Yisro - Like a Groom Toward His Bride

When the Jewish People arrived at Mount Sinai and were about to experience revelation, verse 19:17 says that Moshe brought the people out to greet Hashem. A strange description — what does it mean?
The Chizkuni says that because the people were afraid, they needed to be led forward. This brings to mind the tremendous role that yiras Shamayim plays as an introduction to Torah. The Chazon Ish, in Sefer Emunah u’Bitachon, so eloquently and inspiringly elaborates on the role of yiras Shamayim in one’s learning. To quote a few lines:

1. One is not a scholar of Torah until he has integrated intellectual analysis [in the study of Torah] with a sense of fear of sin. The cup that is blended with these two is the portion of the Torah scholar all his days and this is his wine-offering forever. Indeed Torah [knowledge] and fear [of Heaven] are like matter and shape, which together comprise material reality, and anyone who has not acquired [any] perfection of fear [of Heaven] even if his intellect is sharp and polished by nature, he will not merit complete Torah [knowledge], instead, his way will always have obstacles, deviations and distortion.
2. Regarding this [matter] it is said “The beginning of wisdom is fear of Hashem” (Tehillim 111:10) for fear [of Heaven] is the [connection and passageway to the] depths of the heart that discern the sweetness of the beautiful glow of wisdom and the pleasantness of understanding.

Rashi quotes another meaning of Moshe bringing the people to greet Hashem from the Mechilta: the verse alludes to the idea that the Shechinah went forth to greet them like a chassan who walks forward to greet a kallah. In other words, because Hashem had “stepped forth” away from Sinai to greet the Jewish People, Moshe then escorted the Jewish People toward Hashem. This idea is alluded to in Devarim 33:2, which says that “Hashem came from Sinai” instead of “to Sinai,” because He stepped away to greet the Jewish People.
The Tiferes Shlomo sees in this Chazal a foundational and inspiring message that answers an age-old theological question regarding the mitzvah of loving Hashem: how can the Torah command an emotion? Either you feel love or you don’t. The Rambam in Yesodei HaTorah 2:1–2 essentially answers this by explaining that love comes automatically upon contemplating the wonders of Hashem in nature, such that this contemplation itself is the fulfillment of the mitzvah.
The Tiferes Shlomo gives a similar answer, but not so much based on intellectual contemplation of nature’s miracles, rather on awareness of Hashem’s intimate love for us. Paying attention to His acts of love toward us automatically stimulates a reciprocal love back, as Mishlei 27:19 says, “As water reflects, so do the faces of people.”
The Shefa Tal points out that the gematria of ahavah (love) is echad (one), for love creates unity. For this reason, the Tiferes Shlomo says, the mitzvah of Shema — which contains the mitzvah of loving Hashem at its beginning — is prefaced with the blessing of Ahavah Rabbah, which loudly

highlights how much Hashem loves us. Our love for Hashem is not something that needs to be forced; it is an automatic response to feeling His love for us.
This is the allusion in Hashem stepping forward to the people, followed by Moshe bringing them toward Him. Hashem was expressing His deep, profound love for His people in order to stimulate their love back toward Him, so that there should be total unity between the two.
It emerges that the commandment to love Hashem is not an instruction to perform something that is “outside” of you, but rather an instruction to activate something that is already there. We innately have the capacity to love another; it simply requires a drop of contemplation upon the other’s love for us to automatically awaken the love within.
Rav Hutner in Ma’amarei Pachad Yitzchak (Pesach #53) explains why all the commandments in the Shema are articulated using a “reverse-tense vav.” For example, “love Hashem” is not written as te’ehav (a straightforward future command), but rather in a past-tense form that is transformed into a command through the vav. He explains that the past is guaranteed — it has already happened — and the Shema hints that although we are commanded to live these values, there is also an allusion that they will necessarily happen anyway, guaranteed like the past.
Rav Hutner applies this to the Ramban on Devarim 4:41 regarding the commandment of teshuvah, which is also written in this past-tense form, alluding to the guarantee and foresight that the Jewish People will ultimately do teshuvah at the end of days.
Perhaps tying this to the Tiferes Shlomo’s idea: since love for Hashem is not an external experience but an intrinsic and already-guaranteed reality that simply needs to be uncovered, the use of the reverse-tense vav is especially appropriate.
In summary, immediately before the revelation at Sinai, the Jewish People are escorted by Moshe to greet Hashem, with two possible motivations:

1. They were afraid to approach (Chizkuni
2. In order to reciprocate Hashem’s love for them (Tiferes Shlomo)

Indeed, love and fear precede the revelation for they are the bedrock of Torah and the life of a Jew.