Exodus 24:1

1 And to Moses he said, Go up to the Lord, thou and Aaron and Nadab and Abiud, and seventy of the elders of Israel: and they shall worship the Lord from a distance.

Exodus 24:1 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 24:1

And he said unto Moses
Who said? no doubt a divine Person, and yet what this Person said is,

come up unto the Lord;
meaning either to himself, or one divine Person called to Moses to come up to another: according to the Targum of Jonathan, it was Michael, the prince of wisdom; not a created angel, but the eternal Word, Wisdom, and Son of God; who said this on the seventh day of the month, which was the day after the giving of the law, or ten commands; though Jarchi says this paragraph was before the ten commands, and was said on the fourth of Sivan; but the Targumist seems most correct:

come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy
of the elders of Israel;
Nadab and Abihu were the two eldest sons of Aaron, ( Exodus 6:23 ) and the seventy elders were not all the elders of Israel, but were so many of them selected out of them, the chief and principal; who were heads of tribes and families, and were no doubt many, if not all of them, of those who by the advice of Jethro were chosen to be rulers of thousands, hundreds, and fifties; these were called to come up to the Lord on the mountain, but not to the top of it, only Moses went thither:

and worship ye afar off:
from the people, and even at a distance from Moses; for he only was admitted near to God, as the following verse shows.

Exodus 24:1 In-Context

1 And to Moses he said, Go up to the Lord, thou and Aaron and Nadab and Abiud, and seventy of the elders of Israel: and they shall worship the Lord from a distance.

2 And Moses alone shall draw nigh to God; and they shall not draw nigh, and the people shall not come up with them.

3 And Moses went in and related to the people all the words of God and the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, saying, All the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do and be obedient.

4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 And he sent forth the young men of the children of Israel, and they offered whole burnt-offerings, and they sacrificed young calves as a peace-offering to God.