בחדש, “on the first of the (third month);” the word חדש is used here as in Samuel I 20,18: מחר חדש, “tomorrow is new moon.”

השלישי, it is called thus because it was when the Israelites were enslaved, נשבו, when they were liberated, נשתחחרו, and when they converted to Judaism, נתגגיירו. The latter word is the reflexive mode of גר, alien, stranger. Our sages in the Talmud Ketuvot 37 taught us: different categories of female converts, including those who were prisoners and have been released and converted have to wait three months before they can marry a Jew, to eliminate the suspicion than a child born to them was sired by a gentile before they had converted.

ביום הזה, ”on this day;” the day referred to is the day they broke camp in Refidim. It was the first day of Sivan which occurred on a Monday, according to the opinion of the majority of the scholars. There was unanimity among the scholars that the day of the revelation was Sabbath. (Shabbat 86) According to the majority of the Rabbis who hold that that the revelation occurred on the sixth day of the month of Sivan, the first day of that month had to have been on a Monday. This is based on the month of Iyar during that year having had 30 days. If you were to argue that if this is so then 50 days as opposed to 49 days, i.e. seven weeks, had elapsed since the Exodus, the answer is that the commandment regarding when the omer is to be offered was not given to the people (or obviously could not apply) until they had taken possession of the land and planted a crop.

ביום הזה באו מדבר סיני, “on this day they arrived at the desert of Sinai.” Rabbi Levi in Pessikta de Rav Kahane Mandelbaum edition page 205), relates a parable [to explain that the Torah describing this detail conveyed a lesson worth taking to heart, Ed.] A king had a son who had recovered from a serious illness. He was told by a pedagogue that the son should go an elementary school forthwith. The father protested by saying to the pedagogue that his son was still too frail to go to school and be subjected to a strict regimen. He agreed to send him to school after a recovery period of three months. He intended to pamper him during these three so that he would recuperate faster.

ויסעו מרפידים, “they journeyed on from Refidim, etc.” according to Rashi, these words mean that the people moved forward spiritually, i.e. that they had repented their conduct once they moved on. All the time they were at Refidim they had not yet repented. [The reader is referred to chapter 17 where upon questioning whether the Lord was in their midst, and the subsequent attack by Amalek when they encamped at Refidim as His way of showing them what would happen if He were not in their midst. Ed.] Rabbi Yoshua in the Talmud Sanhedrin, folio 106, understood the word Refidim as an allusion to the people’s having become very weak in their Torah orientation, as a result of which G-d had showed them that His protection of them would weaken accordingly.

ויחנו במדבר, “they encamped in the desert;” the desert is no man’s land, open to all and sundry to make their home there without being legally challenged.

נגד ההר, “facing the Mountain.” (Mount Sinai, also known as Mount Chorev). According to Rashi, the reason for the Torah adding this detail is that it tells us that the Israelites faced East. It is noteworthy that Rashi does not say; במזרחו, “on its eastern side,” but: למזרחו, “facing its eastern side.” Had he written במזרחו, this would have meant that the people had already passed the Mountain. We would have wondered how it was possible that the people had passed the Mountain before receiving the Torah, something G-d had told Moses they would do in Exodus 3,12, in answer to his query why the time for redemption had been advanced so many years over what G-d had said to Avraham at the covenant between the pieces in Genesis chapter 15. We must therefore understand Rashi here as meaning “the people encamped facing theMountain, looking eastward, as they had been doing every time they had made camp, every time since they made camp for the first time at Eytam after they had previously converged together at a place named Sukkot, (Exodus 13,20) They continued facing east when encamping until they came to the steppes of Moav, prior to crossing the Jordan river in a westerly direction. (Compare Rashi on Numbers 34,3) This is what prompted Rashi, based on the Mechilta, that the word נגד when used by the Torah in connection with the Israelites’ journeys always means “eastward.” The only exception is when the people are described in Numbers 2,2, as encamping מנגד סביב לאהל מועד, where it means “opposite,” i.e. the Tabernacle was in the middle of the camp, the tribes camping around it, each group from a different direction.

ומשה עלה, “and Moses had ascended;” he ascended the Mountain on the second day of the month, i.e. on a Tuesday. He had not done so spontaneously but in response to an invitation by G-d, Who had called to him from the Mountain to address the whole nation, i.e. כה תאמר לבית יעקב וגו', “thus you shall say to the house of Yaakov, etc.”Some commentators believe that Moses did ascend the Mountain without having asked for permission in order to enquire how precisely to serve G-d there. He did so as G-d had told him in Exodus 3,12 in response to his enquiry why the Jews were going to be redeemed long before the 400 years of which G-d had spoken to Avraham in Genesis chapter 15 had been concluded. At that time G-d had told him that the people would accept the Torah at this mountain, and that in anticipation of that they were being redeemed ahead of time, “on credit,” so to speak. Actually, we find that the Israelites offered sacrifices near the Mountain prior to the revelation as reported in chapter 24,4-6.

ותגיד לבני ישראל, “and explain in detail to the Children of Israel!” According to Rashi, the reason for the apparent repetition, the first part of the verse is addressed to the women who will be told in a brief outline, whereas the second part is addressed to the men in far greater detail emphasizing reward and punishment for observance or non observance of the Torah commandments. He derives the word ותגיד which is uncharacteristically spelled with the letter י in the middle as derived from the word גיד, meaning “a tough sinew,” as a hint that some of the commandments will be found to present a real challenge for those willing to observe them. According to the plain meaning of the text, however, the words: ותגד לבני ישראל, refer to verse 4 where G-d tells Moses: אתם ראיתם, ”you have seen, etc.” The reason why this is the preferable version is that homiletic explanations never speak in terms of the future, but always in terms of the past. Here G-d instructs Moses concerning what he is to do in the future when he addresses the people.

ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים, “I have carried you on eagles’ wings;” Rashi comments on this that this refers to the day on which the people came to Raamses. If you were to counter that in chapter 12,37 this magic carpet referred to the day G-d transported the people from Raamses to Sukkot, we must answer that G-d referred to both these days according to Rashi.

על כנפי נשרים, over the sea, like a bird that carries its young across a river by means of flying across it.

ושמרתם את בריתי, “you are to observe My covenant;” this refers to the covenant of blood discussed in Exodus 24,8, that Moses took the blood of the different types of offerings presented on the altar he had built and divided it in half, as a sign of a covenant between G-d and Israel.

סגולה מכל העמים, “more treasured than all the other nations.” Seeing that the entire earth belongs to Me, I am able to raise your stature above that of all the other nations. The word כי in this verse is to be understood as meaning: in spite of, just as it means this in Genesis 48,14: כי מנשה הבכור, “although Menashe is the firstborn,” or the word כי in Exodus 13,17, כי_קרוב הוא, “although it is near.”

ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים “You are to become for Me, a kingdom of priests.” All this is the result of My fondness for you and My authority to do so since I own the universe.

ויבא משה, “Moses came;” on the same day, and called the elders of the people to accompany him.

וישב משה, “Moses brought back, etc;” this was on the following day, the third day of the month, the fourth day of the week. On the next day, the fourth day of the month: G-d, as stated in chapter 24,verse 1, G-d said to Moses in verse 2 that Moses was to proceed further, alone. He immediately said to Moses that He would appear to him screened by a thick cloud, etc.; the purpose was that the people would be able to hear G-d speak to Moses and believe that he was truly the messenger of Hashem and that they would believe in his conveying truly what G-d said to him. If they had not been able to actually hear G-d speak to Moses, they would later on claim that G-d had not appeared to him. This is why He told Moses that as a result of what He was commanding him now the people would believe in him and never doubt him again. The words written in chapter 24 were spoken on this day, the fourth day of the month of Sivan, even though they appear only in Parshat Mishpatim. Moses related all these words to the people as stated in verse 9 in our chapter. They concluded with: וגם בך יאמינו לעולם, “and they will also believe in you forthwith.” He also related to them at that time all the laws that he had been taught by G-d at Marah, (Exodus 15,28) and committed them to parchment. Immediately thereafter the people responded in verse 3 by agreeing to carry out all the instructions they had received from G-d via Moses. Upon hearing this, Moses immediately conveyed the people’s response to G-d, as stated here in our chapter in verse 9, quoting what is reported in chapter 24, verse 3. Rashi, in our verse here, comments that the people in addition requested to hear all this from G-d personally, claiming that hearing matters directly from the source is always even more effective than hearing the same words from the messenger. (based on the Mechilta here) The source for all this which has not been spelled out in the text of the Torah is verse 11, where G-d tells him the on the third (after this) He will personally let them hear the Ten Commandments from His own mouth. G-d uses the expression: לעיני העם, that His words will be perceived by the “eyes” of the people. From this we deduce that people had asked for a visual revelation of G-d. [At the end of the Ten commandments in chapter 20,15, the Torah reports that G-d’s words were indeed a visual appearance for them when the Torah writes that all the people “saw” the “sounds.” Ed.] On this same day, the fourth of the month, G-d told the people to sanctify themselves in preparation for the revelation on Mount Sinai. By refraining from engaging in marital intercourse for three days, they would be sufficiently sanctified by the 6th day of the month to merit this revelation. That day would again be the Sabbath. Sanctification included immersing their clothing in a ritual bath as commanded in verse 10, and carried out in verse 14. We know that the root כבס includes such sanctification through a ritual bath from Leviticus 17,1516 that failure to do so will result in ritual contamination of a person that had eaten either animals that had died without undergoing ritual slaughter first, or parts of an animal which was found as having been diseased internally after being examined subsequent to ritual slaughter. Another example of the process of sanctification of human beings is found in Samuel II 11,4 where David is reported as not sleeping with Bat Sheva until after she had sanctified her body in a ritual bath. [She had been invited to his house by the King’s messengers. Ed.] The Israelites, both male and female, who at this point were undergoing similar immersion in a ritual bath, would then qualify for taking part in the revelation.

ויגד משה, Moses told G-d what the people had said in detail. When we encountered a similar phrase previously in verse 8, it was appropriate for the Torah to use the expression: וישב, “he brought back a reply,” as at that point he brought back a reply to something that had been requested from them, i.e. “if you will surely listen to Me.” Now there was no need to phrase their comments in this mode, as their willingness to obey G-d’s wishes had been established already. As Rashi noted, “It is our wish to see our King.”

ליום השלישי, “for the third day.” This was the Sabbath on which the Torah would be given, the third day after Moses had been commanded to prepare the people for that day on the fourth of the month, a Thursday. On that day G-d would descend to the Mountain. Seeing that at this point the Torah did not spell out a specific time or date, this had to be done on another occasion, i.e. in Deuteronomy 5,27 where Moses is to tell the people to return to their daily routine, whereas he is to ascend Mount Sinai and receive the whole Torah there during the next 40 days, as detailed at the beginning of chapter 24 in Exodus. Some commentators accept neither the opinion of the majority of the scholars nor that of Rabbi Yossi, both of whom held differing views as to the precise sequence and timing of the days of the week and days of the month on which events commencing with the Israelites encamping in the desert of Sinai and the conclusion of the revelation have been reported in the Torah.

והגבלת את ההר, “you are to “fence in“ the mountain; actually the Torah writes: “you shall set boundaries for the people,” את העם. Our author understands this as fencing off the east side of the camp from the mountain. This is the direction from which the glory of G-d would appear, as we know from what Moses described in Deuteronomy 33,2 when he spoke about G-d having first offered His Torah to the gentile nations, who, upon enquiring what it contained decided to decline acceptance. He said then: ,וזרח משעיר למו הופיע מהר פרן, “He shone forth from the land of Seir (in the east) and He appeared from Mount Paran.” [But the Torah wrote סביב – fence the mountain roundabout; Cf. Mekhilta ad loc.]

לאמר, “to tell as a warning so that each Israelite would warn his neighbour.”

לא תגע בו יד, “you must not touch him;” (the offender in order to pull him back) rather he shall be killed by stoning or by shooting arrows at him, but he must not be touched by human hand in order to be brought before a court of law to be dealt with. The Torah adds therefore that his death should occur without humans touching him. This prohibition applies equally to the Israelites’ beasts. If you were to ask why ascending the mountain is a worse offense than killing such a person by stoning him while ascending? The reason is that if the offender were to be killed through human action, the party touching that body, dead or alive, would also be considered as having personally touched that Mountain, whose holiness is such that it must not be touched by human bodies. Seeing that the Torah did not even allow a beast to touch that mountain, and a beast is not ritually impure while alive, how much more would the Torah not allow a human being to touch it, seeing that a living human being is subject to being ritually defiled while alive as well as when dead; so why did the Torah have to spell out this regulation as applying also to the people?The answer to this question can be learned from matters involving a high level of sanctity, such as the Tabernacle which was completely out of bounds to non priests. As soon as Nadav and Avihu approached to offer incense not prepared in accordance with the regulations pertaining to it, they were killed by lightning descending from G-d. They were not convicted after trial by a human court. Their corpses defiled the Tabernacle, although if they had been jailed and executed after a trial, the sanctity of the Tabernacle would not have been defiled. The same thing happened when Uzziah, King of Yehudah, not a priest, ascended the altar in the Temple of Solomon, planning to offer incense; after having been warned and having ignored the warning, he was struck by the dreaded skin disease of tzoraat on his forehead, something which defiled his entire body even though he was standing on the holiest place on earth. (Chronicles II 26,16) A different interpretation of the words: כי סקול יסקל, “for he will be stoned to death;” either with stones only, or with hail (stones). The words או ירה יירה, referring to the kind of hail that was a plague in Egypt would symbolise death both by stoning and by burning. Rashi claims that we would have expected the Torah to decree death by either drowning in water, i.e. ירה יירה, as in Exodus 15,4 when the Egyptian army was tossed into the sea to drown, or if not then by stoning. He bases this on the principle stated in Sanhedrin 45, that prior to stoning, the victim is pushed down by one of the witnesses who had testified against him from a wall two stories high into a pit, and if that did not kill him the others stone him by throwing stones at him. Alternately, the word או in our verse here does not mean: “or,” but means the same as אשר, “which,” as it does in Exodus 21,6, והגישו אל הדלת או אל המזוזה, “to the door, i.e. the door post;” this line has been translated by Yonatan ben Uzziel Targum as ויקריבנו לות דשא דלוח מזוזתא “he will bring him close to the entrance which is the doorpost.” The meaning of the line accordingly, is: “for the person violating this commandment will eventually be stoned to death after first having been thrown down into the pit.”

אם בהמה אם איש, “regardless if man or domestic fourlegged animal; the category “bird” is not mentioned seeing that the messengers of the court would have no means of bringing it to justice. It would escape by flying away as soon as chased.

במשוך היובל, “after the ram’s horn emits a long blast, etc.” actually, the reference is to the horn of the ram, קרן היובל, not the ram, יובל, as written here. It is not equivalent to the shofar used during the yovel year. That shofar was not used until after the Tabernacle had been built during the second year of the Israelites’ wanderings. On this occasion, Moses used a ram’s horn to signal to the people that the Revelation and all this entailed had been concluded. Based on the interpretation by Rabbi Saadyah gaon. Still another interpretation: the words: במשוך היובל, mean: “when the sound of the celestial shofar the people had been hearing during the revelation had come to end.” We find the word משך used in this context also in Hoshea 7,5: משך ידו את לוצצים, “he extended his hand to scorners (instead of protecting the king).” The expression here signals that the presence of the glory of Hashem above the Mountain had come to an end.

וירד משה, “Moses descended;” on this same day, the fourth of the month, a Thursday.

ויקדש את העם, “he sanctified the people.” The three days of sanctification commence on this day and concluded on the morning of the third day, although technically they could have immersed themselves in a ritual bath already after nightfall of the previous day, seeing that there were so many foreigners (ערב רב see Ex 12.38) among the people, Moses extended the period for ritual immersion until the morning of the third day, thus giving them additional time. [“days” here are parts of days, according to the halachic principle of מקצת היו ככולו, any portion of a “day” is considered as if it had been a full day.” Ed.]

ויאמר אל העם, “he said to the people;” on the same day when he issued the instructions he told the people to be ready for the needs of what was going to occur at the end of this period of consecutive three days of sanctifying themselves, (by not having marital relations).

לשלשת ימים, according to the plain meaning of these words the meaning is: “in anticipation of the third day.” According to the plain meaning, Moses did not add an additional day of preparation (sanctification) as suggested by some scholars. Other examples of a similar formulation in the Bible as here are Genesis 42,17: ויאסוף אותם אל משמר שלשת ימים, “Joseph put them in jail for three days.” Or, in the verse following: ויאמר אליהם יוסף ביום השלישי, “Joseph said to them on the third day;” or Genesis 40,19: בעוד שלשת ימים, “within another three days;” and in the verse following: ויהי ביום השלישי, “it was on the third day;” or Exodus 19,16: ויהי ביום השלישי, “it was on the third day;” there are numerous other examples.

ויהי ביום השלישי, “It was on the third day;” this was the Sabbath on which the Torah was given to the Jewish people, the third day of the preparatory ritual of sanctification. It was the third day after the fourth day of the month when these preparations had commenced. You have a total of six days from the day when the people made camp in the desert of Sinai, as stated in the first verse of our chapter. This is the interpretation of these verses according to the majority opinion of the scholars of the Talmud who held that the revelation took place on the sixth day of the month of Sivan. I shall now proceed to explain the view of Rabbi Yossi according to which the Torah was given to the people on the seventh day of Sivan. The words: ביום הזה, “on this day” in verse 1 of our chapter, which was the first day of the month as well as the first day of the week, is based on the tradition that the day of the Exodus was on a Thursday. Accordingly, the first day of Sivan of that year would have been on a Sunday. On that day the people arrived at the desert of Sinai, and on that day Moses did not tell them anything as they were tired and were required to pitch their tents, etc. On the second day, i.e. on Monday, Moses ascended the Mountain. This is followed by: “He called to him, etc.” until verse 8 where the people express their willingness to carry out any instructions they would receive from G-d. On the day following, on Tuesday, Moses conveyed the people’s answer to G-d. On the same day G-d told Moses in verse 9 that He would appear to Him screened by a thick cloud, up to and including the words: “they will believe in you forthwith.” The day after, on the Wednesday, Moses relayed the people’s answer to G-d, i.e. ויגד משה את דברי העם. On the same day G-d says to Moses that the people should sanctify themselves on that day and the day following including their garments by immersing them in a ritual bath, activities performed on Wednesday and Thursday so that they would be ready for the revelation on the day following, (the third day of the preparations (verse 11) On the day following that day on the seventh day of the week, on the Sabbath, the Torah was given to them as agreed by all the scholars seeing that on that day G-d would descend onto to Mount Sinai, the day when it was forbidden to ascend the Mountain as the people had been warned in verse 13. In verse 14, we read about Moses descending from the Mountain and carrying out G-d’s instructions. That day was Wednesday He told them to be ready on the third day (verse 15) by the end of the first 12 hours [the day is divided into two periods of 12 hours each. Ed.] on the fourth day as he had been on the Mountain until daybreak on that Sabbath. It emerges from this that Moses had added an additional day for the people to prepare themselves for the revelation, seeing that G-d had only spoken of היום ומחר, “today and tomorrow.” (verse 10). G-d had referred to the Wednesday and Thursday, whereas Moses added Friday. According to the opinion that the letter ל in the word: לשלושת in verse 15 is superfluous, just as the letter ל in Exodus 14,28 is superfluous in the phrase: לכל חיל פרעה, and just as the letter ל is superfluous in Exodus 27,3 in the phrase לכל כליו תעשה נחושת, G-d ordered the people to prepare for three whole days as explained by Rashi. When Rashi wrote: “at the end of three days, i.e. the fourth day,” this refers to Wednesday when Moses still stood on Mount Sinai.

בהיות הבקר, “during the early hours of the morning;” according to Rashi, G-d put in an appearance before the Israelites did, although, normally, the students assemble before the teacher arrives, in this instance G-d did so for their sake.

ויחרד כל העם, in this instance the root חרד does not mean that the people were afraid, but the meaning is similar to Samuel I 14,15: המצב והמשחית חרדו, “the garrison and the spoilers also made a commotion.” See also Samuel I 13,7: וכל העם חרדו אחריו, “and all the people rallied to him.” When they heard the voices, even though they were still in their beds, they rallied to their appointed positions near the mountain.

.ויוצא משה את העם, “Moses brought forth the people;” some commentators claim that Moses brought them forth because without his urging they were too scared to come forward.

ויתיצבו בתחתית ההר, “they took up a position at the base of the Mountain” due to the lightning and thunder. Rashi here writes that G-d threatened to bring down the Mountain upon them. This sounds strange, as they had already expressed their willingness to accept the Torah without examining what is written therein. [Exodus 24,7, that whole chapter describes events prior to the revelation Ed.] We would have to understand this Rashi as referring to the Israelites accepting the oral Torah which they had not yet accepted.

משה ידבר, “Moses would be speaking,” he would be speaking with G-d, but his voice could not be heard except by G-d. This is why the Torah writes that G-d answered him in a loud voice. This was also because the sound of the blasts from the shofar which are described as loud, would have to be overpowered by G-d’s voice.

על הר סיני, “on Mount Sinai.” The reason why the Torah was not given to the people in the land of Israel was so as not to give us a pretext to claim that since this law was given in the land of Israel, gentiles had no share in it [refusal to accept converts. Based on Yalkut Shimoni Yitro paragraph 275. The edition I own was printed over 300 years ago in Amsterdam. Our author quotes the same Yalkut as saying almost the reverse, i.e. that if the Torah had been given in the land of Israel, they could claim that this was the reason that it was not addressed to them and they were not morally bound by it. Ed.] An alternate explanation: If the Torah had been given to the Israelites when they were in the land of Israel, this would have resulted in jealousy between the different tribes. Each one would have claimed that it had been given in his part of the country. It is significant that the word: סין, when it appears in Scripture (16,1) was changed to סיני, Sinai, The implication is that something that had been the cause of strife, negatively, was changed after the Ten Commandments, had been given, i.e. “My strife,” constructive competition, (in fulfilling My commandments.)

וגם הכהנים וגו׳, “and also the priests, etc.” who were these “priests?” They were the seventy elders who are all firstborns at the same time. (compare Mechilta on בחדש הזה Exodus chapter 12). [Seeing that at this time the tribe of Levi had not yet been chosen to replace the functions of the firstborns. Ed.]

יתקדשו, “shall become sanctified;” they shall be warned to be prepared for this, and shall not say: “seeing that we are already appointed to perform the priestly functions, we do not need to undergo an additional process of sanctification.” They shall not presume on their familiarity with Hashem. An alternate explanation of this verse: Who is meant by the word: הכהנים, the people’s elite, the nobility, and the judges.

הנגשים אל ה׳, the Torah underlines that precisely the people appointed as priests need to be the first to sanctify themselves instead of presuming on their superiority. Based on the verse in Deuteronomy 1,17, כי המשפט לאלוקים הוא, “that ultimately true justice is reserved for G-d,” i.e. that if the judges err, justice will still be done, these judges are not ever to lose sight of this by acting superior. In this instance, they might have argued that they are busy studying the halachot Moses had taught them in order to carry out the judicial duties, i.e. being busy with one commandment frees you from the need to perform another commandment at that time; [that argument is true only when due to time limitations on the performance of both commandment they conflict with one another. Ed.] It is impossible to accept the word: כהנים in the accepted meaning as there were not yet any kohanim at that time.

ויאמר אליו ה' לך רד, Hashem said to him: “go and descend, etc.” If you were to ask why was there any need for three separate warnings (verse 12, verse 21 and this verse)? The warning in verse 23 refers to the warning in verse 21 where G-d had warned the people not to approach the mountain in order not to become a victim of destruction by trying to have a visual image of G-d. Moses had assumed that the very fact that they had been warned would be equivalent to the people’s inability to violate G-d’s commandment. G-d had already said in verse 12 that the people would be immediately killed if they were to try and ascend the Mountain or even its lower edge. Surely they could exercise control over their feet! Concerning their having control over their eyes, not to try and see the glory of G-d was a much more difficult task. This is why the warning had to be repeated. They would think that it was a good deed to try and catch a glimpse of their King! Moses had misinterpreted the prohibition as applying only to a physical ascent of the Mountain. This is why G-d had to add that not only ascent was potentially fatal, but even touching the base of the Mountain and even trying to catch a glimpse of G-d’s Majesty.

ואהרן עמך, “and Aaron with you;” he was allowed to accompany Moses part of the way to the base of the Mountain. Moses was going to explain to the people the last nine of the Ten Commandments, starting with the words: לא יהיה לך, “You must not have, etc.” which the people had not heard or understood clearly from G-d’s mouth. Another way of interpreting G-d’s instructions here: G-d told Moses to descend in order that the people and the priests would not be under the mistaken impression that Aaron was no better than they as they had all been forbidden to ascend or even begin to ascend the Mountain. By being allowed to accompany Moses far closer to the Mountain than they had been, it became clear to them that Aaron was on a higher spiritual level than they. To prevent the people from thinking that Aaron could ascend all the way G-d told Moses to descend before Aaron could do so.

.ויאמר אליהם, “he (Moses) said to them,” that only he and Aaron had been given permission to proceed further.