Exodus 24:4

4 And Moses wrote all the words of Yahweh, and he rose early in the morning, and he built an altar at the base of the mountain and [set up] twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

Exodus 24:4 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 24:4

And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord
Jarchi says, all from the creation, to the giving of the law, and the commands at Marah; but though these were written by him, yet not at this time; but as Aben Ezra more truly observes, what are mentioned in this "parashah", or section, or what is contained in the two preceding chapters, he not only related to them from his memory, but he wrote them in a book, which is after mentioned, that they might be seen and read hereafter; for these were not the ten commands, they were written as well as spoken by the Lord himself, but the judicial laws before mentioned:

and rose up early in the morning:
not on the fifth of Sivan, as Jarchi, the day before the giving of the law, but on the eighth of that month, two days after it:

and built an altar under the hill:
under Mount Sinai, about the place where the bounds were set, beyond which the people were not to go:

and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel:
to answer to them, and which were to represent them, as seems by the following account; these probably were made of marble stone, of which Mount Sinai consisted, and of which there was plenty thereabout.

Exodus 24:4 In-Context

2 And Moses {alone} will come near to Yahweh, and they will not come near, and the people will not go up with him."

3 And Moses came, and he told the people all the words of Yahweh and all the regulations. And all the people answered with one voice, and they said, "All the words that Yahweh has spoken we will do."

4 And Moses wrote all the words of Yahweh, and he rose early in the morning, and he built an altar at the base of the mountain and [set up] twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 And he sent young men from the {Israelites}, and they offered burnt offerings, and they sacrificed sacrifices [as] fellowship offerings to Yahweh [using] bulls.

6 And Moses took half of the blood, and he put [it] in bowls, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.