Exodus 24:1-6

The Covenant Confirmed

1 Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, 1Nadab, and Abihu, and 2seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.
2 Moses 3alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him."
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and 4all the rules.[a] And all the people answered with one voice and said, 5"All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do."
4 And 6Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve 7pillars, 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 8Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar.

Exodus 24:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 24

In this chapter we have an account that Moses was ordered to come up to the Lord alone, Ex 24:1,2, but that before he did go up, he related to the people all the above laws delivered to him, which they promised obedience to, and so a covenant was made between God and the people by sacrifice, and by the sprinkling of blood, Ex 24:3-8, upon which he and Aaron, and his two sons and seventy elders of Israel, went up part of the mountain, and had a vision of God, Ex 24:9-11, when Moses with Joshua was called, and went up higher, until at length he entered into the cloud where the Lord was, and continued forty days and forty nights, Ex 24:12-18.

Cross References 8

  • 1. Exodus 28:1; See Exodus 6:23
  • 2. Numbers 11:16
  • 3. ver. 13, 15, 18
  • 4. Exodus 21:1
  • 5. Exodus 19:8; Deuteronomy 5:27
  • 6. Deuteronomy 31:9
  • 7. Genesis 28:18; Genesis 31:45; [Exodus 23:24]
  • 8. Hebrews 9:18, 19

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or all the just decrees
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.