Key Verses: Exodus 24:7, 24:8, 24:17
The covenant is solemnly ratified. Moses tells the people all the LORD’s words and rules, and with one voice they answer, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Moses writes down the words, builds an altar with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes, and young men offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. He throws half the blood against the altar and reads the Book of the Covenant aloud; the people respond, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” Then Moses sprinkles the other half, “the blood of the covenant,” upon the people, sealing the bond between God and Israel. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders ascend and behold the God of Israel, with under His feet a pavement like sapphire stone, clear as heaven itself, and they eat and drink in His presence without being harmed. Moses alone is called higher, and he enters the glory-cloud on the mountain, which appears to Israel like a devouring fire, remaining there forty days and forty nights.
This covenant-ratification ceremony is one of the great foreshadowings of the gospel, for it is sealed with sprinkled blood, without which there is no binding of God to His people (Hebrews 9:18-22). The people’s confident vow of obedience, though sincere, exposes the deeper problem the law cannot solve: a heart unable to keep it, which is why a better covenant with better blood must come. At the Last Supper Jesus lifts the very words of Exodus 24:8, declaring, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Matthew 26:28), establishing the new covenant in His own blood. The elders’ meal in the presence of God, beholding His glory and living, anticipates the fellowship believers enjoy at the Lord’s Table and the vision of God promised to the pure in heart. Moses entering the consuming fire of God’s glory points to Christ, the true Mediator who brings His people into the very presence of God.
Key Terms & Words:
- בְּרִית (berit) - Exodus 24:7 - “Covenant”; the binding bond between God and His people, sealed in blood and fulfilled in the new covenant
- דָּם (dam) - Exodus 24:8 - “Blood”; the blood of the covenant sprinkled on the people, echoed by Christ at the Last Supper
- כָּבוֹד (kavod) - Exodus 24:16 - “Glory”; the weighty presence of God dwelling on the mountain like a devouring fire
Cross-References:
- Matthew 26:28 - Jesus’ words “the blood of the covenant” at the Last Supper
- Hebrews 9:18-22 - Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
- Hebrews 12:24 - Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood
- 1 Peter 1:2 - Sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ
- Exodus 34:28 - Moses’ forty days on the mountain
Discussion Questions:
- Why is the covenant sealed with blood, and what does this teach about the seriousness of our relationship with God?
- The people vowed, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Where do you feel the gap between good intentions and actual obedience?
- How does the blood of the covenant in Exodus 24 find its fulfillment in the blood of Jesus at the Last Supper?