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The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:3-8
The terms of the covenant accepted. I. OBSERVE HOW CLEARLY THESE TERMS HAD BEEN STATED. Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. All the way to Sinai the people had the opportunity…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:3-8
Man's readiness to enter into covenant with God, and promise unlimited obedience. In any covenant which God proposes to man, the advantages offered to him are so great, and the requirements made of him so manifestly "ho…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:3-9
The ratification of the covenant. These verses contain the account of the formal ratification of the covenant between Israel and Jehovah—an event, the most momentous in the history of the nation, big, for weal or woe, w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:4
Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. We may presume that they were miraculously brought to his remembrance by that Spirit of Truth which guided all the Prophets (2 Peter 1:21; John 14:26). Having written the words, he…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:4
If any man will do the will he shall know of the doctrine. What a man receives must depend upon what he is able to receive. [illustration. The sponge absorbs more water than the wood, because its pores are more open.] T…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:5
And he sent young men. The Levitical priesthood not being as vet instituted, either all the people were regarded as holy, and so any one might offer sacrifice, or the "young men" selected may have been of the number of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:6
Moses took half of the blood. The blood, which symbolised the life of the victim, was the essential part of every sacrifice, and was usually poured over the altar, or at any rate sprinkled upon it, as the very crowning…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:7
And he took the Book of the Covenant. In this book we have the germ of the Holy Scriptures—the first "book" actually mentioned as written in the narrative of the Bible. Genesis may contain other older documents, inserte…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:8
Moses then proceeded to the final act—He took the blood from the basins, and sprinkled it—not certainly upon all the people, who numbered above two millions—but upon their leaders and representatives, the "elders" and o…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 24:9-11
The elders saw the God of Israel; they had some glimpse of his glory, though whatever they saw, it was something of which no image or picture could be made, yet enough to satisfy them that God was with them of a truth.…
A Manifestation of God. (b. c. 1491.)
A MANIFESTATION OF GOD. (B. C. 1491.) The people having, besides their submission to the ceremony of the sprinkling of blood, declared their well-pleasedness in their God and his law, again and again, God here gives to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:9-11
EXPOSITION THE SACRIFICIAL FEAST AND THE VISION OF GOD. After the covenant had been ratified by the unanimous voice of the people, Moses proceeded to carry out the injunctions with respect to Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:9-11
The Covenant Meal on Sinai. The Old Testament contains no mention of any other meal so wonderful as this. Newly entered into covenant with God, fresh from the blood of sprinkling, which was representative of the blood o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:9
Then went up. Compare Exodus 24:1. The mountain was to be partially ascended, but not to any great height. Nadab, Abihu, and the elders were to "worship God afar off."
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:10
They saw the God of Israel. These words can scarcely mean less than that they saw with their bodily eyes some appearance of the Divine being who had summoned them to his presence for the purpose. Moses, we know, saw a "…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:11
The nobles—i.e; the notables—the seventy elders, and other persons, already mentioned (Exodus 24:1, Exodus 24:9). He laid not his hand. God did not smite them with death, or pestilence, or even blindness. It was thought…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 24:12-18
A cloud covered the mount six days; a token of God's special presence there. Moses was sure that he who called him up would protect him. Even those glorious attributes of God which are most terrible to the wicked, the s…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 24:12-18
The public ceremony of sealing the covenant being over, Moses is called up to receive further instructions, which we have in the following chapters. I. He is called up into the mount, and there he remains six days at so…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:12-18
EXPOSITION MOSES' ENTRY INTO THE CLOUD, AND FORTY DAYS' COMMUNE WITH GOD. It was necessary now that Moses should receive full directions for the external worship of God, the sanctuary, and the priesthood. Every religion…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:12
Come up to me. Moses, apparently, had descended again into the plain, with Aaron and the seventy elders, after the festival was over. (See Exodus 24:14, and compare Exodus 32:1.) He is now commanded to reascend, and be…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:12-18
Prolonged commune with God. Prolonged commune with God is the soul's truest strengthening, and sweetest refreshment. Without it our spirits languish—we grow weary and faint—worldliness creeps upon us—our thoughts and di…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:12-18
Moses ascends the mount. Observe, 1. He alone ascends (Exodus 24:12). Aaron and his sons, with the seventy elders, were left behind. Their privilege was great as compared with that of the body of the people. Yet even th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:13
Moses went up. Prompt to obey, Moses, though he had only just descended from the mount, immediately made ready to set forth and again ascend it. This time he was attended by his minister, Joshua, whose arm he had employ…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 24:14
And he said unto the elders. Before taking his departure for the long sojourn implied in God's address to him, "Come up to me into the mount, and be there" (Exodus 24:12), Moses thought it necessary to give certain dire…