Exodus 24:2

2 Moshe alone shall come near to the LORD, but they shall not come near, neither shall the people go up with him."

Exodus 24:2 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 24:2

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.

Exodus 24:2 In-Context

1 He said to Moshe, "Come up to the LORD, you, and Aharon, Nadav, and Avihu, and seventy of the Zakenim of Yisra'el; and worship from a distance.

2 Moshe alone shall come near to the LORD, but they shall not come near, neither shall the people go up with him."

3 Moshe came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the LORD has spoken will we do."

4 Moshe wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Yisra'el.

5 He sent young men of the children of Yisra'el, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen to the LORD.