Exodus 24:2

24:1-8 A solemn covenant was made between God and Israel. Very solemn it was, typifying the covenant of grace between God and believers, through Christ. As soon as God separated to himself a peculiar people, he governed them by a written word, as he has done ever since. God's covenants and commands are so just in themselves, and so much for our good, that the more we think of them, and the more plainly and fully they are set before us, the more reason we may see to comply with them. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the altar, on the book, and on the people. Neither their persons, their moral obedience, nor religious services, would meet with acceptance from a holy God, except through the shedding and sprinkling' of blood. Also the blessings granted unto them were all of mercy; and the Lord would deal with them in kindness. Thus the sinner, by faith in the blood of Christ, renders willing and acceptable obedience.

And Moses alone shall come near the Lord,.... Into the cloud where he was, and talk with him face to face, as a man talketh with his friend; which was great nearness indeed, and a peculiar favour and high honour was this: but they shall not come nigh; Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel: neither shall the people go up with him; not any of them, much less the whole body. It seems, by this account, that Moses had been down from the mount after he had received the laws recorded in the two preceding chapters; though as yet he had not related them to the people, but did before he went up again by the above order, as appears from what follows.

Exodus 24:2 . And Moses alone shall come near — Being therein a type of Christ, who, as the high-priest, entered alone into the most holy place. In the following verse we have the solemn covenant made between God and Israel, and the exchanging of the ratifications: typifying the covenant of grace between God and believers through Christ.

Moses alone, i.e. without the persons now mentioned, though not without Joshua his minister, as some conceive from Exodus 24:13 , though even there Moses seems to ascend into the mount without Joshua. Neither shall the people go up with him to any part of the mount, as Aaron, and Nadab, &c. did, but they shall tarry at the bottom. See Exodus 19:12 .

2 . they (emph.)] Aaron, his two sons, and the elders. neither , &c.] Observe the gradation: the people generally are to remain at the foot of the mountain; Aaron, his two sons, and the elders come partly up the mountain; only Moses goes to the top (cf. Exodus 19:21 , Exodus 20:21 ). Exodus 24:2

CHAPTER 24 Ex 24:1-18. Delivery of the Law and Covenant.Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu are commanded to appear before the Lord, Exodus 24:1. Who was to come near the Lord, Exodus 24:2. Moses buildeth an altar and twelve pillars, Exodus 24:4. He sends young men to sacrifice unto the Lord, Exodus 24:5. He sprinkles the altar with the blood, Exodus 24:6. The covenant being read, the people promise obedience, Exodus 24:7. The people are sprinkled with blood, Exodus 24:8. Moses and the elders of Israel see the Lord, Exodus 24:9,10. God promises to give to Moses tables of stone, Exodus 24:12. Moses and Joshua go up into the mount, Exodus 24:13. Aaron and Hur took care for the people in the mean time, Exodus 24:14. God’s glory on the mount, Exodus 24:15,16; appeareth like devouring fire, Exodus 24:17. Moses remains there forty days and forty nights, Exodus 24:18. After thou hast gone down and acquainted the people with my will, and received their answer, then come up again. This sense is gathered from the repetition of this command after that was done, Exodus 24:12. Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu; Aaron and his two eldest sons, whom by this special honour and favour he prepared for that office to which they were to be called, Exo 28.

These two verses form part of the address of God in Exodus 20:22-23:33 ; for אמר משׁה ואל ("but to Moses He said") cannot be the commencement of a fresh address, which would necessarily require מ אל ויּאמר (cf. Exodus 24:12 ; Exodus 19:21 ; Exodus 20:22 ). The turn given to the expression מ ואל presupposes that God had already spoken to others, or that what had been said before related not to Moses himself, but to other persons. But this cannot be affirmed of the decalogue, which applied to Moses quite as much as to the entire nation (a sufficient refutation of Knobel's assertion, that these verses are a continuation of Exodus 19:20-25 , and are linked on to the decalogue), but only of the address concerning the mishpatim, or "rights," which commences with Exodus 20:22 , and, according to Exodus 20:22 and Exodus 21:1 , was intended for the nation, and addressed to it, even though it was through the medium of Moses. What God said to the people as establishing its rights, is here followed by what He said to Moses himself, namely, that he was to go up to Jehovah, along with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders. At the same time, it is of course implied that Moses, who had ascended the mountain with Aaron alone ( Exodus 20:21 ), was first of all to go down again and repeat to the people the "rights" which God had communicated to him, and only when this had been done, to ascend again with the persons named. According to Exodus 24:3 and Exodus 24:12 (?

[Bible] 23:30. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, till thou be increased, and dost possess the land. 23:31. And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea to the sea of the Palestines, and from the desert to the river: I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and will drive them out from before you. 23:32. Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with their gods. 23:33. Let them not dwell in thy land, lest perhaps they make thee sin against me, if thou serve their gods; which, undoubtedly, will be a scandal to thee. Exodus Chapter 24 Moses writeth his law; and after offering sacrifices, sprinkleth the blood of the testament upon the people: then goeth up the mountain which God covereth with a fiery cloud. 24:1. And he said to Moses: Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore afar off. 24:2. And Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people come up with him. 24:3. So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice: We will do all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken. 24:4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: and rising in the morning, he built an altar at the foot of the mount, and twelve titles according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Titles... That is, pillars. 24:5. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered holocausts, and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord. Holocausts... Whole burnt offerings, in which the whole sacrifice was consumed with fire upon the altar. 24:6. Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls; and the rest he poured upon the altar. 24:7. And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: All things that the Lord hath spoken, we will do, we will be obedient.