And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.
The public ceremony of sealing the covenant being over, Moses is called up to receive further instructions, which we have in the following chapters. I. He is called up into the mount, and there he remains six days at some distance.
Commenting on Exodus 24:12-18
And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount,.... For when God spoke out of the cloud, the glory of the Lord flashed out like devouring fire; it was not devouring fire, but it was like it; it was like a great blaze of fire, which consumes all that is in its ways; it was...
And the sight of the glory of the LORD [was] like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. (l) The Lord appears like devouring fire to carnal men: but to them that he draws with his Spirit, he is like pleasant sapphire.