Tafsiran Keluaran 19:11: Rashi, Chizkuni, Ramban & Ibn Ezra

והיו נכנים AND LET THEM BE PREPARED — separated from their wives (Mekhilta; cf. Rashi on Shabbat 87a).

ליום השלישי, “for the third day.” This was the Sabbath on which the Torah would be given, the third day after Moses had been commanded to prepare the people for that day on the fourth of the month, a Thursday. On that day G-d would descend to the Mountain. Seeing that at this point the Torah did not spell out a specific time or date, this had to be done on another occasion, i.e. in Deuteronomy 5,27 where Moses is to tell the people to return to their daily routine, whereas he is to ascend Mount Sinai and receive the whole Torah there during the next 40 days, as detailed at the beginning of chapter 24 in Exodus. Some commentators accept neither the opinion of the majority of the scholars nor that of Rabbi Yossi, both of whom held differing views as to the precise sequence and timing of the days of the week and days of the month on which events commencing with the Israelites encamping in the desert of Sinai and the conclusion of the revelation have been reported in the Torah.

THE ETERNAL WILL COME DOWN IN THE SIGHT OF ALL THE PEOPLE. I.e., so that all the people will behold His coming down, meaning that they will see the appearance of the Glory of the Eternal like devouring fire on the top of the mount,²⁰⁸Further, 24:17. but they will not see G-d, for it is written, for man shall not see Me and live.²⁰⁹Ibid., 33:20.

ליום השלישי AGAINST THE THIRD DAY, which is the sixth of the month. On the fifth Moses built the altar under the mountain and the twelve monuments — the whole narrative as is stated later on in the Sidra ואלה המשפטים (Exodus 24:4), for there is neither “earlier” nor “later” (there is no chronological order) in the Torah (Mekhilta-2).