Exodus
Chapter 24
Rite of the Covenant
Then he said to Moses:
“Go up to the Lord, you, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu with seventy of the elders of Israel, and let them worship from a distance.
Moses alone shall go forward to the Lord, but not the others, nor shall the people go up with him.”
Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all his laws. The people replied with one voice:
“Everything that the Lord has said, we shall do.”
Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord, then rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve raised stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.
He then sent young men from among the sons of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice bullocks as peace offerings to the Lord.
And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and with the other half of the blood, he sprinkled the altar.
He then took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the people’s hearing. They said:
“All that the Lord said we shall do and obey.”
Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying:
“Here is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you by all these words.”
Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel.
They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was what seemed like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.
And he did not lay a hand on these chosen Israelites. They looked at God and ate and drank.
The Lord said to Moses:
“Come up to me on the mountain and stay there. I will give you the tablets of stone, the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
So Moses arose with his servant, Joshua, and before going up the mountain of God,
Moses said to the elders:
“Remain here until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you; let whoever has a dispute to settle go to them.”
When Moses went up the mountain, a cloud covered it.
The Glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day, He called to Moses from within the cloud.
The Glory of the Lord appeared like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain, as it appeared to the Israelites.
And Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain and stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Commentaries
Rite of the Covenant.
As is common in many other parts of the Pentateuch, we find here a double tradition within a single account: on one hand, there are verses 1, 9-11, and on the other, verses 3-8; both traditions describe in their way the terms under which the Sinai Covenant is established. In the first tradition, the Covenant culminates with a meal (verses 9-11): the Lord welcomes the representatives of all the people and shares a meal with them. The absolute transcendence of God is emphasized through imagery, yet it is also made clear that, although the diners have seen God, He did not stretch out His hand against them (verse 11). The Israelites believed that anyone who saw God’s face would die. The second tradition (verses 3-8) emphasizes the people’s commitment, who explicitly declare: “Everything that the Lord has said, we will do” (verses 3b, 7b). The reading of the Covenant’s terms (verse 7); the erection of an altar and twelve stones (verse 4); the offering of communion sacrifices (verse 5), which signifies that all the people participate in the meal ritual; and finally, the sprinkling of blood from the sacrificed animals (verse 8), were all part of the typical covenant ceremony. However, this is not just any agreement; it is a covenant where God is the primary contracting party, a feature that lends an exclusive character to a figure so familiar among all peoples of the ancient Near East. Traditionally, gods were invoked as witnesses, and blessings or curses were invoked depending on whether obedience or disobedience was demonstrated. Here, God assumes both roles—as witness and covenant maker—guaranteeing that He will remain faithful and true to His commitment to be the God of the people.
Verses 12-18 introduce the story of the golden calf, but simultaneously, the priestly school adapted them to set the stage for the instructions regarding the construction of the Sanctuary (chapters 25-31) and the subsequent fulfillment of divine commands (chapters 35-40). Overall, these verses aim to highlight the profound theological importance of Sinai. The priestly tradition (P) is less concerned with emphasizing Sinai as the location of the Covenant and more focused on Sinai as the site of God’s most direct and manifest presence; consequently, His most precise and fundamental demands concerning the holiness of the people are primarily expressed through worship. Therefore, the connection made by this tradition (P) between the Jerusalem Sanctuary, its priesthood, and its sacrificial cult system with the theophany at Sinai underscores this focus.