Pay attention to goings up and down. Moses goes down 4 times, and up 4 times (if you include the second tablets after golden calf). The people aren’t allowed to go up till the ram’s horn blows. The elders and Aaron’s sons get to go up once, but not as high as Moses goes alone. God comes down once. I have bolded the person and underlined the direction.
I always found these verses disorienting to read with the constant motion. The proper story seems to be, God comes down and Moses goes up to meet him, God gives the rules, which Moses goes down to give. God gives the revelatory Aseret haDibrot (Decalogue) and Moses and the others go up and then come down with the tablets. It almost seems as if there’s different narratives jockeyed to describe the singular event of God communicating his law and presence to his people.
How tall must Mount Sinai have been for all this to be practical. Sure, Moses was up there for 40 days, but maybe half that was the walking!
Chapter 19
7 Moses came and summoned the elders of the people … Let them be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down, in the sight of all the people, on Mount Sinai.
12 You shall set bounds for the people round about, …’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may goup on the mountain.”
14 Moses came down from the mountain to the people…
17 Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain.
20 The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up.
23 But Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it.’”
24 So the Lord said to him, [Moses] “Go down, and come back [up] together with Aaron; but let not the priests or the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break out against them.” 25 And Moses went downto the people and spoke to them.
[Aseret haDibrot]
Chapter 24
1 Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and bow low from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near the Lord; but the others shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.”
9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascended;
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings and commandments which I have inscribed to instruct them.” 13 So Moses and his attendant Joshua arose, and Moses ascended the mountain of God. 14 To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us until we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you; let anyone who has a legal matter approach them.”
Chapter 32
1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron …
7 The Lord spoke to Moses, “Hurry down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted basely.
15 Thereupon Moses turned and went down from the mountain bearing the two tablets of the Pact, tablets inscribed on both their surfaces: they were inscribed on the one side and on the other.
Chapter 33
7 Now Moses would take the Tent and pitch it outside the camp, at some distance from the camp. It was called the Tent of Meeting, and whoever sought the Lord would go out to the Tent of Meeting that was outside the camp. …11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another. And he would then return to the camp; but his attendant, Joshua son of Nun, a youth, would not stir out of the Tent.
Chapter 34
1 The Lord said to Moses: “Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered. 2 Be ready by morning, and in the morning come up to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me, on the top of the mountain.
5 The Lord came down in a cloud; He stood with him there, and proclaimed the name Lord.
28 And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water; and he wrote down on the tablets the terms of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
29 So Moses came down from Mount Sinai.
Leviticus 25:1 – 26:2
Chapter 25
1 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: 2 Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:
Chapter 26
46 These are the laws, rules, and instructions that the Lord established, through Moses on Mount Sinai, between Himself and the Israelite people
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