Summary:
In Exodus 24, the Israelites confirm their covenant with God at Mount Sinai.
Moses reads the Book of the Covenant to the people, who respond, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
Moses builds an altar, offers sacrifices, and sprinkles half the blood on the altar and the other half on the people, declaring it “the blood of the covenant.”
Then, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders ascend the mountain, where they see a vision of God standing on a pavement like sapphire and share a covenant meal in His presence without harm.
God calls Moses further up the mountain to receive the stone tablets inscribed with the law, accompanied by Joshua, while Aaron and Hur remain in charge below.
Moses enters the cloud of God’s glory, which appears like a devouring fire, and stays on the mountain for forty days and nights.
Pointing to Jesus:
A key redemptive element in Exodus 24 is the sprinkling of the “blood of the covenant” (v. 8), which foreshadows Jesus’ sacrificial death and the new covenant.
This typifies how the old covenant’s blood ratification points to Christ’s atoning blood, establishing union between God and His people through grace alone.
As Walter Kaiser notes in his commentary: “The blood by which the covenant was ratified and sealed was the basis for the union between Yahweh and the people.
This phrase becomes most important in the NT in its reappearance in the Lord’s Supper (Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25; Heb 9:20; Heb 10:29; also Heb 12:24; Heb 13:20; 1 Peter 1:2).”
Reflection:
Exodus 24 reminds Christians that true access to God’s presence comes not through our own merits but through a mediator and the blood of the covenant—echoing how we draw near to God today through Christ alone.
It calls us to faithful obedience, communal worship (as in the elders’ meal, akin to the Lord’s Supper), and patient waiting on God’s timing, encouraging a life marked by covenant commitment amid His transforming glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment