The covenant is sealed. Moses writes down everything God has said, builds an altar with twelve pillars, and dashes sacrificial blood half on the altar and half on the people: the blood of the covenant. Then he and Aaron and seventy elders climb the mountain and see the God of Israel — a sapphire pavement under His feet — and eat and drink in His presence. Moses is called higher still, waits six days in the cloud, and on the seventh goes in, for forty days.
A study in Exodus 24 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 7 min read
With One Voice
“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.”
Exodus 24:3
They said this once already, before they had heard the terms (Exodus 19:8). Now they have heard the ten words and the judgments in detail, and they say it again — “and be obedient” (verse 7). The promise is more informed this time, and no more able to be kept. What makes a covenant hold is not the strength of the people’s vow but the faithfulness of God.
“They had at the first promised to obey the voice of God; but they had since heard His law proclaimed; and its principles had been particularized, that they might know how much this covenant involved.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 312
The Blood Of The Covenant
“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
Half the blood goes on the altar — God’s side — and half is thrown over the people. Both parties are bound by the same death. Hebrews 9 quotes this verse and then says the new covenant is sealed the same way, only better: not the blood of oxen but of Christ. At the Last Supper Jesus lifts the exact phrase — “this is my blood of the new testament” (Matthew 26:28) — standing where Moses stood.
They Saw God, And Did Eat And Drink
“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… also they saw God, and did eat and drink.”
Exodus 24:10-11
Seventy-four men go up and live — and even share a meal in the presence of God. It is the covenant equivalent of sitting down at a table with the King. Ezekiel sees the same sapphire pavement under the throne (Ezekiel 1:26), and John sees a “sea of glass” before it (Revelation 4:6). They did not see God as He is; they saw the glory of His presence — and only because the terror of Sinai had already brought them low.
“They did not behold the Deity, but they saw the glory of His presence. Before this they could not have endured such a scene; but the exhibition of God’s power had awed them to repentance.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 312
Come Up To Me Into The Mount, And Be There
“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.”
Exodus 24:12
“Come up… and be there” — not just arrive, but stay, wait, be present. God is about to give the Ten Commandments a second time, this time cut into stone by His own hand, to be kept in a sanctuary He is about to describe. Moses leaves Aaron and Hur in charge and takes Joshua part of the way.
The Cloud Covered It Six Days
“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 Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.”
Exodus 24:15-18
Six days of silence in the cloud before God speaks — a stretch of waiting that was itself the preparation. Even Moses could not walk straight into that glory; he needed the days of quiet first, and the call came on the seventh, the Sabbath. Down on the plain, the people are watching the fire on the peak and starting to count how long he has been gone.
“This period of waiting was to him a time of preparation, of close self-examination. Even this favored servant of God could not at once approach into His presence and endure the exhibitions of His glory.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 313
