And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.
Moses alone was to come near the Lord, while Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders of Israel were to worship afar off at a distance, and the people were to remain below and not go up with him. This ordering was given as Israel gathered to worship and to hear the terms of the covenant. It was given after God had given Moses the judgments and the promises on condition of obedience, which Moses had written down, being not the ten commandments but the judgments God would have Israel observe.
Before the ascent Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice promising to do all that God had said. Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and their solemn pledge in the book of the covenant, read the book of the covenant to the people, and sealed it with sacrificed blood sprinkled on the people as the blood of the covenant. Afterward Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders and they saw the God of Israel, and then Moses was called still higher into the mount to receive the tables of stone and the law.
The chosen elders worshiped at a distance and later came partway up the mountain, but they did not approach as near as Moses, seeing the glory of God's presence without beholding the Deity. After being humbled by the display of God's power and contemplating His glory, purity and mercy, the elders called up the mountain could approach nearer without beholding the Deity itself. In this setting Moses alone went up into the mount into the midst of the cloud where the glory of the Lord rested upon Sinai like devouring fire and remained forty days and forty nights to receive tables of stone and commandments to teach them, followed by God's requirements for making a movable tabernacle from which He could reveal Himself.
The verse belongs to the instruction in Exodus 19-24 given by Christ Himself on Mount Sinai, with its laws written in a book to guard against doing injustice and to guide dealings with one another, which men should obey and which is needed now just as verily as by the children of Israel. It is to be studied and presented before the people in jots and tittles to cause all contention to cease and to lead to loving as brethren with softened and subdued hearts.
Moses alone was to come near the Lord, while Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders of Israel were to worship afar off at a distance, and the people were to remain below and not go up with him. This ordering was given as Israel gathered to worship and to hear the terms of the covenant. It was given after God had given Moses the judgments and the promises on condition of obedience, which Moses had written down, being not the ten commandments but the judgments God would have Israel observe.
Before the ascent Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice promising to do all that God had said. Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and their solemn pledge in the book of the covenant, read the book of the covenant to the people, and sealed it with sacrificed blood sprinkled on the people as the blood of the covenant. Afterward Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders and they saw the God of Israel, and then Moses was called still higher into the mount to receive the tables of stone and the law.
The chosen elders worshiped at a distance and later came partway up the mountain, but they did not approach as near as Moses, seeing the glory of God's presence without beholding the Deity. After being humbled by the display of God's power and contemplating His glory, purity and mercy, the elders called up the mountain could approach nearer without beholding the Deity itself. In this setting Moses alone went up into the mount into the midst of the cloud where the glory of the Lord rested upon Sinai like devouring fire and remained forty days and forty nights to receive tables of stone and commandments to teach them, followed by God's requirements for making a movable tabernacle from which He could reveal Himself.
The verse belongs to the instruction in Exodus 19-24 given by Christ Himself on Mount Sinai, with its laws written in a book to guard against doing injustice and to guide dealings with one another, which men should obey and which is needed now just as verily as by the children of Israel. It is to be studied and presented before the people in jots and tittles to cause all contention to cease and to lead to loving as brethren with softened and subdued hearts.