at Mount Sinai, the purport of the verse being as follows: “He spoke with you face to face¹²³Verse 4. [at the giving of the Ten Commandments], and from that day on I stood between G-d and you.” But it is not correct.
It appears to me that the correct interpretation is that Moses is alluding to what we have explained there¹²⁷Ibid., 20:7 — Vol. II, pp. 305-306. that Israel understood from the mouth of the Almighty only the commandments I am the Eternal thy G-d etc.¹²⁸Ibid., Verse 2. and Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.¹²⁹Ibid., Verse 3. As for the rest of the commandments, it was Moses who declared to them what G-d said. This is the meaning [of the expression here], to declare unto you the word of the Eternal, for he explained to them each and every commandment. And the meaning of the expression (I stood) between the Eternal and you is that, at the time of the giving of the commandments, Moses was nearer than they to the place of the Divine Glory, for they had removed themselves far [from the mountain] as I have explained there.¹³⁰Ibid., Verse 15 — Vol. II, pp. 324-326. This is [the sense of the words] for ye were afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the Mount meaning that you did not approach it [even the part] that was permissible to you [to approach]. Therefore I stood between you and the place of the Glory — in the middle — because it was distant between you and Him, and from there I declared [the rest of] the commandments [to you].

אנכי עומד בין ה׳ וביניכם, "I was standing between the Lord and between you, etc." This verse means that for part of the Ten Commandments G'd spoke with the people face to face, whereas during part of the Ten Commandments He spoke to them through an intermediary. The reason G'd employed an intermediary for part of the Ten Commandments was not His unwillingness to speak to the people directly, but to their fear of dying.