Wyjścia 24:1 Midrasz: Vayikra Rabbah, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shemot Rabbah & Midrash Tanchuma

Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin interpreted the verse in the name of Rabbi Levi: “As it is better that it should be said to you: Come up here, than that you be demeaned before a prince…” (Proverbs 25:7). Rabbi Akiva taught it in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Azai: Distance yourself two or three seats from your rightful place and sit until they say to you, ascend. But do not ascend, as they will say to you, descend.¹¹It was common for people to be seated according to their prominence. It would be better to take a less prominent seat and then be told to move up to a more prominent seat, than to take a more prominent seat and risk being told to move down to a less prominent one. It is preferable that they say to you, ascend, ascend, and that they not say to you, descend, descend. Likewise, Hillel says: My lowering is my elevation; my elevation is my lowering. What is the source? “Who sits on High, who looks down to see” (Psalms 113:5–6).
You find that when the Holy One blessed be He revealed Himself to Moses from the midst of the bush, he concealed his face from Him, as it is stated: “Moses concealed his face…” (Exodus 3:6). The Holy One blessed be He said to him: “Go [lekha], and I will send you to Pharaoh, [and you will bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt]” (Exodus 3:10). Rabbi Elazar said: There is a heh at the end of the word, to say that if you do not redeem them, no one else will redeem them.¹²Instead of the standard usage, lekh, meaning go, God said lekha, which can also mean “for you.” This was meant to indicate that Moses was the only one who could have fulfilled this mission.
At the sea, he stood off to the side. The Holy One blessed be He said to him: “You, raise your staff…and split it” (Exodus 14:16), to say that if you do not split it no one else will split it.¹³Instead of saying just: Raise your staff…, God prefaced the command with the word “you,” meaning, you alone can do it. At Sinai, he stood off to the side. [God] said to him: “Ascend to God, [you]” (Exodus 24:1), to say that if you do not ascend, no one else will ascend. At the Tent of Meeting, he stood off to the side. The Holy One blessed be He said to him: Until when will you lower yourself? The hour is awaiting only you. Know that it is so, as from all of them, the divine speech called only to Moses: “He called to Moses.”

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said in the name of Rabbi Natan: Eighteen commands are written in the portion of the Tabernacle,¹⁵The phrase “as the Lord commanded Moses” appears eighteen times in Exodus chapter 39. corresponding to the eighteen vertebrae in the spine. Corresponding to them, the Sages instituted the eighteen blessings in the Amida prayer, corresponding [also] to the eighteen mentions of God’s name in the recitation of Shema, and corresponding to the eighteen mentions of God’s name in: “Give to the Lord, sons of the mighty” (Psalms 29:1). Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: Only from “With him was Oholiav son of Aḥisamakh, of the tribe of Dan” (Exodus 38:23) until the end of the book.¹⁶The eighteen mentions of God’s commands begin from Exodus 38:23. They do not include Exodus 38:22, which states: “Betzalel, son of Uri, son of Ḥur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses.”
This is analogous to a king who entered a city and with him were commanders, governors, and generals, and the people did not know which was most beloved of them all. The one to whom the king turns and speaks is the most beloved of them all. So too, “To Moses, He said: Ascend [to the Lord,] you and Aaron, Nadav and Avihu and seventy of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 24:1), but we do not know which of them was the most beloved of them all. It is, rather, the one whom the Holy One blessed be He calls and speaks with him. That is why it is stated: “He called to Moses.”
This is analogous to a king who enters a city. With whom does he speak first? Is it not with the overseer of the city’s food markets? Why? Because he is occupied with the sustenance of the city. So too, Moses was occupied with the burdens of Israel. He said to them: ‘This animal you may eat, and that one you may not eat’: “This you shall eat from all that is in the water…” (Leviticus 11:9); “these you shall abominate from the birds” (Leviticus 11:13) – abominate these, do not abominate those; “this is impure to you” (Leviticus 11:29) – this is impure, that is not impure. That is why it is stated: “He called to Moses.”

Our Rabbis were taught [concerning the passage]: And seventy of the elders of Israel. What is the reason that the names of those elders are not mentioned? Because one should not say: "Is so-and-so like Moses and Aaron? Is so-and-so like Nadab and Abihu? Is so-and-so like Eldad and Medad?" And it is also said (Sam. 12, 6) And Samuel said unto the people the Lord that appointed Moses and Aaron; in the same connection it is said (Ib. 11) And the Lord sent Jerubaal and B'dan and Jephtha and Samuel; i.e., Jerubaal is Gideon. And why is he called Jerubaal? Because he incited a quarrel against Baal. B'dan is Sampson. And why is he called B'dan? Because he came from Dan. Jephtha, in its usual sense. (Ib. b) And it is also said (Ps. 99, 6) Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who called upon His name. Scripture regards the three smallest [leaders] in Israel's history equal to the three greatest; to teach us that Jerubaal was in his own generation like Moses in his; B'dan was in his own generation like Aaron in his; Jephtha was in his own generation, like Samuel in his. Infer from this that even the most worthless of worthless men, if once appointed a leader, should be respected as the highest of the nobility. And it is also said (Deut. 17, 9) And thou shall come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judges that shall be in those days. Can you imagine that one could go to a judge who did not live in his days? This means that a man must heed the judge of his own generation. And it is further said (Ecc. 7, 10) Say not thou: 'How was it that the former days were better than these!'