Exodus 24:1-18 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Exodus 24:1-18. Get ready for some powerful lessons here. Let’s go!
Exodus 24:1-11 (NIV)
1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance,
2 but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”
3 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.”
4 Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.
6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar.
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.”
8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled 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 saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.
11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
On verses 1-11: Moses has just finished receiving all these words and laws from the LORD for the Israelites on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:22 to the end of Exodus 23). Now in Exodus 24 Moses is going to communicate these words and laws to the Israelites and have them enter into a covenant (a formal love-based agreement) with the LORD. Under this covenant, the Israelites would agree to obey all the words and laws the LORD had given to them through Moses, and the LORD would agree to go before them, lead them and watch over them (Exodus 23:22-33).
Ancient historians tell us that in Moses’ time when two parties would enter into a covenant, they would do two things to make the covenant formal and binding: (1) they would kill an animal, cut it symmetrically in half, put one half of the animal’s corpse on their left and the other half on their right, and then the two parties would together walk through the halves to signify that their agreement has been sealed with the animal’s blood; (2) they would eat a meal together. We see the LORD and the Israelites going through a similar process as they get ready to enter into this covenant together. This covenant is sometimes called the Sinai covenant since they entered into it on Mount Sinai.
First, Moses verbally announces to the people all the “words and laws” that Moses heard from the LORD in Exodus 20 to 23. (In verse 3 “words” probably refers to the Ten Commandments starting at Exodus 20:1 and “laws” probably refers to all the other laws and regulations we find from Exodus 20:22 to the end of Exodus 23.) In response the people unitedly agree to do everything the LORD commanded them to do (v3). In a way this first stage is more informal because everything is verbal and nothing is yet written down, sealed with blood or formalized with a meal. From a modern commercial law perspective, to me this part almost seems like an informal letter of intent.
Second, Moses writes down all these words and laws into a book, which he calls the Book of the Covenant and which would become part of the Law of Moses. Moses sets up an altar at the foot of Mount Sinai with 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel (v4). He has some young Israelite men offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings (v5). He sprinkles half the blood from the offerings on the altar (v6), reads the Book of the Covenant to the people who once again promise to obey it (v7), and then sprinkles the rest of the blood on the people (v8). The idea that half the blood is on the people and half the blood is on the altar is perhaps the equivalent of the ritual described above where two parties walk through the two halves of a dead animal to signify their agreement.
Third, to formalize the covenant, Moses and the Israelite leaders go up to Mount Sinai and have a meal with the LORD. The Israelite leaders eat and drank on the mountain. As if to put his stamp and signature on this covenant Himself, the LORD appears to Moses and the Israelite leaders with amazing glory. God appears looking like He is surfing on top of a sapphire sky (v10). The Israelite leaders are shocked that they did not die after seeing God this way, since they believed that God is so holy that anyone who saw Him would die instantly. The only reason they did not die was because God had mercy on them on this special day when they were entering into a covenant with the LORD on behalf of the people.
Exodus 24:12-18 (NIV)
12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.”
13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.
14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it,
16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud.
17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.
18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
On verses 12-18: After acting as a mediator and facilitating the entrance by the LORD and the Israelite people into this covenant, Moses himself is called personally by the LORD to spend time with Him on Mount Sinai (v12). Moses goes up Mount Sinai with his assistant Joshua (v13) and leaves Aaron and Hur in charge of the Israelites (v14). Moses is up on the mountain with the cloud covering it for six days, and on the seventh day the LORD calls to Moses (v15-16). For 40 days and 40 nights, Moses is on Mount Sinai experiencing the glory and presence of God (v18). It’s the most intimate, extended time a human being has spent with God up to this point in the Bible.
What can we learn from this?
1. Notice that Moses answered God’s call to go up the mountain and was up on the mountain for 6 days before God spoke to him on the seventh. It goes to show that good things come to those who wait in the LORD’s presence. Are you and I willing to spend 6 days waiting on the LORD before He speaks to us? May we be people who are willing to wait in God’s presence and give time for our hearts to soften so we can hear God personally.
2. In this chapter we see God entering into a covenant with the people of Israel generally, and also calling Moses to an intimate relationship individually. The same is true of us. Together we are the covenant people of God, belonging to Him and to one another and on mission together as His church. At the same time, we are also individually called by God to an intimate relationship with Him personally.
3. To the people at the foot of the mountain the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire (v17), but to Moses who drew near to the LORD on the mountain the glory of God appeared as a cloud (v16, 18). I find that from afar, God’s presence might seem scary and intimidating to those who don’t Him well, like a consuming fire, but when you dare to draw close and God calls you near, you’ll find that God’s presence is actually soft and gentle like a cloud. The glory of the LORD is like a consuming fire from afar and a gentle cloud up close.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You are a God who is so serious about wanting a relationship with us that You will even enter into a formal agreement, a covenant with us. Thank You that You mercifully let us experience Your glory, not just the fire from afar, but the cloud up close. I pray I would be willing to wait long enough in Your presence to receive the most important things You have for me. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
