Exodus 24:2

And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Exodus 24:2. And Moses alone shall come near — Being therein a type of Christ, who, as the high-priest, entered alone into the most holy place. In the following verse we have the solemn covenant made between God and Israel, and the exchanging of the ratifications: typifying the covenant of grace between God and believers through Christ.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

24:1-8 A solemn covenant was made between God and Israel. Very solemn it was, typifying the covenant of grace between God and believers, through Christ. As soon as God separated to himself a peculiar people, he governed them by a written word, as he has done ever since. God's covenants and commands are so just in themselves, and so much for our good, that the more we think of them, and the more plainly and fully they are set before us, the more reason we may see to comply with them. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the altar, on the book, and on the people. Neither their persons, their moral obedience, nor religious services, would meet with acceptance from a holy God, except through the shedding and sprinkling' of blood. Also the blessings granted unto them were all of mercy; and the Lord would deal with them in kindness. Thus the sinner, by faith in the blood of Christ, renders willing and acceptable obedience.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Are placed by some with great probability between Exodus 24:8-9.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 24

Ex 24:1-18. Delivery of the Law and Covenant.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Moses alone, i.e. without the persons now mentioned, though not without Joshua his minister, as some conceive from Exodus 24:13, though even there Moses seems to ascend into the mount without Joshua.

Neither shall the people go up with him to any part of the mount, as Aaron, and Nadab, &c. did, but they shall tarry at the bottom. See Exodus 19:12.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Moses alone shall come near the Lord,.... Into the cloud where he was, and talk with him face to face, as a man talketh with his friend; which was great nearness indeed, and a peculiar favour and high honour was this:

but they shall not come nigh; Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel:

neither shall the people go up with him; not any of them, much less the whole body. It seems, by this account, that Moses had been down from the mount after he had received the laws recorded in the two preceding chapters; though as yet he had not related them to the people, but did before he went up again by the above order, as appears from what follows.

Geneva Study Bible

And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. they (emph.)] Aaron, his two sons, and the elders.

neither, &c.] Observe the gradation: the people generally are to remain at the foot of the mountain; Aaron, his two sons, and the elders come partly up the mountain; only Moses goes to the top (cf. Exodus 19:21, Exodus 20:21).

Exodus 24:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

These two verses form part of the address of God in Exodus 20:22-23:33; for אמר משׁה ואל ("but to Moses He said") cannot be the commencement of a fresh address, which would necessarily require מ אל ויּאמר (cf. Exodus 24:12; Exodus 19:21; Exodus 20:22). The turn given to the expression מ ואל presupposes that God had already spoken to others, or that what had been said before related not to Moses himself, but to other persons. But this cannot be affirmed of the decalogue, which applied to Moses quite as much as to the entire nation (a sufficient refutation of Knobel's assertion, that these verses are a continuation of Exodus 19:20-25, and are linked on to the decalogue), but only of the address concerning the mishpatim, or "rights," which commences with Exodus 20:22, and, according to Exodus 20:22 and Exodus 21:1, was intended for the nation, and addressed to it, even though it was through the medium of Moses. What God said to the people as establishing its rights, is here followed by what He said to Moses himself, namely, that he was to go up to Jehovah, along with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders. At the same time, it is of course implied that Moses, who had ascended the mountain with Aaron alone (Exodus 20:21), was first of all to go down again and repeat to the people the "rights" which God had communicated to him, and only when this had been done, to ascend again with the persons named. According to Exodus 24:3 and Exodus 24:12 (? 9), this is what Moses really did. But Moses alone was to go near to Jehovah: the others were to worship afar off, and the people were not to come up at all.