Come up to me into the mount, and be there. — After the sacrificial meal, the seventy-four persons engaged in it had descended into the plain of Er-Rahah, and possibly spent some time there, before a second summons came to Moses. This time he was directed to ascend accompanied only by his minister, Joshua (Exodus 24:13), and was warned that his stay was to be a prolonged one in the words, “And be there.”
And I will give thee tables of stone... — It is remarkable that these are not expressly said, either here or in Exodus 31:18, to have contained the ten commandments. The fact, however, is distinctly stated in Deuteronomy 5:22; and with respect to the second tables, the same is affirmed in Exodus 34:28. The fiction of a double decalogue is thus precluded.