This week we will be exploring Exodus 24:1-18, Ratifying the Covenant.
The nation of Israel has heard God speak the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai and Moses has received the additional laws and commands in the Book of the Covenant. Now it is time to ratify the covenant.
There are so many things which make Exodus 24 an amazing chapter.
Moses writes and reads these laws to the nation of Israel. This is the beginning of literacy and language among a whole nation of people. In fact, many scholars believe that Hebrew was the first alphabet in history. (And I agree!)
This is the beginning of the idea of the "consent of the governed." God reveals all of His laws and commands before inviting Israel into covenant. No king on earth at that time had done that. Yet, here is the God of the universe, the true King, inviting His people into covenant with Himself.
In this chapter, we also see one of the most interesting scenes in all of Scripture. The seventy elders of Israel, along with Moses and Aaron and Aaron's two sons, eat a covenant meal with God! It is a hard scene to imagine...and even harder to describe. But this covenant meal shows God's heart to dwell with His people.
And finally, Exodus 24 reminds us that we are pretty self-deluded when it comes to our own self-righteousness. After hearing all of God's commands and laws, the people say quite confidently, "All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient!"
And yet, before Moses even gets off the mountain, they had practically broken every one of God's laws!
And we are as self-willed as they were.
And that's why we all desperately need a Savior!
May God overwhelm us with His holiness and amaze us with His grace as we study His Word together!