Christianity

Exodus 24The Covenant Sealed

Summary

Exodus 24 ratifies the covenant. Moses writes down God's words, builds an altar with twelve pillars for the tribes, and reads the book of the covenant to the people, who answer that they will do all the LORD has said. He sprinkles them with the blood of the covenant. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders see the God of Israel above a pavement like sapphire, and eat and drink. Moses then enters the cloud on the mountain for forty days and nights.

Key verse

“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.”

Exodus 24:8

Themes

Covenant Ratification
Blood and Promise
Vision of God
Commitment

And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.

And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

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.

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.

And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.

And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

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.

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.

Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

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.

And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

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.

And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

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.

And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.

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.

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.

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.

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

Christianity
Hebrews 9: The Blood of the Testament
Hebrews 9:18 to 20 quotes Moses' words over the blood and compares the Sinai covenant with the new covenant through Christ. Jesus' words at the Last Supper in Matthew 26:28 about the blood of the new testament echo the same scene.
Islam
Surah Al-Baqarah (2): We Hear and We Rebel
Quran 2:93 recalls the covenant at the mountain and says that some answered, We hear and we rebel. It stands in pointed contrast to Exodus 24:7, where the people pledge to do all that the LORD has said.

Questions about Exodus 24

What does we will do and we will hear mean?

In Hebrew, Exodus 24:7 reads naaseh venishma, rendered in the KJV as will we do, and be obedient. Rabbinic tradition praised Israel for pledging to act even before hearing every detail.

Did the elders of Israel see God?

Exodus 24:10 to 11 says they saw the God of Israel and beneath his feet a paved work of sapphire, and that he did not harm them. Interpreters have long debated what this vision involved, given Exodus 33:20.