Exodus 24, Confirming the Covenant

The people of Israel are ready to march on towards Palestine.

Exodus 24: 1-4a, Moses alone

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, but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him."

    

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."

Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. 

Only Moses is allowed to approach YHWH.  The others must worship from a distance.  Throughout the Torah, closeness to YHWH is a terrible, frightening experience.

Moses writes down everything that YHWH said.  This is probably the material that makes up chapters 20-23 of Exodus.

Exodus 24: 4b-8, A sacrifice

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

    

Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 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."

    

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."

The blood of this sacrifice stands for God's covenant with Israel. The people of Israel are committed to this covenant. The Book of the Covenant is a written record of the previous instructions from YHWH, probably what was written down in verse 4.  

Note the sprinkling of blood on people! (Yuk!)  In some way the blood represents a priestly ordination, representing the initiation of the people of Israel (symbolized by the twelve stone pillars) into this covenant.

A "fellowship offering" is a "peace offering", an offering made to engage in reconciliation.

 

Exodus 24: 9-11, Seeing God

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Note a recurrence of the special number 70.

A brief vision of YHWH's throne room is given here, with a pavement clear "as the sky itself". I am reminded of the "sea of glass, clear as crystal", in Revelation 4: 6.  A somewhat similar description of the throne occurs in Ezekiel 1:26. (NIV footnotes: The word translated "sapphire" in verse 10 could be "lapis lazuli".)

For some reason, unexplained here, these 74 leaders are allowed to see YHWH and live!

Exodus 24: 12-14, Aaron and Hur left in charge

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."

    

Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 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."

Moses is to go up the mountain and Aaron and Hur are to oversee the nation during this time.

Exodus 24: 15-18, Moses in the cloud

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

    

To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

    

Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Moses has returned to the mountain while the others wait.  Moses stays for six days (echoing the Days of Creation) then goes into the cloud for another forty.