Study Notes for Exodus 24:1-11 DARNING TO DRAW NEAR: A COMMUNITY THAT EATS WITH THE HOLY

The passage this week is the conclusion to the set of instructions called the Book of the Covenant (24:7) given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai (Ex 20:21). These instructions or laws were given as part of a covenant between the LORD God and the people of Israel. In this conclu-sion, Moses presented the Book of the Covenant to the people who twice agree that they will live by everything that is written in them. Moses then ratified the covenant by the sprinkling of blood in a way that clearly foreshadows Jesus ’ inauguration of the New Covenant through the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:20). After this, Moses and the leaders go up to see God and, miracu-lously, live despite “seeing ” God. This story is the grand and glorious conclusion to the covenant story. Sadly however, it did not take the leaders and the people long (less than 40 days) to reject God and worship idols (Ex. 34). The requirement of the covenant was that the people agree to it and to keep it perfectly. It was not good enough to only keep parts of it (Deut. 27:126; Gal. 3:10; James 2:10). In this ratification of the covenant, two of the most ancient expressions of bonding between two parties is recounted: eating together and establishing blood ties (Janzen, 324). Here God and the leaders – representing Israel – are bonded together in covenant agreement