Disciple Hour: Exodus 24:9–18
Exodus 24:9–18 (ESV)
9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”
15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
1. They Saw God and Lived to Tell About It (24:9-11)
9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
I remember one day while working construction as an electrician there was an eclipse. I knew about what time it was supposed to begin and grabbed the welder’s welding hood and went racing outside to see it. So, I guess that day for a few minutes there was no electrical stuff being done and no welding either. The dark shield made it so you could see the sun and the moon together as the moon went over top of the sun.
Here in our text Moses and his friends see God.
We are well aware of the passages that tell us man cannot see God and live.
Exodus 33:20 (ESV)
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
However, we are told twice that Moses and the leaders of Israel saw God and then what’s also amazing is that they lived to talk about it.
Then to make things very clear and here’s where people struggle and often try to fix the text… they beheld God. The original is to set your gaze on. They not only saw God, something no one is supposed to be able to do but they gazed at God.
Verse 11 is written with a bit of a surprise. In other words, Moses the writer of Exodus, is just as surprised as anyone that they did not perish in the process.
11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel.
In other words, no harm came to them.
Nothing is said about God’s appearance. The Bible does, however, mention something rather strange.
10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.
Moses had a difficult time putting into words what he saw. He says it resembled pavement under God’s feet. He goes on to say it was like sapphire stone. Sapphire is a brilliant blue stone. It’s the color of the blue sky on a clear day. This pavement had clearness to it and a blue tint perhaps and looking up through it they could see God.
Something very similar happen to Ezekiel as he too beheld God.
Ezekiel 1:22–25 (ESV)
22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. 23 And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body. 24 And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings.
The leaders of Israel were given a wonderful opportunity to behold God and live to talk about it.
This beholding of God takes place because the Covenant has been sealed in blood. The connection this has to the Covenant being ratified as we learned last week. The Covenant of blood has been set in place and now Israel is invited to behold God. They could see God because their sins had been covered.
They not only saw God, not only fixed their gaze upon God but they ate and drank with God. This is not a meal that you might have with a friend but this is the covenant meal shared in good will toward each who has partaken in the agreement. All this took place while they were up on the mountain. God invites Israel’s leaders to partake of a covenant meal in His presence.
This is a wonderful echo of the 23rd Psalm.
Psalm 23:5 (ESV)
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
We might also be reminded of the great banquet
Isaiah 25:6 (ESV)
6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
One day there will be the marriage feast of the Lamb
Revelation 19:9 (ESV)
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
Much like Moses was invited to go to the top of the mountain, so to all who are God’s people will be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
2. Moses Receives the Tablets of the Law (24:12)
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”
Here, this is fairly straight forward. Once Moses ascended to the top of the mountain, God would give him two tablets of stone with the commands of God written on them. Here we see that the ascent had a two-fold purpose, they were to worship God and God would give to Moses the two tablets of stone.
Deuteronomy 9:9–10 (ESV)
9 When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.
Many scholars believe the two tablets where two copies of the Law God had given to the people. This was a covenant tradition, two copies made one for each party who had entered into the covenant agreement. God gave both copies to Israel.
These would be the same two tablets Moses will throw to the ground when he sees the idolatry of the Israelites at the Golden Calf event.
3. Moses Delegates Authority While He is Gone (24:13-14)
13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”
Moses and Joshua go up the Mountain again. Probably, after Moses and the others went up the mountain and ate and drank, then they came back down. This time Moses and Joshua begin their ascent. This time Moses would be gone 40 days. He would receive the Two Tablets.
Moses leaves Aaron and Hur in charge while he is away.
We will learn, a whole lot can go wrong in a few short days…as we will see in a few chapters.
4. Moses Enters the Cloud (24:15-18)
15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
We see this last event as the pinnacle of Chapter 24. Here Moses enters into the glory cloud to speak with God.
I believe it’s important to note something about Moses on a personal level. Throughout the Exodus He has been getting closer and closer to God. Remember the burning bush where Moses was very reluctant, to say the least. He kept telling God reasons why him going back to Egypt was a bad idea. From then we saw Moses grow and mature. He is ready now to meet with God face to face.
I pray and the Elders here pray for all our members that we together are growing and maturing like Moses. One encounter with God leads to another and another and at each step some wonderful and some in the form of a trial but we grow closer to God.
This cloud was no doubt the same cloud that led the Israelites by day from Egypt to Mount Sinai.
When the people who were still far away from the base of the mountain looked up, they saw a massive flame that looked to be devouring on top of Sinai. All the while Moses was protected as he remained in the cloud.
What an extraordinary truth that God must protect His people from Himself. The cloud served as that protection, the buffer between God’s glory and sinful man.
As we finish Chapter 24, I’d like us to consider the images of our own salvation that has been woven into the chapter.
Like Moses, God calls us to worship Him. He calls us to enter into a relationship. He calls us to ascend the mountain.
God can only do this through the shed blood of the covenant substitutionary sacrifice.
Our sin is the great separator between us and God. Once the sacrificial system and the blood covenant is set up then Moses can ascend the mountain.
We are forced to keep our distance because of sin. We don’t know God at all until He awakens us and then through Christ atones for our sin.
Moses’ sins were covered and once that took place then and only then could he know God in a greater way.
Our sins are not covered but through faith in Christ, they are taken away. Then we can boldly approach God by grace.
God descended to the top of the mountain to meet with Moses. Jesus Christ has tabernacled with man, God with us. One day when He returns His throne will be with man forever. He will be our God and we will be His people.
Moses saw God’s glory…
John 1:14 (ESV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:18 (ESV)
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
What we have in Christ is far better than anything Moses experienced even as great as they were. Christ is better by far…
