Exodus 24:1

CHAPTER XXIV

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders, are

commanded to go to the mount to meet the Lord, 1.

Moses alone to come near to the Divine presence, 2.

He informs the people, and they promise obedience, 3.

He writes the words of the Lord, erects an altar at the foot of

the hill, and sets up twelve pillars for the twelve tribes, 4.

The young priests offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, 5.

Moses reads the book of the covenant, sprinkles the people with

the blood, and they promise obedience, 6-8.

Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel, go up

to the mount, and get a striking display of the majesty of God, 9-11.

Moses alone is called up into the mount, in order to receive the

tables of stone, written by the hand of God, 12.

Moses and his servant Joshua go up, and Aaron and Hur are left

regents of the people during his absence, 13, 14.

The glory of the Lord rests on the mount, and the cloud covers it

for six days, and on the seventh God speaks to Moses out of the

cloud, 15, 16.

The terrible appearance of God's glory on the mount, 17.

Moses continues with God on the mount forty days, 18.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIV

Verse Exodus 24:1. Come up unto the Lord] Moses and Aaron were already on the mount, or at least some way up, (Exodus 19:24), where they had heard the voice of the Lord distinctly speaking to them: and the people also saw and heard, but in a less distinct manner, probably like the hoarse grumbling sound of distant thunder; see Exodus 20:18. Calmet, who complains of the apparent want of order in the facts laid down here, thinks the whole should be understood thus: - "After God had laid before Moses and Aaron all the laws mentioned from the beginning of the Exodus 20:1, before they went down from the mount to lay them before the people, he told them that, when they had proposed the conditions of the covenant to the Israelites, and they had ratified them, they were to come up again unto the mountain accompanied with Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron, and seventy of the principal elders of Israel. Moses accordingly went down, spoke to the people, ratified the covenant, and then, according to the command of God mentioned here, he and the others reascended the mountain. Tout cela est raconté ici avec assez peu d'ordre."