Exodus 24:13

And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua.—The close connection of Joshua with Moses is here, for the first time, indicated. His employment as a general against Amalek (Exodus 17:9-13) might have simply marked his military capacity; but from this point in the history it becomes apparent that he was Moses’ most trusted friend and assistant in all matters where there was need of confidential relations between the leader and his subordinates, and thus that he was to be his successor (see Exodus 32:17; Exodus 33:11; Numbers 13:8; Numbers 13:16; Numbers 27:18-23; Deuteronomy 34:9), since no other person stood in any such close association.

Moses went up into the mount of God.—Ascended, i.e., to the highest point of the mountain, whereof mention has been previously made; not, probably, to the Jebel Musa, but to the highest summit of the Ras Sufsafeh, upon which the cloud rested.

Benson Commentary

Exodus 24:13. Joshua was his minister or servant, and it would be a satisfaction to him to have him as a companion during the six days that he tarried in the mount before God called to him. Joshua was to be his successor, and therefore thus he was honoured before the people, and thus he was prepared by being trained up in communion with God. Joshua was a type of Christ, and (as the learned Bishop Pearson well observes) Moses takes him with him unto the mount, because without Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, there is no looking into the secrets of heaven, nor approaching the presence of God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

24:12-18 A cloud covered the mount six days; a token of God's special presence there. Moses was sure that he who called him up would protect him. Even those glorious attributes of God which are most terrible to the wicked, the saints with humble reverence rejoice in. And through faith in the atoning Sacrifice, we hope for greater honour than Moses ever enjoyed on earth. Now we see through a glass darkly, but when he shall appear, then face to face. This vision of God will continue with equal, if not increasing brightness of joy; not for a few days only, but through eternity.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Many Jews understand the "tables of stone" to denote the Ten Commandments; "a law," the law written in the Pentateuch; and the "commandments" (or "the commandment"), the oral or traditional law which was in after ages put into writing in the Mishna and the Gemara. But it is more probable that the Ten Commandments alone are spoken of, and that the meaning is, "the tables of stone with the law, even the commandment."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. Moses went up into the mount of God—He was called to receive the divine transcript. Joshua was taken a little higher, and it would be a great comfort for the leader to have his company during the six days he was in patient waiting for the call on the seventh or sabbath day.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Joshua did not go up with Moses to the top of the mount, as is sufficiently implied both here and above, Exodus 24:1,2; but abode in some lower place, waiting for Moses’s return, as appears from Exodus 32:17. And there Joshua abode forty days, not fasting all the while, but having, as the rest had,

manna for his meat, and for his drink, water out of the brook that descended out of the mount, as we read Deu 9:21.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua,.... In order to go up higher on the mount. Joshua, and he only, was to go up higher with him, though not to the top of the mount, at least not into the cloud upon it, as Moses did. Joshua was his minister or servant, and waited upon him wherever he went, and was to be his successor; and therefore for his encouragement, and to qualify him the better for it, he was indulged with a sight and knowledge of things others were not; for by his not knowing anything of the idolatry of the golden calf, Exodus 32:17 it appears that he was on some part of the mount all the forty days and forty nights; and if it should be asked whether he fasted all that time, or, if he did not, how he was provided with food and drink? it may be replied, that there is no necessity to suppose that he fasted all that time; and it is easy to imagine how he was supplied, for the manna fell round about the mountain, of which he might gather and eat day by day, as Aben Ezra observes; and there was a brook which descended out of the mount, from whence he might have water, Deuteronomy 9:21.

and Moses went up into the mount of God; Mount Sinai, where he had formerly appeared to him in a bush, and now had descended on it to give the law, and was still upon it, where his glory was seen; and therefore might, with great propriety, be called the mount of God; to the top of which Moses was preparing to go, but before he went gave the following instructions.

Geneva Study Bible

And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. Joshua] first mentioned in Exodus 17:9.

his minister] Joshua’s standing title: Exodus 33:11, Numbers 11:28, Joshua 1:1.

and Moses went up, &c.] leaving Joshua on the lower part of the mountain; cf. Exodus 32:17, with the note.

the mount of God] See on Exodus 3:1.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - Moses went up. Prompt to obey, Moses, though he had only just descended from the mount, immediately made ready to set forth and again ascend it. This time he was attended by his minister, Joshua, whose arm he had employed on a former occasion against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:9-13). The name, Joshua, is, however, still given him by anticipation, since he did not receive it until he was sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (Numbers 13:8, 16). Exodus 24:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When Moses was preparing to ascend the mountain with his servant Joshua (vid., Joshua 17:9), he ordered the elders to remain in the camp (בּזה i.e., where they were) till their return, and appointed Aaron and Hur (vid., Exodus 17:10) as administrators of justice in case of any disputes occurring among the people. דּברים מי־בעל whoever has matters, matters of dispute (on this meaning of בּעל see Genesis 37:19).