Exodus 24:7

Israel has been camped at the base of Mount Sinai since Exodus 19. The mountain has been wrapped in smoke and fire, with thunder, lightning and the sound of a trumpet (Exodus 19:16–19), and from it God has given the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and the detailed laws that follow them (Exodus 21–23). Now Moses comes down and tells the people all of it. He speaks as the go-between God appointed, passing on what God has said, so that Israel knows the terms before agreeing to them.

Two words describe what he tells them. “Words” is dâbâr, which means a word or speech and can also mean a matter or thing. Here it takes in all that the LORD has spoken, with the Ten Commandments at its head. “Judgments” is mishpâṭ, a verdict or legal ruling, and it refers to the rulings that apply God’s commands to daily life: servants, injuries, property, justice in court, duties to a neighbour, worship and the feasts.

The people answer “with one voice”. The word is ʼechâd, “one” or “united”, and the phrase is literally “one sound”. The whole nation agrees together, publicly and willingly, and what it agrees to is everything: “All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.” The verse keeps saying “all”: all the words, all the judgments, all the people. Israel had already answered this way when it first reached the mountain (Exodus 19:8). God had offered to make this people his own treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:5–6), and this is their yes.

Scripture knows covenants between people, such as the ones between Abraham and Abimelech, between Jonathan and David, and between David and the elders of Israel at Hebron. At Sinai the LORD himself makes the covenant. He acts first, he sets the terms, and Israel’s part is to hear them and accept them freely.

Before the ceremony begins, Moses writes. The verb kâthab is the ordinary word for writing, and what he writes is “all the words of the LORD”. A written covenant can be read again and handed on, so Israel’s agreement with God rests on a fixed record that later generations can consult. Moses is still doing this work at the end of his life, when he finishes writing the words of the law in a book (Deuteronomy 31:24–26).

He rises early the next morning, which shows how readily he goes about the work God has given him. “Under the hill” he builds an altar. The hill is Mount Sinai, also called Horeb, so the ceremony takes place at the foot of the mountain where God had come down and spoken. The altar is the place of sacrifice, and in verse 6 it receives the LORD’s half of the blood.

Beside the altar Moses sets up twelve pillars. A matstsêbâh is a pillar or memorial stone, “something stationed”. There is one for each tribe, the descendants of Jacob’s twelve sons (Genesis 49), the same tribes that are later counted and arranged around the camp (Numbers 1, Numbers 2). Every tribe has its stone, so the covenant is made with the whole nation, family by family. The stones also stand as lasting witnesses to what was agreed. Joshua later sets up a stone as a witness when Israel pledges itself to the LORD in his day (Joshua 24:27).

Moses sends young men to make the sacrifices. Shâlach is the plain word for sending, and naʻar is a young man. They are “of the children of Israel”, which is literally sons (bên) of Israel (Yisrâʼêl), and they act for the nation.

Two kinds of sacrifice are offered, and each says something different. The burnt offering is ʻôlâh, “that which goes up”, and the verb “offered” is ʻâlâh, “to go up” or “ascend”. The whole animal apart from the hide was burned on the altar and went up to God in smoke, with all of it given to him. It spoke of complete surrender to God and of atonement for sin (Leviticus 1:3–4).

The peace offerings are zebach shelem. Zebach is a sacrifice, from the verb zâbach, “to slaughter an animal, usually in sacrifice”, and shelem is a peace offering or thank offering, a word tied to shalom, which means peace, wholeness and well-being. Only part of a peace offering was burned. The rest was eaten by the priests and the worshippers in a shared meal (Leviticus 3:1–5), so this offering spoke of fellowship with God and joy in his presence. That meal comes a few verses later, when Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders go up the mountain, behold God, and eat and drink before him (Exodus 24:9–11).

The animals are par, young bulls, which the KJV calls oxen. They were large and valuable, a costly gift for a weighty occasion. All of it is offered “unto the LORD”, Yᵉhôvâh, the name of the self-existent and eternal God. Taken together, the two offerings show the relationship God was giving Israel: a people wholly given over to him and welcomed to his table.

Moses takes the blood of the sacrifices and divides it in two. One half he puts in basons, and the word ʼaggân means a bowl or basin. That half is kept for the people. The other half he sprinkles on the altar. The verb zâraq means to scatter, sprinkle or toss, as a person scatters something by hand.

The two halves stand for the two parties to the covenant, the LORD and Israel. The altar is where God meets his people in sacrifice, so the blood on the altar is his portion. It shows that he is a party to this covenant and that it is made in his sight and by his authority. The same blood will shortly be put on the people, and the one sacrifice will join the two sides.

With the blood on the altar, Moses takes “the book of the covenant” and reads it “in the audience of the people”, that is, in their hearing. “Book” is çêpher, a writing, document or scroll. “Covenant” is bᵉrîyth, a covenant, alliance, treaty or league: a solemn and binding agreement, here one that God grants and Israel accepts, with blessings for keeping it and curses for breaking it (Deuteronomy 28).

The reading is public so that every person hears the terms, from the leaders to the least. Israel has already been told these words in verse 3. Now they are read from the written record, and Israel answers with the terms fresh in its ears.

Their answer adds something to the one in verse 3: “All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.” “Said” is dâbar, to speak, and it marks the covenant terms as the LORD’s own speech. “Do” is ʻâsâh, to do or make in the broadest sense, so the people promise to carry the commands out in practice. “Be obedient” is shâmaʻ, to hear, and in Hebrew to hear God is to listen, take in what he says and obey it. Israel promises both the doing and the listening. The same pairing of hearing and doing is heard when Israel recalls Sinai (Deuteronomy 5:27), the people give a like pledge under Joshua (Joshua 24:24), and through Jeremiah God sums up what he asked of them as obeying his voice (Jeremiah 7:23).

Now Moses takes the half of the blood that was kept in the basons and sprinkles it on the people. The blood that was put on the altar is put on them. It marks them as consecrated to God, set apart as his own and bound to the covenant they have just accepted.

Moses then says what the act means: “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.” The blood is the sign and seal of the covenant. The covenant is one “which the LORD hath made”, so it begins with him and stands by his grace. And it is made “concerning all these words”, the commands read from the book, which the people have promised to keep.

The order of the ceremony is worth seeing whole. God speaks, his words are told and written, sacrifice is offered, the blood is put on the altar, the book is read, the people answer, and the blood is put on the people. Israel is brought to God by sacrifice and by his word together.

At the Last Supper Jesus took up the language of this passage: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). He called the cup the new testament in his blood (Luke 22:20). What Moses did with the blood of young bulls, Jesus did with his own.

The letter to the Hebrews draws the comparison out. The first covenant was put into effect with blood (Hebrews 9:18–22). Christ entered the holy place “by his own blood”, “having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11–14). His sacrifice was offered once for all (Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 10:10–14), where the sacrifices of the old covenant had to be repeated. Moses stood between God and Israel at Sinai, and Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6–13, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 12:24).

Both offerings of verse 5 find their fulfilment in him. As the burnt offering was wholly given to God, Christ was obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:8). He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2), and his offering of himself was a sweet savour to God (Ephesians 5:2). As the peace offering brought worshippers to a meal with God, Christ is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). Through his blood we are reconciled to God (Colossians 1:20), brought near (Ephesians 2:13), and given access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18). His blood cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:7) and opens the way into God’s presence (Hebrews 10:19–20).

Israel’s promise finds its answer in him too. Jesus came to fulfil the law (Matthew 5:17), and he did all that the LORD said. Under the new covenant God writes his laws on the hearts of his people (Hebrews 10:16) and puts his Spirit within them so that they walk in his ways (Ezekiel 36:27), and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit (Romans 8:3–4). Moses wrote the words of the LORD in a book, and Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:1–14). The twelve pillars stood for every tribe of Israel, and the people of Christ’s covenant are one in him (Galatians 3:28–29), a multitude out of every nation and tongue (Revelation 7:9–10).

This passage shows a God who binds himself to people. He spoke first, set out his terms openly, had them written and read aloud, and then asked for an answer. He still deals with us through his written word, read and heard, and Israel knew everything it was agreeing to.

It also shows how serious it is to belong to him. The covenant cost blood, and Israel’s eager promise proved too weak to carry it. That is why the blood of Jesus is such good news. Our standing with God rests on what Christ has done, and the obedience God asks for is the work of his Spirit in a new heart. Israel’s words, “All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient”, are still the right answer to God. They are said now by people who have been forgiven and who offer themselves to him as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1).

The two offerings still belong together, whole surrender to God and fellowship at his table. When believers take the cup, they hear the words Moses spoke at the foot of Sinai, now on the lips of Christ.