Exodus 24-The Israelites Ratify The Covenant And God Summons To The Mountain To Receive Ten Commandments On Tablets Of Stone
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 18, 2012
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 24-The Israelites Ratify The Covenant And God Summons Moses to the Mountain To Receive Ten Commandments On Tablets Of Stone
Lesson # 27
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 24:1.
Exodus chapter 24 is considered by many Bible scholars as the climax to the book of Exodus since it contains the record of the Israelites ratifying the covenant that God had established with them, which is called today “the Mosaic covenant” or the “Mosaic Law.”
In Exodus 19-23, we have presented the stipulations, which would include the Ten Commandments and various ordinances, which were to govern the conduct of the nation, which would serve as the nation’s constitution.
It bestowed upon the Israelites the wonderful privilege of worshipping and serving God as well as representing Him by reflecting His perfect, holy standards before the Gentile world.
Now, in Exodus 24, we have the people ratifying the covenant by agreeing to do all that God required of them.
Exodus 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 you shall worship at a distance. 2 Moses alone, however, shall come near to the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.” 3 Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!” 4 Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 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!” 8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.”
Verses 1-2 contain the invitation from God for Israel to ratify the covenant and specifically, only the leadership of Israel was permitted to approach God on Mount Sinai.
Selected by God were of course Moses but also his brother Aaron as well as his sons, Nadab and Abihu including also seventy elders and from this entourage, only Moses was permitted by God to draw near to Him while the others stayed at a distance.
This restriction was to honor Moses in the site of these elders and also demonstrated that only Moses was on intimate terms with God and was the most obedient of all the elders of Israel.
It also demonstrated that Moses was the mediatorial ruler in Israel meaning that he stood between God and the Israelites and represented God before the Israelites and represented the Israelites before God.
In verse 3, we read that after hearing the covenant code of conduct repeated to them by Moses as he had heard it on the mountain, the Israelites gave their assent to it.
Verses 4 and 7 indicate that this Israelite assent took place a second time after Moses had written the covenant code of conduct down and read it to the Israelites.
This assent meant that they promised to obey everything in this covenant code of conduct which contained the Ten Commandments recorded in chapter 20 as well as the various ordinances recorded in chapters 21-23.
The Israelites’ agreement to keep the covenant that appears here in chapter 24 echoes their statement in Exodus 19:8.
In this verse as is the case in Exodus 24:3 and 7, after listening to the elders of Israel, the Israelites agree to do all that the Lord commanded them to do, thus they enter into the covenant with the Lord.
Some expositors have criticized this response as presumptuous and that the Israelites should have confessed their total inability to obey perfectly the Lord’s commands.
However, Deuteronomy chapter 5 records the same event but reveals in greater detail what the Lord thought of the Israelites’ response.
In Deuteronomy 5:28, the Lord says that the Israelites had done well by responding in such a fashion and then, in Deuteronomy 5:29, the Lord also reveals that the Israelites did not have the capacity to obey Him, bemoaning the fact that they did not have the heart to do so.
So these passages teach us the Lord accepted the Israelites’ response, though they were not aware of their inability to obey Him, and the covenant was ratified for the establishment of the kingdom of God in Israel.
So the Israelites’ response to God that they would obey all that He commanded expresses their desire to obey Him wholeheartedly even though they did not have the capacity to do so.
They wanted what God was offering them but they overestimated their own ability to keep the covenant, much like Peter overestimated own ability to overcome Satan and remain faithful to the Lord during His passion.
The Israelites also underestimated God’s own holy standards, which is the direct result of not appreciating their own sinfulness and God’s holiness but the Mosaic Law would teach about both.
Now, Exodus 24:4 records that Moses wrote down the law, which was extremely important since this would be needed to instruct future generations as well as foreigners entering into the covenant community.
Having it in writing would remove guessing or relying on one’s memory as to what the Lord said and would provide them a reference, in which they could know exactly what the Lord required in certain cases.
Also, by having it in writing, the Israelites could read it so as to keep the law fresh in their minds and ready for application.
Verse 4 also tells the reader that the following morning Moses built an altar at the foot of the mountain and erected twelve pillars, which represented the twelve tribes of Israel.
Verse 5 says that Moses directed the young men of the nation to offer burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings.
The former portrayed or typified that aspect of Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross, which would propitiate the Father (1 John 2:2; 4:10) whereas the latter taught the doctrine of reconciliation (Lev. 3) and set forth God as propitiated and the sinner reconciled.
Later on in Israel’s history, the Levitical priesthood would have performed these animal sacrifices.
Therefore, we have the young men of Israel performing this function until the Levites were chosen by the Lord to do this task.
These sacrifices made clear to the Israelites that they could only approach God who is holy to worship Him and have fellowship with Him by means of a blood animal sacrifice.
Exodus 24:4-7 contains five elements, which served to direct the people’s attention to their new relationship with God and served to prepare the Israelites for their verbal agreement ratifying the covenant.
Their first assent was unofficial, the second would be official.
These five elements were an altar, twelve stone pillars, animal sacrifices, the sprinkling of blood on the altar and the reading of the covenant.
The contents of this covenant appear in Exodus 20:1-23:33.
The blood in the basins was to be sprinkled on the people as a visible sign that they were the recipients of the benefit that the shed blood provided.
The blood sprinkled on the altar signified that God was the other party in the covenant agreement, which was represented by sacrifices at the altar.
Hebrews 9:22 makes clear that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
The blood animal sacrifices would remind the Israelites that forgiveness and their acceptance by God was based on a sacrifice, which would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
Exodus 24:8 records that Moses sprinkled the blood on the Israelites which symbolized their being parties to the covenant.
The blood of the animal would remind the Israelites of their oath to be keep the covenant.
The ceremony was designed to be memorable so that the Israelites could recall their oath to the Lord.
Exodus 24:9-11 tell the reader that Moses along with Aaron and his two oldest sons and seventy elders were granted an audience in the presence of the Lord Himself in order to confirm and ratify the covenant.
Verse 10 says that these individuals saw God, which appears to conflict with Exodus 33:11, 20, John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12, which state that no one can seen God and live.
These verses make clear that sinful humans who are saved by grace never actually see God in His essence, which can only take place after their death or the rapture when they are minus their sin nature.
Thus, the elders saw only a vision or some sort of representation of God in which they could discern who He was.
So God lets this contingent of Israelite leaders see some kind of form that lets them known that they were dealing with a person and are in fact in the presence of God.
Exodus 33:11 says that Moses spoke “face to face” with God, which does not contradict the fact that he was not allowed to see God’s face (v. 20) as “face to face” is a figurative expression suggesting openness and friendship (cf. Num. 12:8; Deut. 34:10; and comments on John 1:18).
So in Exodus 24:9-11, we have a special ceremony that entails a meal.
It was commonplace in Moses’ day and in the ancient world to ratify an agreement with a meal (cf. Genesis 31:54; Luke 22:15-20).
Thus, the significance of Moses, Aaron, his two sons and the seventy elders eating a meal with God is that it symbolized the ratification of an agreement between God and the nation of Israel.
It symbolized that God had accepted the Israelites and expressed His approval of them.
The Lord Jesus Christ was said to eat with sinners, which expressed His acceptance of sinners (cf. Matthew 9:10-11; 11:19; Mark 2:15-15; Luke 5:30; 15:2).
So this formal meal demonstrated a mutual agreement had taken place between God and the Israelites and expressed cooperation between the two sides and God’s acceptance of the Israelites and their respect of God.
Verse 10 says that under the feet of the God of Israel “there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.”
A more accurate translation of this phrase would “there appeared like the work of brick composed of sapphire indeed as clear as the sky itself” which indicates that the men on the mountain were given the impression that God was not actually standing on the mountain but was only visible there in a personal way.
It indicated that God did not need any kind of footing like men or in other words that He was transcendent of creation.
Verse 11 tells the reader that God did not kill this Israelite delegation, which reflects the attitude in the ancient world that to see God meant certain death.
However, God does not kill any member of this delegation to express the fact that they would be assured that God was willing to enter into this agreement with them.
Exodus 24:12 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.” 13 So Moses arose with Joshua his servant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 But to the elders he said, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a legal matter, let him approach them.” 15 Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. 17 And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top. 18 Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (NASB95)
Exodus 24:12 along with 34:28 tell the reader that while Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights he received from God on tablets of stone the Ten Commandments as well as commands related to worshipping God.
Exodus 24:12-18 assumes that the Israelite delegation composed of Moses, Aaron, his two sons and seventy elders had descended from the mountain and were back in the Israelite camp.
The trip recorded in this pericope would involve only Moses and his assistant, Joshua and would last for forty days and forty nights.
The events recorded in Exodus 25:1-32:16 took place during this period of time.
Exodus 24:12 makes clear that God only wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone whereas all the other commandments found in Exodus 21-23 were written by Moses according to God’s dictation (Exodus 17:14; 24:4; 34:27; cf. Deuteronomy 27:3, 8; 31:9).
Furthermore, Deuteronomy 4:13, 5:22 and 10:2-4 also tell us that God only wrote down on tablets of stone the Decalogue.
In Exodus 24:14, Moses tells the elders to wait for his return with Joshua and delegates authority to Aaron and Hur to decide legal matters in his stead.
This would indicate quite clearly to the Israelites that Moses was intending to be away for quite awhile.
Thus, they would need to be patient until his return, which they were not as evidenced by the events recorded in Exodus 32 and the building of the golden calf.
In Exodus 24:15-16, we have the glory of the Lord represented in a cloud resting on Mount Sinai, covering it for six days and this is the same cloud mentioned in Exodus 19:18.
Verse 17 says that the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.
This indicates the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the Sinai Peninsula to Horeb which is mentioned in Exodus 13:21-22 and 14:19-24, now resided on this mountain top.
The pillar of cloud during the day and the pillar of fire at night was a visible manifestation of the Lord’s presence in the camp of the Israelites.
This visible manifestation was to guide and protect the Israelites and also would comfort them.
So we have here the pillar of cloud resting on the mountain during the day and the pillar of fire appearing on the mountain at night, which was a manifestation of God’s presence.
