Exodus 24:1-18

Exodus: *Israel becomes a nation

God’s instructions to Moses

Exodus Chapter s 19 to 40

Hilda Bright and Kitty Pride

Chapter 24

God’s special promise 1-18

v1 Then God spoke to Moses again. ‘Come up the mountain to me, the *LORD. Bring Aaron and his sons, Nadab and Abihu, with you. And bring 70 other leaders from the *Israelites. They must *worship me from a distance. v2 But, Moses, you must approach me alone, because I am the *LORD. The other men must not come near to me. And the rest of the people cannot come up the mountain with them.’

v3 Moses went and told all the *LORD’s instructions and laws to the people. They all answered him together. ‘We will do everything that the *LORD has ordered.’ v4 Then Moses wrote down everything that the *LORD had said.

Moses got up early the next morning. He built an *altar on level ground near the mountain. And he erected 12 tall stones, 1 stone for each of the 12 families of the *Israelites. v5 Then Moses sent some young *Israelite men to give gifts to the *LORD. They killed the animals and they burnt them on the *altar. Also they killed young *bulls and they gave them to the *LORD as friendship gifts. v6 Moses put half of the blood from the animals in bowls. And he splashed the rest of the blood over the *altar. v7 Moses had written in a book God’s special promise to the people. Then he read to the people from that book. They answered again. ‘We will do everything that the *LORD has said. We will obey him.’

v8 Then Moses splashed the blood from the bowl onto the people. ‘With this blood God makes his special promise to you’, Moses told them. ‘You have heard all the words of this special promise that the *LORD has made to you.’

v9 Moses and Aaron with Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 *Israelite leaders went up the mountain. v10 They saw *Israel’s God. There was something like a floor under his feet. It seemed like the precious stone called *sapphire. It was as clear as the blue sky itself. v11 But God did not punish the *Israelite leaders. They saw God. Then they ate and they drank.

v12 The *LORD spoke to Moses again. ‘Come up the mountain to me. I want you to stay here with me for a time. I will give to you two flat stones on which I have written my *commandments. I have written on them all my laws and instructions that the people must obey.’

v13 Then Moses took his assistant, called Joshua, with him. And they went up the mountain to meet God. v14 Moses had spoken to the leaders. ‘Wait here for us until we come back to you’, he said. ‘Aaron and Hur are here with you. Anyone who has an argument can ask them for help.’

v15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it. v16 And the wonderful, bright light from the *LORD remained on *Mount Sinai. The cloud covered the mountain for 6 days. On the 7th day, the *LORD called to Moses from inside the cloud. v17 The *Israelites saw the wonderful, bright light from the *LORD. And it seemed like a fire that burned on the top of the mountain. v18 Then Moses entered the cloud and he continued to go up the mountain. He stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.

Verse 1 Nadab and Abihu were Aaron’s sons. Leviticus 10:1-2 records how they died later. They gave a gift that God did not accept. They were priests, but they had not obeyed God’s strict instructions about the priests’ duties. The 70 leaders *represented the whole *Israelite nation.

Verses 3-4 All the people agreed that they would obey the *LORD’s *commandments. After Moses had recorded the *LORD’s words, he read them to the people. So there was a permanent account to which they referred. The 12 tall stones *represented the 12 families of *Israel. The *altar *represented the *LORD in the events that happened next.

Verses 5-7 Perhaps the young men were the oldest sons from various families. Moses had separated them from the other *Israelites to act as priests. Later, Moses appointed Aaron and his sons, and his grandsons, and his grandsons’ sons to be priests for all time. These young men gave two kinds of gifts on the *altar that Moses had built. They killed and burnt whole animals as gifts to God. This was a *sign that they would hold back nothing from God. They also gave friendship gifts (sometimes the Bible calls them peace gifts). These gifts were a *sign of friendship with God. And they were a *sign of friendship with each other. When people gave a friendship gift, usually they had a meal together afterwards. They would eat a part of the friendship or peace gift together. Moses splashed the blood on the *altar as a *sign. It showed that God was making a special promise to the people. Then the *Israelites promised to obey God’s laws because they were God’s special people.

Verse 8 Probably Moses splashed some blood on the leaders because they *represented all the people. The blood was a *sign that God was making a special promise to all the people. Jesus referred to his own blood as the *sign of God’s special promise (Matthew 26:27-28).

Verses 9-11 ‘They saw *Israel’s God.’ This does not mean that they saw God’s face. Nobody can see the full, wonderful light from God and continue to live. Moses saw only God’s back (Exodus 33:21-23). The leaders saw God’s feet. He was standing on something that looked like a *sapphire floor. *Sapphire is a blue precious stone. And that floor was like the blue colour of a clear sky. Although the leaders saw God, he did not punish them. They all ate the friendship meal afterwards. They shared the peace gift that they had given to God.

Verses 12-18 Moses and Joshua went further up the mountain. (Joshua had led the *Israelites when they defeated the *Amalekites.) Moses said that Aaron and Hur would settle any problems. They had helped Moses to pray in the battle with the *Amalekites. They had held up his hands (Exodus 17:10-12).

People can cut letters into flat pieces of stone. God used those stones when he wrote his 10 *commandments. And he gave the stones to Moses. In Deuteronomy 9:9 the writer calls the two flat stones the ‘flat stones of the special promise’. God had written his 10 *commandments on them. Cloud and fire were the *signs that God was present. 40 days and 40 nights is a long time. Jesus was in the *desert for that amount of time (Matthew 4:1-2).

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.
LORD ~ God gave this special name to himself. It translates the word ‘Yahweh’ in the Hebrew language. It links to the words ‘I am’; it means that God has been here always.

Lord ~ a name for God. It translates the Hebrew word ‘Adonai’, which means ‘my ruler’. The word ‘lord’ (without a capital letter) means an ordinary ruler.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Israelites spoke. A Hebrew is a Jewish person or an Israelite

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to the Jews.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a gift to God.
altar ~ a table on which people give gifts or *sacrifices to God or to a false god.
bull ~ male farm animal; (the female is called a cow). The Israelites made a metal image of a bull, which they worshipped as an idol.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a gift to God.

idol ~ an object that people worship instead of God; an object made out of wood, stone or metal that people worship.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
sapphire ~ a precious blue stone.
commandment ~ a rule or an order that God gave to the Jews. The 10 rules that God gave to Moses on the mountain called Mount Sinai (or Horeb); an order from someone who has authority.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.

Mount ~ another name for mountain.
Mount ~ another name for mountain.
represent ~ when a person acts on behalf of someone else; or you put something in place of something else.
sign ~ a signal; a mark to show that something is special; a powerful act.
sapphire ~ a precious blue stone.
Amalekites ~ people who come from Esau’s grandson, Amalek.
desert ~ a wild place where there are small bushes and not much water. It has poor soil and people cannot grow crops there. So, not many people live there.