The Torah says that the Jews gathered under the mountain. Chazal interpret this literally; Hashem raised the mountain and held it over them and threatened; “If you accept the Torah, fine. If not, you die here”. However the Jews had already made their famous offer: We will do and accept! Why did Hashem need to threaten them? (Tosfos, Shabbos)
Some say in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that there needed to be a threat as well as a voluntary acceptance.
The Sma”k explains that the concepts of Fear of Hashem and Love of Hashem are complimentary; Someone who is fearful never says “Hey, I’m just not in the mood today!” He is afraid, and that makes it happen even when he doesn’t feel like doing it. And someone who loves doesn’t say “I hate doing this!” because he finds meaning in what he is doing. Both are necessary; fear and love.
Perhaps its like having a child. You want to provide for the child. At the same time, you have an obligation to care for the helpless kid. There is obligation and love mixed together.
Klal Yisroel expressed their love for Hashem and offered to keep His Mitzvos. This is as it ought to be, that we want to serve Hashem. But there needs to be another level too; Mitzvos is not a hobby, something you do because you want to. You need to do them, even if you are not in the mood. Even if they are hard. And the two co-exist; we want to do Mitzvos and see in their fulfillment our deepest destiny, yet at the same time we acknowledge that we must do them. We are under threat as well. We are motivated to keep them by Naaseh V’nishma, and we are duty-bound to keep them because of the mountain hanging over our heads.
The rare beauty of a love-offering backed by obligation.
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