Philo of Alexandria · 1724 of 1726

Appendix 2 · From the same author, on Exod 24:13.

He is most manifestly offended with those who being near thought, out of their impiety or folly, that the motions of the Deity were those of peace, and belonging to the act of changing his abode; for behold he says expressly, not that the God who exists in essence, and who is duly thought of in respect of his existence, came down, but that his glory came down. And the acceptation of the word glory may be twofold; for in one sense it may signify the presence of his powers, since the power of his army is spoken of as the glory of a king; and in another sense it may refer to the appearance of him alone, and to the apprehension of his divine glory; so that an idea of the actual arrival of God may have been created in the minds of those who were present, as if he had come in order to give a most undeniable information to the laws which were about to be given.