At Sinai, Moshe goes ‘el HaElokim’ to find G-d

After arriving at Mt. Sinai at the beginning of the third month, we are told in 19:3 that in going up the mountain, “Moshe went up to the Elokim,” which is followed by “and Hashem called to him from the mountain.”

It happens every now and then that G-d’s name switches back and forth from Elokim to the Tetrgrammaton, but each time requires an explanation.

Targum Yonatan translates the word Elokim here to mean “the top of the mountain.” In other words, Targum Yonatan seems to ignore that two names of G-d are utilized in the verse, preferring to tell us what happened — where Moshe went, and that G-d called to him after he arrived there.

Midrash Sechel Tov refers to the place Moshe went as “the place where the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence) is apparent on the mountain.”

I believe there is much more depth hidden in the switchover of G-d’s name, because the moment which precedes Sinaitic Revelation is so significant, that G-d knew we would try our best to truly understand the events leading up to the grand finale.

Alshikh notes that even the phrase which tells us of Moshe’s ascent to “Elokim” uses a term that causes our eyebrows to rise.

The Torah could have easily said “Vaya’al Moshe,” which describes the verb of ascending, “and he went up.” But the language used is “U’Moshe Alah”— which implies an ascent much greater than a mere physical one. Moshe was elevated “el HaElokim.”

I don’t think it means to suggest that Moshe became G-d-like. But Moshe is clearly attaining a different status that any he may have had before. Alshikh describes the purity which Moshe achieves here as a “yitron gadol” – a much higher level than anything he had achieved before that time.

Moshe, as Rav Pinchas Horowitz explained in his “Panim Yafos” commentary, was elevated through the holiness of Israel. In 3:6, at the burning bush, he was afraid to look “towards the Elokim.”