Exodus 24 - Outline of Exodus (Book Notes menu page)

24:1 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD,
thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu {Aaron's sons},
and seventy of the elders of Israel;
and worship ye afar off.
24:2 And Moses alone shall come near the LORD:
but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.
  worship... afar off...- Under Law, this is the position of man, at his best.
    Contrast the believer's position under Grace (Eph 2:13; Heb 10:19-22).
24:3 And Moses came and told the people
all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments:
and all the people answered with one voice, and said,
All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
24:4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD,
and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill,
and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
24:5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings,
and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.
24:6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put [it] in basons;
and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
24:7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people:
and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.
24:8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled [it] on the people, and said,
Behold the blood of the covenant,
which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
  The Covenant (consisting of the Ten Commandments and the Judgments) was read, and...
  1. accepted by the people (v.3,7; Ex 19:8).
    Although their words were commendable, they lacked the capability of fulfilling their vow. cp. Deu 5:28,29; Rom 7:18,19
  - sealed with blood (v.6-8).
    - The blood speaks of the remission of sin. cp. Heb 9:19-22
    Israel started their life under the Covenant with a clean slate. They would not be judged for past sins. The people were set apart to the LORD by the blood of the Covenant.
  - The blood speaks also of the 'life and death' seriousness of their contract with the LORD.
      Israel would suffer severe consequences if they failed to perform what they had promised.
      The Mosaic Covenant was 'conditional,' in that its outcome would be determined by whether the people kept it. cp. Deu 30:15-20
    The blood of the New Covenant is 'better'...
    - because the believer's sin is truly removed by Christ's sacrifice, and
    - because the believer's redemption is fully secured by Christ's work alone.
      Heb 9:23-28; 10:14-18; Mat 26:28
24:9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu,
and seventy of the elders of Israel:
24:10 And they saw the God of Israel:
and [there was] under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone,
and as it were the body of heaven in [his] clearness. {cp. Eze 1:26-28; Rev 4:3,6}
24:11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: {cp. Isa 6:1-5}
also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
  they saw God, and did eat and drink.-
  - Based on the blood of the Covenant (which had not yet been broken by disobedience),
    the Holy God withheld His hand from exercising judgment against the elders, and granted them access ['they saw God...'] and fellowship ['they... did eat and drink'] in His presence.
    The 'elders' (v.9, HB= zaqen, 'old ones') are called 'nobles' (v.11, HB='atsiyl, the root meaning is 'set apart ones' or 'near ones') because of this privilege.
  - This experience would never be repeated in the history of Israel,
      because their failure to keep the Law would exclude them from the presence of the Holy God.
  - Note that they did not see God in His fullness, but rather, God revealed something of Himself to them.
      (cp. Moses' later request to see God's glory, Ex 33:18-23; also see Joh 1:18; 14:8,9)
24:12 And the LORD said unto Moses,
Come up to me into the mount, and be there:
and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law,
and commandments which I have written;
that thou mayest teach them.
24:13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua:
and Moses went up into the mount of God.
24:14 And he said unto the elders,
Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you:
and, behold, Aaron and Hur [are] with you:
if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.
24:15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.
24:16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai,
and the cloud covered it six days:
and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
24:17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD [was] like devouring fire
on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
24:18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount:
and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
  Moses went up to receive "tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written..." v.12
    He would not come down from the mount until ch. 32.
    - We might expect that ch. 25-31 would dwell on the content of the stone tables.
    But this subject has already been dealt with thoroughly in ch. 20-24.
    The tables of stone were the original 'hard copy' of the Covenant (the Law), of which Moses already had a working copy, and which the people had already accepted (v.3-4,7-8; cp. Deu 4:13,14).
    (Note that Moses did not actually receive the tables, until the end of the forty days and forty nights. v.12,18; cp. Ex 31:18).
  - Contrary to our expectations, ch. 25-31 consist of the LORD's instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle.
      These six chapters reveal the Tabernacle's design, in great detail.
      Later, another five chapters rehearse these details during the actual construction and consecration of the Tabernacle (ch. 35-40).
      Evidently, the LORD places particular importance upon the "pattern" of the Tabernacle. (cp. Ex 25:9; Heb 8:5; 9:1-28)

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