Exodus 23:20 - 24 Who's On Mt. Sinai?

After laying down the Ten Commandments and Other Random Rules of Conduct, God goes on. "I'm assigning an angel as a guide. He's in charge, so do what he says. Do that, and I'll smite all your enemies and bring you home. We'll wipe out a whole bunch of other tribes along the way, but don't be tempted to worship their gods or take on their customs. My rules only. Do that and the world is your oyster. But I'm going to wipe them out slowly. Not all at once.

"So, Moses go tell the people all this and then you and Aaron and your priests, come on up here."

"Wait... So the priests can come up now?  I thought they couldn't come up."

"Oh sure. Why not?  I'm just making this up as I go along."

Moses then goes and tells all the people what God told him.

"Yeah, that's a good deal," say the people.

Moses stays up all night writing all this down in the Book of Covenant, and then builds an altar and 12 pillars representing the 12 tribes of Israel. They burn some oxen as offerings and put half of the blood in bowls and splash the other half on the altar. Then he re-reads the Book, and they agree to it again. He seals the deal by splashing blood on them.

So Moses and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 priests and elders go back up the mountain - a guy who just a little bit ago couldn't hold his arms up for an extended time is now making repeated trips up and down a mountain. They see God, who invites them to dinner.

After dinner, God says to Moses, "Come up the mountain and I'll give you some stone tablets with all the rules on them."

"But... aren't we all already here on the mountain?  How much further up do I have to go? And didn't I just write it all down in that book last night?"

"Please stop asking questions. Just come MORE up the mountain and I'll give you the tablets."

Moses turns to his priests and says, "Wait here. Aaron and Hur are in charge in the meantime."

Moses goes into the cloud. To the people on the ground this all appears as a fire devouring the top of the mountain. Moses is there for 40 days and 40 nights. There are a LOT more rules to be told. So many that it takes a month and a half to get through them all.

This is not just a quick trip up to get some stone tablets like God said. This is like going to the store for a pack of smokes and some milk and coming back a month and a half later.  People start to wonder where you went and might just give you up for lost or dead...especially on a mountain top consumed by fire.