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Êxodo 24

BLIVRE · Chapter 24/40

1E disse a Moisés: Sobe ao SENHOR, tu, e Arão, Nadabe, e Abiú, e setenta dos anciãos de Israel; e vos inclinareis desde longe.

2Mas Moisés somente se chegará ao SENHOR; e eles não se aproximem, nem suba com ele o povo.

3E Moisés veio e contou ao povo todas as palavras do SENHOR, e todos os estatutos: e todo o povo respondeu em uma voz, e disseram: Executaremos todas as palavras que o SENHOR disse.

4E Moisés escreveu todas as palavras do SENHOR, e levantando-se de manhã edificou um altar ao pé do monte, e doze colunas, segundo as doze tribos de Israel.

5E enviou aos rapazes dos filhos de Israel, os quais ofereceram holocaustos e sacrificaram pacíficos ao SENHOR, bezerros.

6E Moisés tomou a metade do sangue, e a pôs em bacias, e espargiu a outra metade do sangue sobre o altar.

7E tomou o livro da aliança, e leu aos ouvidos do povo, o qual disse: Faremos todas as coisas que o SENHOR disse, e obedeceremos.

8Então Moisés tomou o sangue, e salpicou sobre o povo, e disse: Eis o sangue da aliança que o SENHOR fez convosco sobre todas estas coisas.

9E subiram Moisés e Arão, Nadabe e Abiú, e setenta dos anciãos de Israel;

10E viram ao Deus de Israel; e havia debaixo de seus pés como um pavimento de safira, semelhante ao céu quando está claro.

11Mas não estendeu sua mão sobre os príncipes dos filhos de Israel: e viram a Deus, e comeram e beberam.

12Então o SENHOR disse a Moisés: Sobe a mim ao monte, e espera ali, e te darei tábuas de pedra, e a lei, e mandamentos que escrevi para ensiná-los.

13E levantou-se Moisés, e Josué seu assistente; e Moisés subiu ao monte de Deus.

14E disse aos anciãos: Esperai-nos aqui até que voltemos a vós: e eis que Arão e Hur estão convosco: o que tiver negócios chegue-se a eles.

15Então Moisés subiu ao monte, e uma nuvem cobriu o monte.

16E a glória do SENHOR repousou sobre o monte Sinai, e a nuvem o cobriu por seis dias: e ao sétimo dia chamou a Moisés do meio da nuvem.

17E a aparência da glória do SENHOR era como um fogo abrasador no cume do monte, aos olhos dos filhos de Israel.

18E entrou Moisés em meio da nuvem, e subiu ao monte: e esteve Moisés no monte quarenta dias e quarenta noites.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses reads the Book of the Covenant to the people, who respond by promising obedience; a sacrifice formally seals the covenant with sprinkled blood on the people, and Moses goes up Mount Sinai to receive the stone tablets of the Law.

Explanation

This chapter ritually formalizes the covenant between God and Israel, which had been verbally accepted in the previous chapters. The blood of the sacrifice, half sprinkled on the altar (representing God) and half on the people, visually and symbolically seals this mutual commitment — an act that the New Testament letter to the Hebrews will directly compare to the blood of Christ sealing a 'new covenant.' The extraordinary vision granted to Moses, Aaron, his sons, and seventy elders, in which they 'saw the God of Israel' and yet 'did eat and drink' without being destroyed, is a unique moment of divine closeness that anticipates, but does not replace, the even greater intimacy Moses would have alone on top of the mountain. Moses' long stay on the mountain (forty days and forty nights) sets the emotional stage for the people's despair that will lead to the golden calf episode in the following chapter.

Fun facts

  • The act of sprinkling blood on the people to seal the covenant (v. 8) is directly referenced in Hebrews 9:19-20 as a foreshadowing of the 'new covenant' sealed by the blood of Christ, showing how Christians see a theological continuity between the two covenants.
  • The vision of God with a 'paved work of a sapphire stone' beneath his feet (v. 10) is one of the most direct and vivid descriptions of a visual manifestation of God in the entire Old Testament, later echoed by the prophet Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel 1:26), which also describes something resembling a sapphire stone associated with the divine throne.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 24:1After all the law given in the previous chapters, God invites a select group of leaders, including Aaron and his two oldest sons, to go partway up the mountain.
  2. Êxodo 24:2Establishes a hierarchy of access to God’s presence: only Moses may draw fully near, while the other leaders and the people remain at different distances.
  3. Êxodo 24:3Before any formal ceremony, Moses tells the people verbally all the laws he received, and they reaffirm their commitment to obey everything.
  4. Êxodo 24:4The twelve stones set up by Moses represented the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob. They served as a physical marker that the whole people, tribe by tribe, was taking part in that agreement with God, even though not everyone could go up the mountain.
  5. Êxodo 24:5Young Israelite men are appointed to carry out the sacrifices that will formally seal the covenant between God and the people, described in the following verses.
  6. Êxodo 24:6Moses divides the blood of the sacrifices into two parts: one goes on the altar, representing God’s part in the covenant, and the other is used in the ritual of verse 8.
  7. Êxodo 24:7Moses reads aloud the written record of the whole law, and the people confirm, for the second time and now formally, their commitment to obey.
  8. Êxodo 24:8Sprinkling the blood of a sacrificed animal on people was an ancient way of sealing an agreement (a covenant), making it solemn and binding, like signing a contract today. The blood symbolized that both parties were committed to the terms of that pact.
  9. Êxodo 24:9The same group of leaders mentioned at the beginning of the chapter actually goes up the mountain, setting the stage for the vision described in the following verses.
  10. Êxodo 24:10The text describes a vision, not an ordinary encounter: Moses and the leaders saw something under God’s “feet” that looked like a paved work of a bright blue stone, like the clear sky itself. It is a way of describing something indescribable, using images the ancient Israelites knew well: precious stone and clear sky.
  11. Êxodo 24:11There was an idea that seeing God directly was too dangerous for a human being, something that appears again in chapter 33. Here, however, these leaders saw something of God and remained alive, and even ate a meal right there, a sign that this encounter was one of peace.
  12. Êxodo 24:12God calls Moses to go up still further, promising to give him the tablets of stone with the law written directly by Him, unlike what had already been dictated verbally.
  13. Êxodo 24:13Moses goes up accompanied only by Joshua, his closest assistant, leaving the other leaders on the lower part of the mountain.
  14. Êxodo 24:14Before going up, Moses organizes the temporary leadership of the people, leaving Aaron and Hur responsible for settling any problem during his absence.
  15. Êxodo 24:15The cloud that had already accompanied the people throughout the journey now covers the mountain specifically, marking the start of Moses’s long stay there.
  16. Êxodo 24:16God’s presence remains visible over the mountain for six days before Moses is called, a period of waiting before the more direct encounter.
  17. Êxodo 24:17The image of a devouring fire on top of the mountain, seen by the whole people below, conveys both the power and the danger of God’s presence.
  18. Êxodo 24:18Forty days and forty nights is a number that appears several times in the Bible, as in the flood, to mark a period of intense, transforming waiting. It was during this time on the mountain that Moses received the detailed instructions about the tabernacle that fill the following chapters.

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