Exodus 20:21

“And the people stood afar off, etc.] Still kept their distance in their camp and tents; or the heads and elders of the people having had this conversation with Moses, returned to their tents as they were bid, (<050530>Deuteronomy 5:30) and to the people in the camp, and there they continued while Moses went up to God with their request: and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was; the thick cloud, (<021909>Exodus 19:9,16) as Jarchi interprets it, and who observes from their doctors that there were three enclosures about the divine Majesty, darkness, a cloud, and thick darkness; and so Moses passed through the darkness, and the cloud, to the thick darkness where Jehovah was, and…”

“Compare Deuteronomy 5:22-31. Aaron Exodus 19:24 on this occasion accompanied Moses in drawing near to the thick darkness. Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33 is a series of laws which we may identify with what was written by Moses in the book called the book of the covenant, and read by him in the audience of the people Exodus 24:7. The document cannot be regarded as a strictly systematic whole. Portions of it were probably traditional rules handed down from the patriarchs, and retained by the Israelites in Egypt. return to 'Top of Page'”

“While the people continued to stand afar off - Afraid of God's wrath, Moses drew near unto the thick darkness; he was made to draw near, so the word is: Moses of himself durst not have ventured into the thick darkness if God had not called him, and encouraged him, and, as some of the Rabbins suppose, sent an angel to take him by the hand, and lead him up. Exodus 20:22”

“the people: Exo 19:16, Exo 19:17; Deu 5:5 thick: Kg1 8:12; Ch2 6:1; Psa 18:9, Psa 18:12, Psa 97:2, Psa 104:2; Ti1 6:16 Exodus 20:22”

“"So the people stood afar off" (as in Exo 20:18), not "went far away," although, according to Deu 5:30, Moses was directed by God to tell the people to return to their tents. This is passed over here, and it is merely observed, for the purpose of closing the first act in the giving the law, and preparing the way for the second, that the people remained afar off, whereas Moses (and Aaron, cf. Exo 19:24) drew near to the darkness where God was, to receive the further commands of the Lord. Exodus 20:22”