Exodus 24

The Covenant Ceremony

1 Then He said to Moses, "Go up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel's elders, and bow in worship at a distance.

2 Moses alone is to approach the Lord, but the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him."

3 Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, "We will do everything that the Lord has commanded."

4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain.

5 Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.

6 Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the [other] half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7 He then took the covenant scroll and read [it] aloud to the people. They responded, "We will do and obey everything that the Lord has commanded."

8 Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you concerning all these words."

9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel's elders,

10 and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire^[a] stone, as clear as the sky itself.

11 God did not harm^[b] the Israelite nobles; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.

12 The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets with the law and commands I have written for their instruction."

13 So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and went up the mountain of God.

14 He told the elders, "Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute should go to them."

15 When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered it.

16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day He called to Moses from the cloud.

17 The appearance of the Lord's glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire^[c] on the mountaintop.

18 Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.

Exodus 24 Commentary

Chapter 24

Moses is called up into the mountain, The people promise obedience. (1-8) The glory of the Lord appears. (9-11) Moses goes up into the mountain. (12-18)

Verses 1-8 A solemn covenant was made between God and Israel. Very solemn it was, typifying the covenant of grace between God and believers, through Christ. As soon as God separated to himself a peculiar people, he governed them by a written word, as he has done ever since. God's covenants and commands are so just in themselves, and so much for our good, that the more we think of them, and the more plainly and fully they are set before us, the more reason we may see to comply with them. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the altar, on the book, and on the people. Neither their persons, their moral obedience, nor religious services, would meet with acceptance from a holy God, except through the shedding and sprinkling' of blood. Also the blessings granted unto them were all of mercy; and the Lord would deal with them in kindness. Thus the sinner, by faith in the blood of Christ, renders willing and acceptable obedience.

Verses 9-11 The elders saw the God of Israel; they had some glimpse of his glory, though whatever they saw, it was something of which no image or picture could be made, yet enough to satisfy them that God was with them of a truth. Nothing is described but what was under his feet. The sapphires are the pavement under his feet; let us put all the wealth of this world under our feet, and not in our hearts. Thus the believer sees in the face of Jesus Christ, far clearer discoveries of the glorious justice and holiness of God, than ever he saw under terrifying convictions; and through the Saviour, holds communion with a holy God.

Verses 12-18 A cloud covered the mount six days; a token of God's special presence there. Moses was sure that he who called him up would protect him. Even those glorious attributes of God which are most terrible to the wicked, the saints with humble reverence rejoice in. And through faith in the atoning Sacrifice, we hope for greater honour than Moses ever enjoyed on earth. Now we see through a glass darkly, but when he shall appear, then face to face. This vision of God will continue with equal, if not increasing brightness of joy; not for a few days only, but through eternity.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or lapis lazuli
• [b]. Lit not stretch out His hand against
• [c]. Dt 4:24; Heb 12:29

Chapter Summary

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.