Exodus 24:1-19

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 at a distance.¹ Moses alone² shall come near the Lord; but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.’

Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances;³ and all the people answered with one voice, and said, ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.’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 set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.⁵ 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.’⁶

Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, ‘See the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel.⁷ Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.⁸ God did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; also they beheld God, and they ate and drank.⁹

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’¹⁰

So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, ‘Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.’¹¹

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 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 out of the cloud. 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.¹² Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.¹³

1 God's holiness is once again emphasized.

2 Moses's privileged position is once again emphasized.

3 Honestly, that's quite a lot to keep in your head.

4 That's quite a promise to make, and one they obviously can't keep.

5 It is made very clear that worship and sacrifice follow the reception of the law.

6 They again make a promise they can't keep.

7 What does it mean that they saw God?

8 A very mysterious detail.

9 They beheld God, and ate and drank. This passage gets more and more mysterious.

10 Interesting that this happens after Moses has already written them down himself.

11 A practical order to deal with in their upcoming absense.

12 How does this differ from what the elders had seen of God before?

13 A very extensive period.

This unusual passage has a number of focuses. One, the clear presentation of the glory of God as evidenced by the people. Two, inability of the common person to approach God. Three, the confirmation that Moses had been given the law by God and recorded it. And four, the promise by the people to follow God's law, which they would prove unable to fulfill.