God gave strict orders that the other were not to come up to the boundary of mount Sinai, but only Moses, Aaron, Aaron's two sons Nabad and Adihu, and the seventy elders of Israel. Nabad and Adihu the sons of Aaron were to be part of the Levitical priesthood, but as we will see later in Exodus, God will strike both of the dead for what they did to the altar of God. "Nadab" means "liberal" and he was the eldest of Aaron's sons. In a few years from this time, these two got a little busy in their work at home, and rather than being on time to do their altar duties and taking coals from the eternal fire off the alter, they took some short-cuts, and brought the fire coals from their home tent to be used to light the incense on the alter of God. The point here is that we are not to play around with those things that are sacred to God. Of course today our alter of God is Jesus the Christ, the Anointed one. Of course at times many Christians get to busy in their worldly things to take the time to tend to their duties before Christ.

Exodus 24:2 "And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the People go up with him."

There will be some that will be anointed and blessed to where they can come near the presence of God. This chapter is the beginning of the Testament or Covenant that the People of Israel will make with God, and God with them.

Exodus 24:3 "And Moses came and told the People all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the People answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the Lord hath said will we do."

What we are reading here actually happened prior to Exodus 20, for it took place before the ten commandments were given, along with all the other general laws of the Covenant. By this time Moses has already made his first two trips up on Mount Sinai, so this next trip will be Moses' third trip. Remember during that last trip up, God told Moses to go back down and warn the people not to touch the mountain. Moses got a little upset over the warning and told God, "You don't understand, I already told them not to touch the mountain." God doesn't want his children destroyed because of their ignorance to his laws.

Exodus 24:4 "And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel."

Those words that Moses wrote are the same ones that you are reading here in Exodus. These stones that were used in this alter to God, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, were unaltered by the hands of man. They were placed in a circle around the altar, and that altar was not to have steps but a gradual slope leading up to the altar.

Exodus 24:5 "And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord."

Moses sent these young men of the children of Israel that were not priests, just boys from the different tribes, to make these burnt offerings to the Lord. In the Hebrew text it is called the "Chattath", meaning "the Sin offering, from `Chat'a', to sin by coming short of, by missing the mark in sins of commission. In the "Piel" it means to purge from such sin as given in Psalms 51:7. In the `Olah' the blood went upward, in the Chattath it went downward and outward from the camp. In the earlier times it was burnt up on the altar, but in the latter times the blood went to the ground. We will seen in Exodus that there are twelve different types of offerings, such as the Meal offering, the Peace offering, and so on; and each of these types of offerings are discussed in Appendix 43 in the Companion Bible.

The things to remember though is that each of these offerings are no longer in existence in our day. We just don't do them any more. These blood sacrifices ended when Our Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross, and shed His blood for those that would believe on Him, and by faith through repentance in Jesus' name, accept Him and follow Him. Hebrews 10:5 - 10 tells us that Christ's sacrifice was offered for one and all times. Jesus came "(in the volume of the Book it is written of Me) to do thy will O God." [verse 7] Then in verse eight; "Above when He said, "Sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein;" which are offered by the law." These blood and sin offerings would continue for the next two thousand years, until the coming of our Lord, and His sacrifice on the cross.

Hebrews 10:9 "Then said He, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God," He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second."

Jesus Christ established the second offering, which is our love and obedience to Him; and when Jesus died on the cross, that veil in the temple was rent in two, and the offerings of the first were taken away. There was no more need for any blood sacrifices of lambs, oxen and goats.

Hebrews 10:10 "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

It would be sacrilegious for you to do any form of blood sacrifice after Jesus went to the cross. But at this moment in time, this was the form that God allowed for animals to die, instead of human being for their sins again Him. God does not believe or accept human sacrifice, but He did let His only begotten Son die (Immanuel- God with us), for He died for us. Human beings are not innocent and perfect, but His Son Jesus the Christ was. No human being, outside of Christ, was a worthy sacrifice. However what we are reading here in Exodus is the perfect example that leads us to that tome of Christ on the cross.

Exodus 24:6 "And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar."

There was a reason that Moses took half of the blood for the basons, and the other half of the blood to be sprinkled on the altar. The blood that was sprinkled on the altar where the fire would burn and consume it symbolizes death. That point where humans would have died in their sins. The other half will be covered in the next few verses.

Exodus 24:7 "And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the People: and they said, "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient."

Remember Moses sat and wrote down all of those things that God instructed him to do, and the laws for the People. That is the book that Moses is reading to the people here. Though the people told the Lord that they would follow the instructions of God from that book, we will see shortly that they did not.

Exodus 24:8 "And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." 

Moses took that blood from the basons from verse six, and sprinkled it on the people. This was the blood of the promise from God to Moses that sealed the covenant then, but later it would be the blood of Christ. We read this above from Hebrews 10:9; "Then said He, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second."

This is the first blood covenant that Moses is sealing as he sprinkled the blood of these oxen on the people, but when Jesus came to live the perfect life, suffer and shed His blood on the Cross, that established the second covenant between man and God, and took away all the need for the blood sacrifices of lambs, oxen and goats. Yes, all of the prophecies of the Old Testament [covenant] dealing with blood sacrificing were fulfilled at the cross of Christ. Those legalistic forms of sacrifice for sins were done away with, and not one of them is still in affect. It becomes blasphemy to Christ's crucifixion to bring up those blood ordinances. The price for our sins was paid for, for one and all times on that Passover day that our Lord was crucified.

The blood on the altar in Moses time was symbolic of the defeat of sin. The blood on the people that was anointed from the basons, gives their life back to them, and it would be a blessed life for God. When Christ arose from the dead, He defeated death, whereby nobody's soul dies. Sure the flesh dies but not the soul for it returns to the Father that placed it in that embryo at its conception. Sure there is the Millennium age coming after the seventh trumpet, but the true judgment of all souls will be after the Millennium when many souls will be condemned with Satan to the lake of fire. So the thing that we must keep in mind, is that Jesus Christ fulfilled all these verses that pertain to blood rituals and sacrifices. However these verses are also the school master that allows us to understand in detail what Christ's blood is representing.

Remember that it started back in Genesis when Abraham was going to offer his son Isaac on the altar, and God provided a ram for that sacrifice. No, Abraham did not have to kill his son Isaac. That was a type of God Himself offering up His only begotten Son to pay that perfect price for you and me.

Exodus 24:9 "Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:"

Seventy is symbolic of our people, the covenant people.

Exodus 24:10 "And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness."

So what do you think that they really saw when they looked upon this God of Israel? They saw this angel of God that would go before them in their journey to the promise land. They may have seen an image, but they did not see God. Through the years many people have written on this verse, as to what God was like, as to "how man could see God and live."

Exodus 24:11 "And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink."

What this is saying is that after they saw God, there was a feast that took place. As these seventy men gazed upon God, along with Aaron and his sons; no harm came to any of them. God is not out to do harm to any of His children, however if you don't love and obey Him, then you have much to worry about.

Exodus 24:12 "And the Lord said unto Moses, "Come up to Me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written: that thou mayest teach them."

After Moses, Aaron, and the seventy came down and went to feast, then God spoke to Moses and told him only "you come up, and I will give you tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I [God] have written:" It is from these tablets that you can teach the children of Israel. Moses has already made several trips up the mount, and here God is asking him to come up again.

Exodus 24:13 "And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God."

"Joshua" in the Hebrew tongue means "Jesus". Moses got up and went up into the mount of God, and Jesus his minister when with him.

Exodus 24:14 "And he said unto the elders, "Terry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them."

"Tarry ye here for us," documents that there were more than one going up on the mount. Moses is telling these seventy elders to wait there at the base camp until he and Joshua return, and while they are up on the mountain, Aaron and Hur will be in charge of all matters.

Exodus 24:15 "And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount."

That cloud that covered that mount was the presence of God.

Exodus 24:16 "And the glory of the Lord 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."

The word "Sinai" means "YHVH's bush". Moses sat up on the mountain for six days waiting on God; and on the seventh day God called unto Moses from that cloud.

Exodus 24:17 "And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel."

When God presented Himself to His own people, He looked pretty frightening to them.

Exodus 24:18 "And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the munt: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights."

"Forty" in Biblical numerics means "probation". This forty days and forty nights was a time God was testing Moses, and the children of Israel. Think of the number forty, for that is how many days it rained during the flood of Noah. It was also how long Christ was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, and here Moses was sitting up on the mount Sinai for forty day and forty nights, as the children of Israel waited in the valley below. It is testing time for all of the children of Israel, before Moses gets the tablets and returns to the seventy. Remember that Moses placed Aaron the head priest and Hur in charge of the group below.

When Moses went into the cloud of fire on top of the mount, remember that God is a consuming fire, as He reminds us of that in Hebrews 12:29. However to each of us that love Him, it is His Spirit that warms our souls and gives us comfort when we need it. That burning fire brings comfort to each of us, but to God's enemy that same fire becomes a fire of destruction. Hebrews 12:28, 29; "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptable with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire."