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Exodus 24
1He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.
2Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but they shall not come near. The people shall not go up with him.”
3Moses came and told the people all the LORD’s words, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken will we do.”
4Moses wrote all the LORD’s words, then rose up early in the morning and built an at the base of the , with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
5He sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt and sacrificed peace offerings of cattle to the LORD.
6Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the .
7He took the book of the and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “We will do all that the LORD has said, and be obedient.”
8Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the , which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words.”
9Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up.
10They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness.
11He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
12The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the , and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”
13Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s .
14He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15Moses went up on the , and the cloud covered the mountain.
16The LORD’s glory settled on Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud.
17The appearance of the LORD’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the ; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
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Questions this passage answers
Who is God?
God is the one living Creator who made everything and depends on nothing, and Scripture answers this question mainly by telling us his character rather than by defining his substance. When God described himself to Moses he said he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth, and yet will by no means clear the guilty. The New Testament adds that this God is finally known in Jesus Christ, who has made him known.
Does God provide for my needs?
Scripture says yes, and it is careful about the word need. God promises to supply what his people need, often daily rather than in advance, and he does not promise surplus, comfort or the removal of hard seasons. Paul, who wrote that God will supply every need, also wrote that he had learned to be hungry.
What does the Bible say about worry?
Jesus forbids worry about food, drink and clothing, and he argues rather than scolds: your Father knows what you need, he feeds the birds, worry adds nothing to your life. Scripture then gives the worrier something to do, prayer with thanksgiving and casting the burden on God, and it limits the horizon to one day at a time.
What does it mean to fear the Lord?
The fear of the LORD is not terror of an unpredictable God. It is the reverence of a creature who has rightly understood who God is, holy, sovereign and near, and who therefore takes him seriously in every decision. Proverbs calls it the beginning of knowledge, because a person who has not reckoned with God has not yet begun to understand anything rightly.