BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Exodus 24 — The Covenant Ratified by Blood
Israel formally accepts the covenant, blood seals it on altar and people, the elders see God and eat, and Moses enters the cloud on Sinai to receive the stone tablets.
Scripture
1And he said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off:
2and Moses alone shall come near unto Jehovah; but they shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him.
3And Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the ordinances: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which Jehovah hath spoken will we do.
4And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the mount, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
5And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto Jehovah.
6And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
7And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that Jehovah hath spoken will we do, and be obedient.
8And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all these words.
9Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:
10and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven for clearness.
11And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: and they beheld God, and did eat and drink.
12And Jehovah said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them.
13And Moses rose up, and Joshua his minister: and Moses went up into the mount of God.
14And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whosoever hath a cause, let him come near unto them.
15And Moses went up into the mount, and the cloud covered the mount.
16And the glory of Jehovah abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
17And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
What this passage means
The chapter moves in three ritual stages: consent (vv. 3, 7), sacrifice and blood (vv. 4–8), and the shared presence-meal before God (vv. 9–11). Moses first recites 'all the words of Jehovah, and all the ordinances' and the people answer unanimously, 'All the words which Jehovah hath spoken will we do.' The same formula returns after the 'book of the covenant' is read aloud, framing obedience as both willing promise and legal acceptance of a written code.
The covenant is then enacted through sacrifice. Twelve pillars (one per tribe) flank an altar, burnt- and peace-offerings are presented by young Israelite men, and blood is divided: half on the altar, half 'sprinkled... on the people.' Moses' declaration — 'Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all these words' — joins the two parties by a shared substance. Eating and drinking in God's presence (v. 11) supplies the customary completion of a covenant meal; it is the elders, not the people, who are permitted this intimacy, and 'he laid not his hand' upon them even though they 'beheld God.'
The final movement transitions from covenant meal to revelation. Moses, with Joshua, climbs Sinai; the elders remain below under Aaron and Hur. A six-day cloud cover is followed by a seventh day of summons, the visible glory appears 'like devouring fire,' and Moses spends 'forty days and forty nights' inside the cloud receiving 'the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written.' The pattern anticipates a later ascent to receive what the blood-stained covenant now requires.
Context
The narrative is set at Mount Sinai immediately after the giving of the laws and ordinances (Exodus 20–23), so the chapter functions as the formal ratification scene for that body of instruction. The same verbatim people — 'All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do' — appears in Exodus 19:8, providing a literary frame around the law-giving. No detailed historical setting beyond Sinai is supplied in the provided text.
The chapter splits in two halves: the blood ceremony of vv. 1–11 and the Sinai theophany of vv. 12–18. The 'book of the covenant' in v. 7 is introduced without further description here, though contextually it corresponds to the laws just delivered. Joshua, Aaron, and Hur recur as supporting figures, and the forty-day timeframe in v. 18 launches the extended Sinai occupation that continues through Exodus 31–32.
Key words in the original
- H5066 Used twice in v. 2: 'come near' (Moses) versus 'not... come near' (the others). The verb's range includes worship, approach to a covenant ceremony, or hostile approach; the first two senses frame vv. 1–2 as a graded access law rather than a simple prohibition.
- H5927 Glossed 'come up' in vv. 1–2 for ascending Sinai. The same Hebrew root describes the glory of Jehovah 'abiding upon mount Sinai' and the cloud-covering of the mount; spatial ascent carries theological weight as humans enter the divine presence.
- H7812 The verb in v. 1 ('worship ye afar off') is a reflexive-prostrate form honoring a superior; the chapter places this deferential posture 'at a distance,' matching the graded access of v. 2 and setting the tone for the blood ceremony that follows.
Related verses
- Exodus 24:6 The textual match for the verse that divides the blood into basins and half onto the altar — the half-and-half division that visually sets apart what sanctifies God and what sanctifies the people.
- Hebrews 10:4 Pairs with v. 8 by clarifying that the sprinkled blood of bulls does not itself remove sins, pointing readers past the Sinai ceremony to the sacrifice it prefigured.
- Exodus 24:8 The verse that gives the chapter its name: 'the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you.' The same phrasing recurs in Matthew 26:28 and Hebrews 13:20, linking Sinai to the new covenant.
Common questions
Why is only Moses allowed to draw near in verse 2?
The text states the fact without explaining the theology: Moses alone 'shall come near unto Jehovah,' while Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, the seventy elders, and the people remain at a distance (vv. 1–2). The chapter treats this as a graded order of access within the covenant ceremony, and the later Sinai theophany (vv. 15–18) reinforces that direct presence belongs to a restricted intermediary.
What does the sprinkling of blood accomplish?
Half the blood is put in basins and the other half sprinkled on the altar (v. 6); then Moses takes the same blood and sprinkles it on the people, calling it 'the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all these words' (v. 8). The act binds altar and people within one ceremony, sealing the people's spoken promise ('All that Jehovah hath spoken will we do,' vv. 3, 7) under the same oath-substance that sanctifies the altar.
How do verses 9–11 relate to verses 12–18?
Verses 9–11 show seventy-four representatives — Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders — 'beholding God' and 'eating and drinking,' a covenant meal that completes the ratification. Verses 12–18 then shift the scene: Moses and Joshua ascend the mountain alone, the elders remain below with Aaron and Hur, the cloud and glory cover Sinai for six days plus a seventh, and Moses enters to receive 'the tables of stone' over forty days. The chapter thus moves from communal ratification to mediated revelation.