Exodus 24:2

2 You alone, and none of the others, are to come near me. The people are not even to come up the mountain."

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 The Lord said to Moses, "Come up the mountain to me, you and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the leaders of Israel; and while you are still some distance away, bow down in worship.

2 You alone, and none of the others, are to come near me. The people are not even to come up the mountain."

3 Moses went and told the people all the Lord's commands and all the ordinances, and all the people answered together, "We will do everything that the Lord has said."

4 Moses wrote down all the Lord's commands. Early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 Then he sent young men, and they burned sacrifices to the Lord and sacrificed some cattle as fellowship offerings.