SUMMONED UP THE MOUNTAIN

BOOK OF EXODUS

CHAPTER 24

            It's a fine day here at Daily Bread and we're glad to have you with us once again.  Gave ya a few days to check out the laws and study them if ya chose to. We've been discussing the laws that God gave to the Hebrews in the Old Testament and how, in God's mercy and grace, He replaced the Old Testament with the New Testament for all people. 

            We're here at the foot of Mt. Sinai where God is still talking to Moses, but the people are standing far off.  They were afraid when they felt the quaking of the mountain and saw it covered with dark, thick smoke as God spoke to them of the Ten Commandments.

            God said to Moses, Bring Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, (Aaron's sons) and seventy of the elders of Israel and worship afar off.  And only Moses will come near the Lord, but they will not come near and neither will the people go up with him.  So Moses told the people what the Lord said and all the laws.  All the people in unison said, All the words that the Lord has said, we will do. 

            Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and woke up early in the morning and built an altar at the bottom of the mountain with twelve pillars, one for each of the tribes of Israel.  He sent people who offered burnt offerings and peace offerings of oxen to the Lord, and Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar.  He took the book of the covenant that he wrote the Lord's laws in and read it to all the people and they said, All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient. Moses took the blood from the bowls and sprinkled it on the people and said, This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.

            The Lord said to Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and I will give you tables of stone, and a law, and commandments that I have written, so you can teach them.  Moses got up, and his minister Joshua, and he said to the elders, Wait here for us until we return.  Aaron and Hur (Caleb's son) are with you.  If anyone has a problem, they'll take care of it.

            A cloud covered the mountain when Moses went up into it, and the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai.  The cloud covered it for six days and on the seventh day, God called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.  The sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the children of Israel.  Moses walked into the midst of the cloud into the mountain and he was in the mount for forty days and forty nights. 

CONTINUE TO THE NEXT STUDY