Shemot 24:1

1 4 And He said unto Moshe, Come up unto Hashem, thou, and Aharon, Nadav, and Avihu, and shive’im (seventy) of the Ziknei Yisroel; and worship ye afar off.

Shemot 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.

Shemot 24:1 In-Context

1 4 And He said unto Moshe, Come up unto Hashem, thou, and Aharon, Nadav, and Avihu, and shive’im (seventy) of the Ziknei Yisroel; and worship ye afar off.

2 And Moshe alone shall come near Hashem; but they shall not come near; neither shall HaAm go up with him.

3 And Moshe came and told HaAm kol divrei Hashem, and all the mishpatim; and kol HaAm answered with one voice, and said, All the words which Hashem hath said will we do.

4 And Moshe wrote kol divrei Hashem, and rose up early in the boker, and built a Mizbe’ach at the base of HaHar, and twelve matzevah (stone pillars), according to the twelve Shivtei Yisroel.

5 And he sent out na’arei Bnei Yisroel, which offered olot (burnt offerings), and sacrificed shelamim (peace offerings) of bulls unto Hashem.