Exodus 24:1-11

¹ Then he told Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance. ² Moses alone should come near to the LORD, but the others should not come near, and the people should not come up with him.” ³ Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” ⁴ And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He got up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. ⁶ And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against 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 keep doing, and we will remain obedient.” ⁸ And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “See, the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” ⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the sky itself for clearness. ¹¹ And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they saw God, and ate and drank.

joining up

In the ancient near east, when two tribes joined together they would form a covenant, and that covenant would be ratified by a mutual sacrifice and a mutual fellowship mean. That imagery went through the minds of the Israelites as the LORD called on them to make a covenant with himself by obedience to the ten words. The Book of the Covenant was the law code given to Moses by the LORD himself so that the sons of Israel would know how to obey the ten words. This gathering of Moses, the priests, and the elders was a visual demonstration to the community that the covenant had been made.

Covenants like the one made at Sinai were being made all the time between families at the time. The sons of Israel could not help believing that their status in the world had been significantly changed that day. They had joined up with the clan of God himself.

Thank you, LORD Jesus, for bringing us into your family, and symbolizing that new relationship with the new covenant meal.