Exodus 34:3

And no man shall come up with thee,.... Before, Aaron and his two sons, and the seventy elders of Israel, went up with Moses, though they did not go so near the Lord as he did; but now having sinned

And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. No man ... neither ... flocks nor herds.

This is said, not for the beasts, which are not capable of a law, but to restrain the presumption and curiosity of the people, by this argument, that even the beasts that come too near shall be destroyed, and much more man, whose knowledge aggravates his sin and punishment.

Exodus 34:3 And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.Ver. 3. Neither let any man be seen.] Neither let the flocks.] Moses comes alone to God, and leaves the flocks. Jacob ferrieth over all belonging to him on the other side of the river, before he wrestleth with God. Abraham leaveth the servant and asses at the foot of the hill, &c. Men must lay aside all, and prepare, before they draw nigh to God in holy duties.

(3) No man shall come up with thee . . . —These stringent commands were new. On the previous occasion, Aaron, Hur, and the elders had ascended the mount part of the way (Exodus 24:9-11); and Joshua had accompanied his master almost to the summit (Exodus 24:13), and had apparently remained in some part of the mountain during the whole time of Moses’ stay (Exodus 32:17). Now Moses was to be quite alone, and no one was to be seen in any part of the mount. The stringency of the new orders must be connected with the promised revelation to Moses of God’s glory (Exodus 33:21-23).

3. The precautions are similar to those taken in Exodus 19:12 f. before] rather, in front of, i.e. on the slopes in front of the mountain, towards its foot. As was pointed out on p. 347, the historical retrospect in Deuteronomy 9:8-29 is based largely upon Exodus 32, and contains numerous verbal excerpts from it; and a comparison of Deu 10:1-3 with Exodus 34:1; Exodus 34:4 makes it practically certain that in the text of Exo 34:1; Exodus 34:4 which lay before the author of Dt., there was mention of the ark as made at this time by Moses. Here is the text of Deu 10:1-3, with the words excerpted from Exodus 34:1-2; Exodus 34:4 printed in italics:—‘(Deuteronomy 10:1) At that time Jehovah said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me to the mount, and make thee an ark of wood; (2) that I may write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. (3) And I made an ark of acacia-wood; and I hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and I went up to the mount; and the two tables were in my hand.’ Thus in Dt. Moses is instructed to make, and actually does make, the ark, before ascending the mount the second time to receive the tables of stone (Exodus 34:4); whereas in Ex. the command to make the ark is both given to Bezalel and executed by him, after Moses’ return from the mountain (Exodus 35:30 ff., Exodus 36:2, Exodus 37:1—all passages belonging to P). The two accounts are evidently discrepant: and there can be no reasonable doubt that the notices of the ark contained in the original text of Exo 34:1; Exodus 34:4 were omitted by the compiler, as inconsistent with the more detailed particulars, which he preferred, contained in the narrative of P.

3. No man… with thee — As contrasted with Exodus 24:9-13. Not even Joshua accompanied Moses now. He probably remained at the tent of the congregation. Exodus 33:11.