ואל משה אמר עלה אל ה' אתה ואהרן נדב ואביהו ושבעים מזקני ישראל, “and He had said to Moses: “ascend, you and Aaron, Nadav and Avihu as well as 70 of the elders of Israel.” I find it puzzling that Eleazar and ittamar, Aaron’s other sons, were not included in this invitation. Surely they were more distinguished than the seventy elders mentioned in our verse. We have a list of the respective rank of Israelite dignitaries at the time in Maimonides ביאת המקדש ה,יג in which he enumerates the following ranks in this order: Aaron, Eleazar, Ittamar, and Pinchas. The above-mentioned all rose to the position of High Priest, and were superior in a variety of ways to the seventy elders. We have a tradition that Nadav and Avihu had already become guilty of death by burning during the episode introduced here (Vayikra Rabbah, 22,10) when they “saw G’d,” i.e. they treated their spiritual high as if it were something ordinary, not even interrupting their eating and drinking during the time they enjoyed this vision. (compare verse 11) Had they not been so highly placed, they might not have been punished in such a salutary manner. At any rate, G’d Who foresees events without necessarily interfering in them, knew that Nadav and Avihu would commit an even greater indiscretion in their enthusiasm to participate in the consecration of the Tabernacle. They were not punished on the occasion described here, as G’d did not want to mar the joy experienced by the people on that day. At the same time, G’d did not want that Aaron would die without a son or grandson who could inherit the office of High Priest. In order not to have all of Aaron’s sons become guilty of the same offence, He did not invite them at the time to accompany Moses part of the way on his ascent to the Mountain. According to Rashi this portion describes events which occurred on the 4th of Sivan, (2 days before the revelation). On the other hand, the instruction to Moses to ascend Mount Sinai (verse 12) occurred after the Ten Commandments had been given. Nachmanides does not agree with this scenario described by Rashi. He supports this by quoting 21,1 claiming that what Moses told the people then were not the 7 Noachide laws, taught to the people at Marah, but laws revealed to him on Mount Sinai. The words ואת כל המשפטים in our verse here (verse 3) as well as the expression ויספר, an expression used only when something new is being revealed, make it plain that this occurred after the giving of the Torah. These were laws mentioned to Moses immediately after the Ten Commandments had been given, laws introduced with the words כה תאמר לבית יעקב, in G’d added there a reference to the people’s visual experience, i.e. אתם ראיתם “you have witnessed, etc.” (at Mount Sinai, i.e. the revelation) Subsequently, G’d commanded the משפטים to the people as described in chapter 21, and the people accepted all of these joyfully, culminating in their declaration כל הדברים אשר דבר ה' נעשה, “we will perform all the instructions G’d has issued.” (24,3) This was a declaration of faith in Moses who had conveyed all these laws to them in the name of Hashem. It was at this point that G’d said to Moses to tell the people to go back to their respective tents. (Deut. 5,27) It is reported there that the people went back to their tents and made a great celebration on that day. They prepared the slaughtering of the animals for the following day as there was not enough time left on the day of the revelation to build a major altar and 12 minor altars known as מצבה. (compare verse 4) Moses had meanwhile written down all that had been revealed on that day orally. It was better to give the people time to prepare properly for the conclusion of the covenant on the following day. On that day the people rose early in readiness for what was to develop. The people stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, the very place where they had stood to receive the Ten Commandments. It was here that Moses built the altar and the 12 pillars representing the 12 tribes of Israel. After the offerings had been presented on the altar, Moses read for the people what he had written down on the previous day. (verse 6) and the people responded with the famous נעשה ונשמע, “we are prepared to carry it out, let’s hear the details.” The words ויעל משה ואהרן concluded the making of the covenant. G’d invited Moses to ascend the Mountain once more and there to receive the Tablets on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments in G’d’s own writing, and to remain on the Mountain for some time, (verse 12) speaks of the day following the giving of the Torah, the 7th day of Sivan, G’d announced to him that at the end of that stay he would receive the Tablets. As to the grammatically strange wording ואל משה אמר עלה, which we would normally translate as “and He had said (previously to all this) to Moses: ‘ascend,’ etc.,” we have to understand this in context. Up until now the commandments Moses had related to the people were applicable to the people, including Moses, of course. Now the Torah refers to a commandment that had been given exclusively to Moses, to be performed only by him. G’d commanded him the details of this commandment after Moses had instructed the people in what they were expected to do, and had concluded the covenant with them. G’d then said to him “ascend to Me,” accompanied by the people enumerated, for a part of the way.

ונגש משה לבדו, “only Moses, alone, is to approach close to Hashem.” Ibn Ezra comments that actually the Torah should have addressed Moses in direct speech, i.e. ונגשת אתה לבדך, “you are to approach alone.” However, the pattern of the Holy Scriptures is to frequently use indirect speech when we nowadays would use direct speech. G’d even refers to Himself in the third person, as in Genesis 19,24 וה' המטיר על סדום ועמורה גפרית ואש, מאת ה' מן השמים, “The Lord made it rain on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire, from the Lord from heaven.” The Torah does not quote G’d saying: “מאתי,” emanating from Me. Nachmanides writes that G’d’s comments in this case were also addressed to Aaron, who was to hear that G’d wanted only Moses to ascend the Mountain. On a previous occasion Aaron had also heard G’d say that both Moses and he were “to ascend to Me on the Mountain, but that he and the elders were to prostrate themselves from afar. (verse 1).” Seeing that on one occasion Moses was accompanied by his dignitaries, the Torah had to spell out that at some point only Moses could proceed beyond that threshold. Having eliminated the elders by the words ונגש משה, the word לבדו was needed to make plain that also Aaron was prohibited from advancing toward the Mountain any more closely.

את נערי בני ישראל, “the youths of the Children of Israel.” What are meant are the firstborn sons of the respective families. Nachmanides writes: “I do not know why the Torah calls these firstborns נערים, “youths?” Perhaps the reason is that in the previous verses the Torah had specifically mentioned the זקנים, the elders, the ones who had also been characterized as the אצילי בני ישראל, “the great men of Israel,” the ones blessed with a measure of holy spirit. The Torah may have hinted that attainment of spiritual maturity was not something reserved for people who were born as firstborns, even though those were the ones to whom the functions of the priesthood were entrusted. Seeing that they were the ones, he distinguished them as separate from the multitude. According to the plain meaning of the text the reference is to the young men who were still free from sin, had not slept with any woman, so that they were considered the elite of the people.

וישם באגנות, “he put it in the basins.” These vessels were made in a manner that did not resemble the ones that were part of the regular Temple service, or the regular appurtenances of the altar. The reason for this was that Moses intended to sprinkle half of the animal’s blood on to the people who would become active participants of the covenant through this. The other half of the blood Moses sprinkled on to the altar According to Ibn Ezra the basins, אגנות, were used by Moses both to sprinkle blood on the people and on the altar.

ויזרוק על העם, “he sprinkled on the people.” Some commentators understand the word על here to mean בעד, “on behalf of.” We have a parallel to this in Numbers 17,12 ויכפר על העם “Aaron atoned on behalf of the people.”

ויראו את א-לוהי ישראל, “they experienced a vision of the G’d of Israel.” Ibn Ezra explains that the word ויראו here describes a prophetic vision, not perception with their physical eyes. This vision would be similar to that seen by the prophet Ezekiel when he described the appearance of G’d’s throne. (Ezekiel 1,26) He described it as made of אבן ספיר, whereas here the Israelites due to their familiarity with bricks, described it as לבנת ספיר, as a brick made of sapphire. In verse 28 in that chapter in Ezekiel, the prophet spells out that what he saw was not the actual throne but a דמות, an image of such a throne. Nachmanides writes that according to the plain meaning of the text the words א-לוהי ישראל mean that the merit of the patriarch Israel was the catalyst that enabled them to be granted such a vision.

ואל אצילי בני ישראל, “and against the nobility of the people of Israel, etc.” This is a reference to Nadav, Avihu, and the elders of Israel. The reason why they are described as אצילים is that they had been granted a prophetic vision, the holy spirit had descended upon them. Compare ומאציליה קראתיך, “and from its spiritual elite I have called you forth.” (Isaiah 41,9) Ibn Ezra says the Torah uses the appellation אצילי so as to make a qualitative distinction between Moses on the one hand, and the elders. The reason this was called for was that Moses, at the age of 80, could also have been perceived as one of the ”elders.” The new term אצילי was thus coined here to describe the stature of Nadav and Avihu.

לא שלח ידו, “He did not stretch out His hand (punitively).” Nachmanides writes that seeing that the Torah had warned both the priests and people not to ascend the Mountain as this would constitute a breach of the protective fence around the Mountain, (19,24) the Torah refers to the fact that these people had not committed any breach of the rules and therefore did not deserve punishment. Had they done so, they would not have been found worthy to experience a prophetic vision. The whole line of ויחזו וגו' must be understood as what these people did do or experience, meaning that they did not disregard the prohibition of approaching too closely to the Mountain. Some commentators contrast what did not happen here with what happened when G’d did stretch out His hand to Moses to give him the Tablets. This would mean that the people experiencing these visions at this time did not receive encouragement from G’d .

ויאכלו, “they ate, etc.” they consumed the part of the peace-offerings that all Israelites may consume, at the foot of the Mountain, They did not take the meat back to their tents.

וישתו, “they drank;” they used the occasion of receiving the Torah for organizing a great feast on that day to express their happiness at having received the Torah. We find that a similar festivity took place when the Torah, at the end of 40 years, was engraved on the stones taken from the river Jordan. (Deut. 27,7) Some commentators understand the Torah’s mentioning that the elders ate and drank as the Torah’s way of drawing attention to the contrast with Moses who, forthwith, ascended the Mountain and remained there for 40 days neither eating nor drinking. Moses most certainly did not have lesser visions than the elders, and yet he did not feel the need to eat for supplying his body with food on such an occasion.

ויאמר ה' אל משה עלה אלי ההרה, “The Lord said to Moses: “ascend to Me on the Mountain.” According to Nachmanides this is the same commandment he had been given on the previous day when G’d had said to him (verse 2) ונגש משה לבדו, “Moses alone is to come close.” Now, on the seventh day of Sivan, G’d added that Moses was to remain o the Mountain for forty days.

ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי להורותם, “I shall give you there the stone tablets as well as the Torah and the mitzvah which I have written down in order to teach it to them.” According to Nachmanides the words: “which I have written,” refer to what is inscribed on the Tablets, whereas the word להורותם, “to teach them,” refers to the Torah and the Mitzvah. Moses is to teach the words on the Tablets to the people. Rashi understands the words אשר כתבתי to mean that when closely examined, we would find that the entire Torah is included in the Text of the Ten Commandments. Ibn Ezra understands the word התורה as referring to the written Torah, whereas the word המצוה is supposed to refer to the oral Torah. The correct interpretation is that both words refer only to the Tablets. The proof is in the words אשר כתבתי להורותם, “which I (G’d) have written to teach them.” G’d never wrote the Torah, only Moses did. Some commentators claim that the word התורה refers to the first of the Ten Commandments, whereas the word המצוה refers to the remaining nine Commandments. Still other commentators understand the word התורה as referring to the negative commandments, whereas the word המצוה refers to the positive commandments, as in זכור ושמור that refer to the two aspects of the Sabbath. I believe the message in our verse is that both negative and positive commandments form an integral part of Torah legislation, and it is the purpose of each group of commandments to teach us the right way to conduct our lives. This is why G’d added the words אשר כתבתי להורותם, “which I wrote down in order to teach them.”

ואל הזקנים אמר שבו לנו בזה, “and he said to the elders: ‘wait for us here.’” According to Rashi Moses said this when he was about to leave the camp, [not at the foot of the Mountain. Ed.] They were to spend the time he was absent judging the people and filling in the void whenever the need would arise. Nachmanides questions how this was possible, seeing that the previous verse had both the elders and Moses at the bottom of the Mountain, not in the camp. He therefore explains what happened as follows. When Moses and Joshua took their leave of them, they both said to the elders to go back to their respective tents. However, they added that under no circumstances were they to come back to this location or beyond, not even to the place where Joshua remained during all the forty days Moses would be on the Mountain. It is possible to understand the words שבו לנו as meaning “remain in lieu of us and be our deputies.” During our absence, you will be ably assisted by Aaron and Chur.

מי בעל דברים, “if someone has a grievance, etc.” Moses meant that if there would arise a problem beyond the ability of the elders to solve they should turn to Aaron or Chur for a definitive ruling. By saying this to the elders, Moses added stature to both Aaron and Chur, seeing that he publicly appointed them as final arbiters during his absence. The turn of phrase שבו לנו, is also to be understood as a compliment to the elders to whom Moses delegated most of his authority during that period. Moses had used the word לנו once before in a complimentary manner when he authorized Joshua to select fighting man to resist the attack by Amalek, at the end of Parshat Beshalach.