Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 24:16-18

16 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.

17 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.

18 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.

The presence of the Lord descended upon the mountain, but Moses did not go up into it straightaway. He waited for the Lord to call him up, which did not occur until the seventh day. This immediately calls to mind the six days of creation, and the seventh day of rest. The reason for this parallel is not explained.

Perhaps that seventh day coincided with the Jewish sabbath, and the Lord was waiting for that sacred day to call Moses apart from the world. Perhaps the cloud on the mountain was purifying the place before the Lord’s arrival, recreating that part of the earth over six days just like it had taken six days to perform the original creation. Perhaps Moses required the six days to properly prepare his own soul for the meeting. Whatever the reason, we see a pattern of waiting a full measure for the time to be right.

This idea of sacred things taking a full measure to complete is also present in Moses then being up in the mountain for forty days and forty nights. If waiting seven days to ascend calls to mind the Genesis story of creation, then staying up in the mountain for forty days calls to mind Noah shut up in the ark while it rained for forty days and forty nights.

Both the initial conception of the earth and the flood are creation stories. Initial creation and recreation after the first had gone astray. They are symbols of beginning and resetting, of making everything new. Perhaps that was the Lord’s intent with these numbers, to suggest that His communion with Moses would usher forth a new beginning for Israel and all the world, a recreation of laws and principles that had been lost.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 24:13-15

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

14 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.

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

A number of priests and elders had stood with Moses to receive the witness of God. Now, though, when Moses went to receive the tables of stone with God’s law etched upon them, only Joshua accompanied him. It is interesting that Joshua is described here as Moses’s “minister.” The original Hebrew uses the word שָׁרַת (sharath), which is generally translated as “minister” or “servant” throughout the Bible.

Joshua would, of course, become the next leader of Israel, and so this is an interesting literal manifestation of what Jesus said when he told his disciples, “And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant,” (Matthew 20:27). Joshua was literally functioning as a servant to Moses, and he really would become chief among all the Israelites.

Before Moses and Joshua ascended the mountain, Moses put the care of the congregation in the hands of Aaron and Hur. He said that any matters that needed to be addressed could be brought to those two priests. This, of course, would ultimately lead to their mischief with the golden calf in Chapter 32.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 24:12

12 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.

Moses is called up into the mountain again, this time for the Lord to write His laws and commandments upon tables of stone and give them to Moses. Of course, the Lord already had given His laws, at least His preliminary ones, and Moses had written them in a book, but it would seem that the Lord wanted to establish His word with something more permanent.

There is obviously symbolic significance in etching the law of God into the stone. As already mentioned, there is the permanence aspect of it. Words on a page could be torn, blotted out, smeared, stained, burned, and washed away. Ink creates its forms for a time, but negligence, misfortune, and malice can all destroy those forms. A table of stone, however, would be immune to all of the methods of defacing mentioned above. So, too, God’s law was not meant to be smeared or crumpled by the philosophies of man, but to withstand all such attacks.

Though it should be noted, tables of stone are not indestructible either. Though they may withstand much more abuse, they can still be broken, ground into dust, and eroded. God’s law is absolute and eternal, but any form of it here on Earth is subject to degradation. Every earthly attempt at permanence is ultimately in vain and ultimately mankind will always depend on the Lord to refresh His words and His law after we have all gone astray.

Though, there is a counterpoint to this that is also symbolized in the Lord carving His law into the rock. This is the Lord putting His words into nature itself, carving His principles into the very face of the mountain. This suggests to us that even if our structures and edifices to God may deteriorate and grow dim, there are infinite other chapels to Him on Earth that will never cease. His law is written right into the layers of our rock, the fibers of our trees, and the lettering of our DNA. All the Earth is secretly imprinted with Him and His word, and those truths can be drawn out by the truly observant in every age.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 24:9-11

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

10 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.

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

This is a most remarkable event described in these verses, so much so that I am amazed it is spoken of so little. We often hear how Moses saw the burning bush, and how Stephen saw God the Father and Jesus Christ at his martyrdom, and even how Jesus appeared to 500 after his resurrection, but today’s verses may be recording the largest recorded witnessing of the personage of God! Seventy elders, three priests, and Moses all witnessing God at the same moment, as well as “all the nobles of children of Israel,” for which we do not have a number, but which I would assume brought the total at least into the hundreds.

And they did not just see some strange abstraction of God, such as with the burning bush or the pillar of smoke and fire. The declaration of what they saw “under his feet” makes it clear that they perceived Him as having a physical, human body. Of course, there are different opinions as to whether God naturally possesses a body or not. Personally, I believe that He does, but for those that see Him primarily as a spirit, I suppose this body could be interpreted as a manifestation of His condescended form, the man Jesus Christ.

The verses also tell us that God was standing upon a “paved work of sapphire stone,” which was so clear that it appeared like the heavens above. This image of God standing upon the heavens calls to mind His later declaration to Isaiah, “The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” This verse seems to be showing us the literal manifestation of that claim. All the things of our world are literally beneath God’s feet, He stands above and outside of it all, He has all of it subdued and under His feet. This is the great Outer God, whom we must not forget the reality of, even while we recognize the small Inner God that also resides within us.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 24:4-8

4 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.

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

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

7 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.

8 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.

The Israelites had committed to following God’s law, and this covenant was sealed by making solemn sacrifice. Every tribe had their own altar, and all of them ritually dedicated themselves to following the word that God had given.

Let’s take the time to be specific about exactly what those rituals were, and what their significance was. There are three rituals being described here.

  1. The burnt offering. The formal description of how this offering was to be made is given in Leviticus 1.
    • Performance: The Israelite who was making the sacrifice would give up an entire animal which would be cut into parts, cleaned, and then the entire thing was burned on the altar.
    • Significance: This was a constant and regular sacrifice in the Israelite tradition. The burning of the entire animal obviously represents the giving of the whole self to the Lord, turning one’s entire life to His will. It is therefore a fitting symbol for those who are ready to make penance for past transgressions and willing to commit themselves back to the Lord.
  2. The peace offering. The initial description of this offering can be found in Leviticus 3, though there are some details that are only explained later, such as in Leviticus 19:5-8 and Deuteronomy 27:7.
    • Performance: The Israelite would once again offer up an entire animal. This time, though, only the fat and specific organs would be laid on the altar and burned. The rest would become a meal that the Israelite would eat that day and the next, with any leftovers being burned upon the third day.
    • Significance: This was a sign of fellowship and friendship. The Israelite making the offering would essentially be sharing a meal with the Lord. The Lord’s part of the meal came from what was burned on the altar, the Israelite’s part from eating the remaining flesh. Also of note was that the parts burned on the altar were forbidden for the Israelites to eat anyway (fat and blood), so God was taking the portion that was not right for the Israelites and leaving for them what was good, just as He takes from us our sin and leaves us with a new heart. This sacrifice is a fitting symbol for those who are living in union and harmony with God, sharing a life and a purpose with Him.
  3. The sprinkling of blood. Some of the most thorough details of this ritual are actually the ones given here in these verses. However, there are some additional details of this event included in Hebrews 9:19-22.
    • Performance: This ritual was attached to the other sacrifices. There is no sprinkling of blood without the burnt and peace offerings. The priest would take the blood from the offerings, mix it with water, and divide it in two. Half he would sprinkle over the altar, its instruments, and even the book of the law, and the other half would be sprinkled upon the person(s) making the offering.
    • Significance: The blood was sprinkled over the instruments and word of God, and also upon the people. It covers them both, binds them together, and seals their covenant. In Hebrews 9 the assertion is made that every testament/covenant requires the death of the testator to be in full force. Frankly, that is a logic I don’t understand at this point. I don’t yet know what fundamental, universal truth makes it so that death is necessary to empower a commitment, but apparently there is one, and so that sprinkled blood was the activating agent in the covenant between God and His people.

Taken as a whole, we can see that Israel was sacrificing their old lives and giving themselves wholeheartedly to God by the burnt offering. Then they were recognized as His partners and shared meal with Him via the peace offering. Finally, this new union was sanctified by the sprinkling of the blood.

These were not random rituals, each one served a function and a purpose, with deep spiritual meaning behind them. They were being used to properly initiate God’s people.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 24:3

3 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.

Back in Chapter 19 the Israelites had been informed that God wanted to make a special covenant with them, wherein they would be required to follow His commandments and He in turn would make them His peculiar, chosen people. In response, “all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.”

This preliminary agreement having been reached, Moses then went up into the mountain, and throughout the previous three chapters we have heard the law that they Lord laid down for the people. Now we reach the other bookend to this event, where Moses delivers the law to the Israelites, and once again, “and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do.”

Thus, first the Israelites agreed to receive God’s law, then they agreed to obey it. And as we will see in the following chapters, Israel’s acceptance of the law here is preliminary to them receiving further instructions, wherein God will give the command for them to build a tabernacle which He will fill with His presence.

We clearly see in this that we come into alignment with the Lord by degrees. First we open ourselves just to hearing His word, then we commit ourselves to actually following it, then we receive the gift of His spirit in our home. He does not ask us to commit to things unknowingly, but instead invites us to hear exactly what we’re committing to, and then we decide whether to move forward or not. He does not invade us with His presence right off, He offers it and we must accept it. What we know of the Lord, and how deep our connection goes with Him, is limited only by our willingness to accept each new commitment He offers us.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 24:1-2

1 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.

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

Today’s verses show a hierarchy being created. All of Israel is to worship from afar while Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu will ascend into the mountain with Moses. Those three priests would only come part of the way, though, with Moses alone fully entering into the presence of the Lord. Thus there is a triangular hierarchy with the prophet standing beside God at the top, the priests a step down from there, and the general populace down at the bottom.

Understanding hierarchies like this requires nuance and care. It is all too easy to turn a hierarchy into a competition, to feel ashamed of oneself if you are not high enough in the structure. In my church we often hear over the pulpit that the pastor is no more important than the nursery teacher, that each is performing an equal duty in the eyes of God, but it seems that the parishioners struggle to actually believe that.

Hierarchies are necessary for the management of a large people. If we had many leaders and few followers then there would be a constant change in direction and not enough workers to get things done. By necessity there must be fewer at the top and more at the bottom, but each half needs the other or nothing gets done at all. Every part, rightly balanced, is essential. Neither are expendable.

One other note from these verses is that Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu ascending the mountain with Moses calls to mind Peter, James, and John accompanying Jesus into the Mount of Transfiguration. Interestingly, one of the angels that conversed with Jesus in that mountain was none other than Moses. This same pattern of three accompanying witnesses was repeated again with Peter, James, and John as they followed Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane at the beginning of his Passion. There seems to be a principle of three witnesses observing the divine moments of the leading prophet, so that they may bear testimony of it afterward.