This chapter starts with an announcement that Moses got a special invitation from the Lord to come visit Him. Aaron and 70 elders of Israel went with, but only Moses approached the Lord. The people were to stay away.
Verse 3 then talks about what happened when Moses told the people all the Lord's words and laws. The response was good. "We will do everything the Lord has said to do," they replied. Moses built 12 pillars the next morning and had the young men offer burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls. It says: "Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people." I bet the timeline for these events (the last few chapters) were several days, if not months. Otherwise, how would this book (or scroll) get printed? Afterwards Moses took blood and sprinkled the people. I wonder if he walked through the crowd or if they single-filed up to him to be sprinkled (kind of like some of our church services at times)? He said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words."
That reminds me of another statement made by someone (on a Thursday night about 2,000 years ago).
Then the amazing thing hinted at earlier happened: "Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself."
That affirms the description of Heaven from the book of Revelation, about a sea of glass. Wow. That must have been some sight!
"But God did not raise His hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank. The Lord said to Moses, 'Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.'"
I guess God brings up the point about "not raising His hand against them," because seeing the Lord's presence is a big deal. The end of the chapter describes what this all looked like to the Israelites: "the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain."
It says Moses entered the cloud and stayed up there for forty days and forty nights. Wow. I bet THAT was some kind of experience!
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at July 17, 2007 12:35 PM