Then He said to Moses, “Come up to HaShem, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to HaShem, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him” (24:1-2).
This chapter covers a lot. While it begins with the above instructions from the Lord for Moses and selected others to come up the mountain, before they actually do so, Moses “told the people all the words of HaShem and all the rules.” The people respond appropriately, “All the words that HaShem has spoken we will do” (24:3).
Then Moses got busy: he “wrote down all the words of HaShem” (24:4).
Following this comes a description of things that are very foreign to us, but part of life back then – the building of an altar as well as twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. There were offerings, various ceremonial actions with the blood of the offerings, and then Moses reading the Book of the Covenant to the people, who affirmed “All that HaShem has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient” (24:7). Then came the sprinkling of the blood on the people and affirming, “Behold the blood of the covenant that HaShem has made with you in accordance with all these words” (24:8).
While this is rather unappealing to us, it is helpful in our understanding of the new covenant God has made with those who believe and receive it, that is made through the offering of the body and blood of our Messiah Yeshua. We can read about this in Hebrews nine and ten.
Finally, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders go up as God told them to.
“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. And He did not lay His hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God and ate and drank.” (24:10-11)
What an awesome sight! You’d think that was enough to put the fear and reverence of God in them and affect their behavior forever! (Spoiler alert…not so much.)
After this, the others were all to go down, but Moses and his assistant Joshua were to go up into the mountain of God where God’s glory was “like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel” (24:17).
Moses was up there for six days and on the seventh day God called to Moses who then entered the cloud further up the mountain.
The fact that Moses waited six whole days before God interacted with him, is so not 2024! To my knowledge, Moses didn’t have anything to do for those six days but wait. He couldn’t scroll on his phone or read a book or do his language learning app.
When I contemplate this scenario, I think of the expression, “waiting on God.” This is a good thing to do when we are seeking God for guidance. But what does that look like? The Hebrew word “qavah” is to wait with hope, expectation, and focus, as the hunter waiting for his prey. In our day, this is challenging (at least to me) because we have so many distractions, not the least of which is our cell phones. When I am waiting in line at the grocery store, I take out my phone and do some language learning from an app. I don’t like to wait. But just because it is challenging to me, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do this. Worthwhile things are often challenging. And meeting with God is worth it!
Prayer: Lord, may You help me to know when to stop all the extra noise and multi-tasking, and even when to take some extended time to seek You. Thank You that You do lead, guide and speak to us. Amen.
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