Exodus · chapter 24 of 40
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Exodus 24 tells how the covenant between God and Israel is ratified at Mount Sinai. Moses reads the book of the covenant, the people promise to obey, and Moses sprinkles the sacrificial blood on them. Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders see the God of Israel and eat and drink in his presence, and Moses goes up the mountain, where he stays forty days and forty nights.
After receiving the Ten Commandments and the laws of the covenant (Exodus 20-23), Israel must respond. Exodus 24 is the moment when the covenant is formally sealed: the people commit themselves, sacrifices are offered and Israel's representatives are received into God's presence. It is the foundation for what follows, the instructions for the tabernacle, and a shadow of the blood of the new covenant in Christ.
God calls Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders of Israel to worship from a distance, and only Moses is to come near to the Lord. Moses tells the people all the Lord's words and laws, and the people answer with one voice that they will do everything the Lord has said. Moses writes the words down, rises early and builds an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes.
Young men of Israel offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. Moses takes half of the blood and puts it in basins, and the other half he throws against the altar. He reads the book of the covenant aloud, and the people again promise to obey. Then Moses sprinkles the blood on the people and declares that it is the blood of the covenant the Lord has made with them.
Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders go up and see the God of Israel; under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, and God did not lay his hand on them. They eat and drink. Afterward the Lord calls Moses up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone. Moses goes up with Joshua and leaves Aaron and Hur in charge. The cloud covers the mountain for six days, on the seventh God calls to Moses from the cloud, and the glory of the Lord looks like a consuming fire. Moses enters the cloud and stays forty days and forty nights.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
After hearing all the Lord's words, the people answer with one voice that they will keep them. It is a sincere promise, but the following chapters will show that Israel needed more than good intentions to fulfill it.
Moses reads the book of the covenant aloud and the people say they will do everything and obey. The covenant is not imposed in silence: it is announced publicly and the people accept it in their own words.
Moses sprinkles the blood on the people and calls it the blood of the covenant. Blood binds Israel to God and reminds us that approaching him requires a sacrifice; the New Testament connects this image with the blood of Christ.
The leaders see God and, though sinners, he does not lay his hand on them; they eat and drink. The meal shows fellowship: God welcomes those who enter his covenant in the way he has provided.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders of Israel; only Moses was to come near. — Exodus 24:1-2
Answer: With one voice they said they would do everything the Lord had spoken. — Exodus 24:3
Answer: An altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. — Exodus 24:4
Answer: He put half in basins, threw the other half against the altar and then sprinkled the people with the blood of the covenant. — Exodus 24:6-8
Answer: They ate and drank. — Exodus 24:11
Answer: Forty days and forty nights. — Exodus 24:18
Exodus 24 teaches that a relationship with God begins with his initiative and is lived out with commitment. The people promise to obey, but the story will show how fragile our promises are. A small group can talk about which commitments we have made before God and how we keep them from staying only words.
The blood of the covenant reminds us that approaching God has a cost that someone else pays. At the Last Supper, Jesus spoke of his blood of the new covenant. That truth gives us security: fellowship with God does not depend on our ability to keep our word but on what Christ has done for us, and it moves us to obey with gratitude.
Exodus 24 leaves Moses inside the cloud, in God's presence, with forty days ahead. In the next chapters the Lord will give him the instructions for building the tabernacle, where he will dwell among his people.
The text says they saw the God of Israel and describes only what was under his feet, something like a pavement of sapphire. Interpreters take it as a real vision of God's glory without any description of his form. Other passages say no one can see his face and live, so the vision was an act of grace.
The blood sealed the covenant and set the people apart as his, showing that the commitment was solemn and involved a sacrifice. The New Testament echoes these words of Moses when it speaks of the blood of Christ as the blood of the new covenant.
They were the oldest sons of Aaron. Here they take part in the act of worship with the elders. Later, in Leviticus 10, they offer unauthorized fire before the Lord and die, which underlines the seriousness of approaching God as he has commanded.