The Covenant Confirmed (Exodus 24)

1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu [Aaron’s oldest sons], and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. [Here begins the invitation from God to ascend Sinai yet again with others.] 2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.” [Only Moses is allowed into the nearer presence of the Lord.]

3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” [Unfortunately, they only kept their promises sporadically.] 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord [important to remember and conserve]. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” [Moses carried out the actions appropriate to making the covenant official and accepted on Israel’s part. Five elements center on the people’s relationship with God: an altar, 12 stone pillars, animal sacrifices, blood application, and the reading of the document. Both parties—God and the people—get sprinkled with blood. Since forgiveness required blood, such a vivid reminder helped the Israelites remember the source and nature of their forgiveness and acceptance by God and his grace as he allows the slain animal to substitute for the sinner.]

9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone [as though standing on pure, blue sky unlike the men who stood on stone], like the very heaven for clearness. [They saw what appeared to be God without really seeing God that let them know they were dealing with a person and not a thing.] 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank [a covenant meal].

12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain [another trip] and wait there [implying a long time], that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” [Only the tablets of stone were written by God.] 13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.” [Aaron and Hur stand in temporarily for Moses as appeals judge.]

15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. [The cloud is the same as the cloud that led the people and represented God’s glory.] 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. [It took Moses six days to climb the mountain. Why six days? The cloud indicates God’s reception of Moses into the glory of his presence.] 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. [Some have suggested a volcanic mountain, but the text reads that it was like, not that it was.] 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. [Forty has an idiomatic usage in Hebrew, conveying the same sense that “dozens” does in English and may not be meant literally.]