Exodus 24

The Explanation

The mountain rumbled. Smoke hung around the top of Sinai like a dark blanket, and the people of Israel stood at the bottom, looking up.

Moses came down with God's words in his mouth. He told the people everything Yahweh had said. All the rules. All the promises. And the people shouted back together, with one voice, "All the words which Yahweh has spoken will we do."

That night Moses sat and wrote. Every word. Early the next morning, while the air was still cool, he built an altar of stones at the foot of the mountain. Next to it he set up twelve tall stones, one for every tribe of Israel. Twelve stones, standing there like twelve witnesses.

Then came the animals. Young men brought cattle, and there was fire and smoke and the smell of burning. Moses caught the blood in basins. Half of it he splashed onto the altar. Then he picked up the book he had written and read it out loud, all of it, while everyone listened. And again the people answered, "We will do all that Yahweh has said, and be obedient."

And then Moses did something strange. He took the basins and sprinkled the blood over the people. Over them! And he said, "Look, this is the blood of the covenant."

A covenant is a promise so strong that you cannot break it without breaking something. God promised: I will be your God. The people promised: we will listen to you. And the blood said: this is serious. This costs something.

Then Moses climbed the mountain with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy leaders. And there, high up, something happened that almost nobody has ever seen. They saw the God of Israel. They did not see all of Him. But under His feet the ground shone like blue stone, clear as a summer sky. Nobody fell down. Nobody died. They sat down and they ate and they drank, right there in front of God.

Would you have dared to look?

Then God called Moses higher. Only Moses. "Wait here," Moses said to the leaders, and he went up with Joshua. The cloud swallowed the mountain. Six days it stayed like that. On the seventh day God called out of the middle of the cloud, and Moses walked straight into it.

From below, the people watched. The top of the mountain looked like fire that eats everything up. And Moses stayed there forty days and forty nights.

What Does This Mean?

God is not small and He is not tame. That fire on the mountain was real. That is why the people had to stay at a distance.

But look what God does anyway. He does not stay far away. He writes His words down so people can know Him. He makes a promise. And He lets seventy men come close and eat a meal in His presence, and He does not lay a hand on them. God is holy, and God wants to be near. Both are true.

The Common Thread

"This is the blood of the covenant." Hold on to those words.

Many years later, Jesus sat at a table with His friends. He lifted a cup and said almost the same thing: this is my blood of the covenant. The next day His blood was really poured out, on a hill, on a cross.

Moses sprinkled blood from a bull. Jesus gave His own. And because of that, you do not have to stand at a distance from God. You may come close, like those men who ate and drank in front of Him. The fire will not eat you up.

For You

The people said out loud what they were going to do. Try that this week. Say one thing to God, out loud: "I will be honest today." Or, "I will help my sister." Then do it. Not perfectly. Just really.

And when you forget, remember whose blood was poured out for you.

Talk About It

Why do you think God let the seventy men see Him and eat, instead of sending them away?

What is one promise you could make to God this week, small enough that you can really keep it?

Praying Together

God, You are big and bright and holy. Thank You that Jesus opened the way so I may come close. Help me to keep my promise today. Amen.