Chapter Twenty-Four
Covenant Confirmed
24:1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
The text returns to narrative as God tells Moses to bring Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu (Aaron’s sons), along with seventy of the elders to come up closer to worship Him. Not to the top of the mountain or even on the mountain itself, just closer to the mountain. Then Moses alone was to continue closer and ultimately up the mountain. God then again warned that no one else was to come near or come up with Moses.
24:3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”
Moses then went to the people and repeated all the rules and commandments given to him by God (everything from Exodus 20:1-24:2). Once they heard the regulations, they responded in one voice (unanimous decision) that they would do as YHWH required them to do, they all agreed to obey.
24:4 And Moses 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 pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Moses wrote down all the words God told him, and he rose early in the morning to build an altar and twelve pillars (same word used in previous chapter regarding breaking down pillars of the enemy, see verse 24), one for each tribe, at the foot of the mountain.[1]
24:5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.
At this time the official priesthood had not yet been established (see Exodus 28:1-5), so Moses commissioned some of the young men to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings to YHWH. Many believe that these young men were the firstborn sons of some of the elders, in keeping with the concept of being family priests.[2]
24:6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar.
After the sacrifices were made, Moses took half of the blood and put in basins to later sprinkle on the people (see verse eight) and the other half he threw against the altar, which would represent God. In this process the two parties of the covenant were united. As discussed earlier,[3] blood represents life, making it the perfect “binding agent” between sinful people and a holy God, something that is still “in play” today with the blood of Jesus, allowing people to be saved from eternal condemnation.
24:7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
The Book of the Covenant is not completely identified in the text, some believe it contains everything from the beginning of the book of Genesis all the way to this point in the book of Exodus, while others believe that it contains just the provisions and regulations stipulated for this covenant only (essentially from the beginning of Exodus chapter twenty to the end of Exodus chapter twenty-three). Moses read it aloud to the people and they once again responded that they will be obedient and do as YHWH required.
24:8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
After everyone agreed, Moses proceeded to sprinkle the blood on the people, formalizing the covenant between them and God. The Hebrew word translated here as ‘threw’ is ‘yiz·rōq’,[4] a verb that refers to sprinkling or to scattering.
24:9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
As instructed at the beginning of this chapter, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders went up and saw God. To look upon God was understood that it would cause one to die (Jacob thought so, see Genesis 32:30) as it will later be clearly stated to Moses, “But, he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20) These seventy-four individuals were certainly privileged to see God and they all lived, so what happened? Some believe that since they were invited, they were not at risk. Others believe that they only saw His glory as represented by something like smoke, fire, or cloud. However, the description includes the fact that what they saw had ‘feet’, making this encounter more than likely another Christophany.[5] As they looked upon God, He did not harm any of the leaders of the people of Israel and they ate and drank a meal together to consummate the covenant.
Moses describes a “pavement of sapphire stone,” under God’s feet as being clear as the sky (see commentary under Genesis 1:1 regarding how the word ‘heaven’ is used in the Bible). Many of the descriptions of the throne room of God found in Scripture contain similar descriptions (see Ezekiel 1:26; 10:1; Revelation 4:6; 15:2).
24:12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”
God calls Moses to come up the mountain and wait for the “tablets of stone” (slabs of stone). The Hebrew that is translated here as ‘with’ is the single letter ‘wāw’ (or ‘vav’), representing the consonant ‘w’ (in modern Hebrew it represents the letter ‘v’). Here it is used as a conjunction and can be translated into English as: ‘and’, ‘also’, ‘or’, ‘then’, ‘but’, ‘indeed’, ‘so that’, ‘from’, ‘that is’, ‘with’, ‘when’, and several others, depending on context.[6] Some Bible translations connect the slabs of stone with the law and commandment, thereby placing the law and commandment onto the tablets. While other translations translate the conjunction as ‘and’ or something similar, for example: “Come up to me on the mountain, and be there, and I will give you the tablets of stone and the law and the commandments that I have written to instruct them.” (Exodus 24:12b, LEB) Implying that the law and commandment were separate items, not necessarily connected to the tablets. This is probably likely since it is revealed later that the tablets only contain the “Ten Words,” (the Ten Commandments, see Deuteronomy 4:13; 5:22; 10:2-4), not the whole law.
24:13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.” 15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
In response to God’s calling, Moses and Joshua (first introduced to us in chapter 17, is now identified as Moses’ assistant) both went up into the mountain of God. But first he told the leaders of the people to wait for them to return, and while he is gone, they were to use Aaron and Hur as judges in his place just in case a major dispute required resolution before they returned. Then Moses went up on the mountain and a cloud covered the mountain.
24:16 The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
The glory of the YHWH stayed on Mount Sinai, which remained covered by the cloud for six days. Some believe that this period was to allow time for Moses to prepare and be consecrated prior to his meeting with God. However, more than likely the ascension of the mountain took six days to climb. The glory of God is described like a consuming fire, this is not a picture of some volcano as some suggest, this is something beyond simple description, it represented God’s presence, being awesome and indeed supernatural. Even with the cloud surrounding the mountain, the fiery presence of God could still be seen by the people below.
On the seventh day God called Moses from the midst of the cloud. Moses then entered the cloud and went up the mountain and was gone for forty days and forty nights. Since there is no mention about Joshua it is assumed that he remained somewhere near the top, but not on the top of the mountain. The text adds that Moses was on the mountain for forty days and nights, this information was appended after the fact, and not as a statement by Moses that he would be gone for forty days (see commentary under Exodus 32:1).
Considerations
The Identification of Stones in Scripture
Throughout both the Old Testament and New Testament there are names of various types of stones and precious stones in the Bible. While some of the Hebrew and Greek stone names are undoubtedly correct, there are several that remain unknown or are matched only by the best-guess method. This is one reason why many translations vary with the names of stones. Some can be guessed based on context, such as the one above with a reference to the sky, it is believed that the stone should be blue. Therefore, the translators most often call it sapphire or perhaps lapis lazuli, both blue stones. Occasionally archaeologists can connect the names of some stones to their correct modern identity, which may then require a revision of any incorrect translation.
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[1] See Considerations under Genesis 5:32 regarding early writing.
[2] See Considerations under Genesis 14:19-24 regarding priests.
[3] See commentaries under Genesis 3:21 and Exodus 4:9.
[4] Strong’s Hebrew 2236.
[5] See commentary under Genesis 3:8-10.
[6] See commentary under Genesis 1:2.