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

And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. And he said unto Moses. When and where were these words spoken?

EXODUS CHAPTER 24 Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu are commanded to appear before the Lord, . Who was to come near the Lord, . Moses buildeth an altar and twelve pillars, . He sends young men to sacrifice unto the Lord, . He sprinkles the altar with the blood, . The covenant being read, the people promise obedience, . The people are sprinkled with blood, . Moses and the elders of Israel see the Lord, ,10. God promises to give to Moses tables of stone, . Moses and Joshua go up into the mount, . Aaron and Hur took care for the people in the mean time, . God’ s glory on the mount, ,16; appeareth like devouring fire, . Moses remains there forty days and forty nights, . After thou hast gone down and acquainted the people with my will, and received their answer, then come up again. This sense is gathered from the repetition of this command after that was done, . Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu; Aaron and his two eldest sons, whom by this special honour and favour he prepared for that office to which they were to be called, Exodus 28. Seventy of the elders of Israel; not the seventy governors which were chosen after this time, as appears from , compared with ; but seventy persons selected by Moses out of those rulers chosen and mentioned ; and possibly these were the chief heads of those several families which went with Jacob into Egypt, which were about seventy. See ,27. Worship ye afar off. Though they may come up into the mount further than the people, yet do thou, and let them especially, keep their distance; and what worship either thou or they shall offer to me, shall be performed afar off from the top of the mountain, whither thou only shalt be admitted, and that not to pray to me, but only to receive laws and oracles from me. See .

Exodus 24:1 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.Ver. 1. Worship ye afar off.] Thus under the law; but now by grace we draw nigh with boldness, and "have access with confidence by the faith of Christ."

XXIV. THE OF THE .(1) And he said.—We should have expected “And God said,” or “And Jehovah said.” The omission of the nominative is probably to be accounted for by the insertion into Exodus at this point of “the Book of the Covenant,” which was originally a distinct document. Exodus 24:1 of Exodus 24 probably followed originally on Exodus 20:21 of Exodus 20. The sequence of the words was then as follows: “And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And he said unto Moses,” &c. Come up.—The ascent of Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders seems to have been commanded in order to give greater solemnity to the ratification of the covenant between God and Israel, which is the main subject of this section. Moses received instructions on the subject before descending, and no doubt was divinely guided in the steps which he took previously to ascending with them. Nadab, and Abihu.—Aaron’s two elder sons. (See Exodus 6:23.) Seventy of the elders.—These are not the “judges” of Exodus 18:21-26, who were not yet appointed (see Note on Exodus 18:24-25), but rather the heads of tribes and families who had exercised authority over the Israelites in Egypt, and through whom Moses had always communicated with the people. (See Exodus 3:16; Exodus 4:29; Exodus 12:21; Exodus 17:5-6.)

CHAPTER XXIV Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders, are commanded to go to the mount to meet the Lord, 1. Moses alone to come near to the Divine presence, 2. He informs the people, and they promise obedience, 3. He writes the words of the Lord, erects an altar at the foot of the hill, and sets up twelve pillars for the twelve tribes, 4. The young priests offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, 5. Moses reads the book of the covenant, sprinkles the people with the blood, and they promise obedience, 6-8. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel, go up to the mount, and get a striking display of the majesty of God, 9-11. Moses alone is called up into the mount, in order to receive the tables of stone, written by the hand of God, 12. Moses and his servant Joshua go up, and Aaron and Hur are left regents of the people during his absence, 13, 14. The glory of the Lord rests on the mount, and the cloud covers it for six days, and on the seventh God speaks to Moses out of the cloud, 15, 16. The terrible appearance of God's glory on the mount, 17. Moses continues with God on the mount forty days, 18. NOTES ON CHAP. XXIV Verse 1. Come up unto the Lord] Moses and Aaron were already on the mount, or at least some way up, (Exodus 19:24), where they had heard the voice of the Lord distinctly speaking to them: and the people also saw and heard, but in a less distinct manner, probably like the hoarse grumbling sound of distant thunder; see Exodus 20:18. Calmet, who complains of the apparent want of order in the facts laid down here, thinks the whole should be understood thus: - "After God had laid before Moses and Aaron all the laws mentioned from the beginning of the 20th chapter to the end of the 23d, before they went down from the mount to lay them before the people, he told them that, when they had proposed the conditions of the covenant to the Israelites, and they had ratified them, they were to come up again unto the mountain accompanied with Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron, and seventy of the principal elders of Israel. Moses accordingly went down, spoke to the people, ratified the covenant, and then, according to the command of God mentioned here, he and the others reascended the mountain. Tout cela est raconté ici avec assez peu d'ordre."

1–2 (J). Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, are summoned up into the mountain, to Jehovah. The sequel follows in vv. 9–11.

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

1. He said unto Moses — That is, after having given unto him the judgments recorded in the book of the covenant, and before he went down to communicate them to the people.