Exodus 24:10
8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself. 11 But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank. 12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them.”
Onkelos Exodus 24:10
8 And Mosheh took the blood and sprinkled it upon the altar to propitiate for the people, and said, Behold the Blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath ratified with you upon all these words. 9 And Mosheh and Aharon, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10 And they saw the Glory of the God of Israel, and under the throne of His glory as the work of a precious stone, and as the face of heaven for its clearness. 11 Yet the princes of the sons of Israel were not hurt; and they saw the Glory of the Lord, and rejoiced in their sacrifices which were accepted with favour, as though they had eaten and drunk. 12 And the Lord said to Mosheh, Come up into My Presence in the mountain, and be there, and I will give thee the tablets of stone, and the law and the precepts, as I have written (them), that thou mayest teach them.
Notes and References
"... Verses 24:9-10 describe a scene that seems problematic. Did Moses, Aaron, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy elders actually gaze upon an anthropomorphic God while eating and drinking? Rashi, based on the Midrash Tanchuma, reads the verses literally and claims that all but Moses sinned by gazing upon God. He states that they were later punished for their irreverence. Onkelos understands the scene quite differently. The targumist has the group experiencing God's 'glory' thereby avoiding the anthropomorphism. He also describes the participants as not eating with God, but being so pleased that their sacrifices had been accepted by God, that it was 'as if' they themselves were eating and enjoying them ..."
Drazin, Israel, and Stanley M. Wagner Onkelos on the Torah, Genesis: Understanding the Bible Text (p. 162) Gefen, 2006
"... The targumist and Saadiah insert "the glory of" into the biblical phrase 'they saw the God of Israel' to avoid the impossible notion that the people saw a physical God. He uses the Aramaic yekar, 'glory,' to describe the impact of God's presence; in this case, upon the assemblage of Israelites. Ibn Ezra and Nachmanides state that the Israelites actually "saw God," but through prophecy. Curiously, Rashi suggests that the Israelites saw God, and thereby committed a sin punishable by death. More rationally, his grandson Rashbam states that the people saw how God is manifested in this world ..."
Drazin, Israel, and Stanley M. Wagner Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (p. 161) Gefen, 2006