Kommentar zu Schemot 24:2

ונגש משה לבדו AND MOSES ALONE SHALL STEP NEAR unto the thick darkness (cf. Exodus 20:18).

AND MOSES ALONE SHALL COME NEAR UNTO THE ETERNAL. In the opinion of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra this too is a case where a proper name is used instead of a pronoun, for after the expression, Come up unto the Eternal, it should have said, “and you alone shall come near,” but such is the Scriptural style, as I have mentioned.⁵⁰²Above, Verse 1. Similarly: And the Eternal caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Eternal,⁵⁰³Genesis 19:24. which means “from Him;” And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law,⁵⁰⁴Numbers 10:29. which means “his father-in-law.” Also: And the Eternal sent Jerubaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel,⁴⁹⁰I Samuel 12:11. Since Samuel was the speaker, he should have said: “and myself.” and similarly: Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes… unto King Solomon.⁵⁰⁵I Kings 8:1. The meaning is: he gathered them “to himself.”
The correct interpretation here appears to me to be that this commandment was addressed also to Aaron, and he too heard the Voice of G-d saying to Moses, Come up unto the Eternal, thou, and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.⁵⁰⁶Above, Verse 1. And if so, it was necessary that the name of the one who was to draw near [i.e., Moses] be expressly mentioned, for it was he alone who was to come near [and not Aaron]. And even if [we were to explain that when G-d said, Come up unto the Eternal etc.] He spoke to Moses directly [and Aaron did not hear it], it would still be necessary to explain that “you Moses alone shall come near unto the Eternal,” and the mere pronoun “thou” would not have sufficed.⁵⁰⁷For since Aaron’s name was after all mentioned in the command [in Verse 1], it was already necessary that Moses’ name be designated in Verse 2, so that he would know that it was he who was to come near, otherwise it would have included Aaron as well. Therefore etc. Therefore He said, And Moses alone shall come near; but they shall not come near. This is the reason for the word l’vado (alone), to exclude Aaron who had been included previously with Moses as far as the commandment [to “come up”].

ונגש משה לבדו, “only Moses, alone, is to approach close to Hashem.” Ibn Ezra comments that actually the Torah should have addressed Moses in direct speech, i.e. ונגשת אתה לבדך, “you are to approach alone.” However, the pattern of the Holy Scriptures is to frequently use indirect speech when we nowadays would use direct speech. G’d even refers to Himself in the third person, as in Genesis 19,24 וה' המטיר על סדום ועמורה גפרית ואש, מאת ה' מן השמים, “The Lord made it rain on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire, from the Lord from heaven.” The Torah does not quote G’d saying: “מאתי,” emanating from Me. Nachmanides writes that G’d’s comments in this case were also addressed to Aaron, who was to hear that G’d wanted only Moses to ascend the Mountain. On a previous occasion Aaron had also heard G’d say that both Moses and he were “to ascend to Me on the Mountain, but that he and the elders were to prostrate themselves from afar. (verse 1).” Seeing that on one occasion Moses was accompanied by his dignitaries, the Torah had to spell out that at some point only Moses could proceed beyond that threshold. Having eliminated the elders by the words ונגש משה, the word לבדו was needed to make plain that also Aaron was prohibited from advancing toward the Mountain any more closely.