Old Testament
Exodus 24
Blood, Feast, and the Cloud of Glory
Overview
At Sinai, Moses ratifies the covenant between Yahweh and Israel through a solemn blood rite at the foot of the mountain; the elders then ascend and behold God, eating and drinking in His presence; and Moses alone enters the divine cloud to receive the written tablets of the Law.
Passages
Study Resources
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Exodus 24
1He said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance. 2Moses alone shall come near to Yahweh, but they shall not come near. The people shall not go up with him.”
3Moses came and told the people all Yahweh’s words, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which Yahweh has spoken will we do.”
4Moses wrote all Yahweh’s words, then rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the base of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5He sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of cattle to Yahweh. 6Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “We will do all that Yahweh has said, and be obedient.”
8Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you concerning all these words.”
9Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness. 11He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
12Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”
13Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain. 14He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16Yahweh’s glory settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud. 17The appearance of Yahweh’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.