After the overwhelming experience of hearing God's voice at Sinai, the Israelites retreated. (Exodus 20:18) records: "And the people stood from afar." The Mekhilta specifies the distance: twelve mil.
How did the rabbis arrive at this number? They identified twelve mil as the standard size of the Israelite encampment. The proof comes from (Numbers 32:49): "And they encamped by the Jordan from Beth Hayeshimoth until Aveil Hashittim in the plains of Moab." The distance between these two landmarks was known to be twelve mil, and this was the measured extent of Israel's camp.
The implication is dramatic. When the people "stood from afar" after hearing the divine voice, they did not merely step back a few paces. They retreated the entire length of their own camp — twelve mil, roughly equivalent to several miles. The force of God's revelation pushed them backward like a shockwave.
This detail transforms the Sinai narrative. The popular image is of a nation standing in orderly rows at the foot of a mountain. The Mekhilta's version is far more visceral. The people were blown back by the intensity of what they experienced. They ended up at the far edge of their own encampment, as far from the mountain as their camp's boundaries would allow. The distance they "stood from afar" was not chosen voluntarily — it was the physical measure of how much divine revelation a human being could endure.