Who Went Up the Mountain With Moses to Receive the Ten Commandments?

When Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, he did not go entirely alone. Exodus 24 tells us that Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ascended the mountain with Moses to worship at a distance while Moses approached God. When all had gone up, “they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank” (Exodus 24:10–11). But when it came to entering the cloud of God’s presence and receiving the commandments, only Moses was allowed to go further. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18). God often calls us to walk with others in faith, but there are also moments when He calls us to stand alone with Him.