Kommentar zu Schemot 24:10

ויראו את אלהי ישראל NOW THEY SAW THE GOD OF ISRAEL — They gazed intently and failing in this they peeped in their attempt to catch a glimpse of the Supreme Being, and thereby made themselves liable to death. But it was only because God did not wish to disturb the joy caused by the Giving of the Torah, that He did not punish them instantly, but waited (postponed the punishment) for Nadab and Abihu until the day when the Tabernacle was dedicated, when they were stricken with death, and for the elders until the event of which the text relates, (Numbers 11:16) “And when the people complained …. and the fire of the Lord burned among them and destroyed בקצה המחנה” — those who were the קצינים “nobles” of the camp (Midrash Tanchuma, Beha'alotcha 16).

AND THEY SAW THE G-D OF ISRAEL. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained: “They saw Him in a prophetic vision, this being similar to the verse: I saw the Eternal standing beside the altar.⁵²⁹Amos 9:1. — And there was under His feet the like of a paved work of sapphire stone.⁵³⁰Continuing Verse 10 before us. This is identical with what the prophet Ezekiel saw: as the appearance of a sapphire stone was the likeness of a throne.⁵³¹Ezekiel 1:26. — And the like of the very heaven for clearness,⁵³⁰Continuing Verse 10 before us. means that they saw under the paved work of sapphire stone the likeness of the very heaven for clearness, which is identical with the firmament, like the color of the terrible ice, stretched forth⁵³²Ibid., Verse 22. over the heads of the living creatures [that Ezekiel saw]. Now here it is written, And they saw the G-d of Israel, and there it is written, This is the living creature that I saw under the G-d of Israel.⁵³³Ibid., 10:20. [In saying that he saw the living creature under the G-d of Israel, the prophet Ezekiel] used a shortened expression, for the living creature was under the firmament which was under the throne, and all this was under the Glorious Name.” [Thus far is Ibn Ezra’s language.]
In line with the simple meaning of Scripture the expression the G-d of Israel is used here to indicate that the merit of their father Israel [Jacob] was with them, and it was through his merit that they beheld this vision. And by the way of the Truth, [the mystic doctrine of the Cabala], it is because Scripture mentioned at the Giving of the Torah, and G-d spoke,⁵³⁴Genesis 1:3. this being identical with the verse, Behold, the Eternal our G-d hath shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire,⁵³⁵Deuteronomy 5:21. therefore Scripture explained here that they saw the G-d of Israel. It does not say as it does in all other places, the Eternal, the G-d of Israel,⁵³⁶Above, 5:1, etc. but mentioned this [the G-d of Israel] in order to say that the seventy elders perceived in this vision more than the rest of the people who saw upon the earth His great fire,⁵³⁷Deuteronomy 4:36. because the people saw through a partition of cloud and thick darkness.⁵³⁸Ibid., 5:19. Onkelos hinted at this, for he translated here, “and they saw the Glory of the G-d of Israel,” but did not render it, “and the Glory of G-d revealed itself to them,” as is his way of translating in other places.⁵³⁹E.g., in Numbers 16:19, where it states, And the Glory of the Eternal appeared unto all the congregation, Onkelos translated: “and the Glory of the Eternal revealed itself…” Here, however, he wrote “and they saw,” in order to indicate that they achieved a greater insight in this vision than the rest of the people.

ותחת רגליו, on the earth, the lowest point. We have G’d on record as describing “earth” in such terms in Isaiah 66,1 והארץ הדם רגליו, “the earth is My footstool.”