Verses 1-2 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.
In chapter 20 Moses had headed up the mountain and gotten close to the presence of the LORD God. Now he was given instructions to bring the men of the priesthood and the elders of Israel up onto the mountain.
Verse 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.
Moses returned from off the mountain and told the people all that the LORD had told him. Remember that they had been so fearful that they did not want to hear from God themselves, but wanted a mediator. All the time Moses was on the mountain, however, the people could still see both the darkness from the cloud and the fire up on the mountain. Their response was that they would be obedient and follow the commandments and the statutes. As you will see, this commitment did not last very long. Many of them were probably caught up in the drama and the emotions of the moment.
Application: Like the Hebrew people, non-believers today will hear the Gospel and have an emotional response and promise to follow Jesus. Often this commitment is short lived, for when the emotional high is gone, the tangible and emotional things in their life are still there and they decide they do not want to be obedient to the call of God.
Verses 4-6 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. 5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
Moses must have spent most of the night writing everything God had said to him to be kept as a record for future generations, including you who are reading the Scripture in this study. Moses’ writings included the ten commandments, of course, but this was not the ten commandments written on the slabs of stone. God wrote on the stones. Moses would have duplicated them. Most likely the writings were on parchment which was usually made from sheepskins and then rolled up for easy storage. The sacrifices Moses carried out were to be the same sacrifices done later in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem.
Application: Animal sacrifices ceased once the Temple was destroyed in 70AD. Jesus was and is the sacrificial lamb and only His death and shedding of blood can take away the sins of mankind. All the other sacrificial rituals were a type pointing to the final sacrifice of Jesus on a cross outside of the city of Jerusalem. Believers today are to be living sacrifices unto the LORD by following the example of Jesus and by being obedient to His commandments.
Verse 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.
Now there existed a book recording the covenant God was making with His people. This was the beginning of the written Word. In the verse above, Moses held church and read the Word to the people so that they would not be ignorant about the things of the LORD.
Application: The church today has the book of the covenant which is greatly expanded than what existed in Moses’ day. That book is the Bible which includes Moses’ inspired writings and the prophets and the entire New Testament writings. Today, church services are supposed to read and explain or talk about the Word of God. They are to make sure that the people are not ignorant about the things of God. They should not be social gatherings where various words of men are discussed. Commentaries and various writings or sermons from Christian men are not necessarily bad, but these things can be looked at in other venues rather than the church service. God should be the focus and what He has said in the Bible should be the focus. And the congregation has the responsibility to study the Word for themselves and decide if what they have been told is indeed accurate and true.
Verse 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.
In the Old Testament, the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the people and upon objects of worship. Again, the blood did not do anything in and of itself. It was a foreshadowing of the blood of Jesus shed in the New Covenant that has the power to save the souls of men. Hebrews 9:21-22 talking about Moses states, “Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” The word “remission” means the cancellation of a debt or penalty. Therefore, the punishment for sin which is death was paid for by the shedding of Jesus’ blood.
Verses 9-11 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Ezekiel 1:26 states, “And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.” John 1:18 says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” So when the verse above states that the men of the priesthood and the elders saw God, they were seeing the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, deity embodied in human form but not in a body of flesh. God is a Spirit and is invisible to men. Therefore He manifested or showed Himself in human form so that He could be seen. So the verses above do not contradict each other. Understanding the manifestations of God is essential if proper interpretation and understanding of the Scripture is to occur.
Verses 12-13 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. 13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.
God only allowed Moses and Joshua to get closer to His presence. Why? Because Moses had been in closed communion with the LORD since the burning bush experience out in the desert.
Application: All believers have the ability to draw closer to God if they want to. Unfortunately, many believers become satisfied with knowing they are saved, with knowing that they will have eternity in Heaven, and with their church life, and they fail to work to get closer to God. Drawing nearer to the LORD is work. Moses had to climb a mountain after having his faith tested in Egypt and after experiencing multiple problems with Pharaoh, the Egyptian governmental system, the Hebrew people themselves, and with his own family. His life wasn’t easy, but through all of his experiences, he waited on the LORD and trusted Him fully and he gave all of his energy and time to communicating with the LORD. Think about Moses’ example and take time to examine your own walk with the LORD. Can you draw closer with a little effort?
Verse 14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry 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.
Moses did not know how long he would be on the mountain. Being a man who paid attention to detail, he made sure that in his absence Aaron and Hur would have the authority to act in his stead.
Verses 15-16 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. 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.
It took a week for Moses to hear from God. Notice the numbers in these verses. Six days had to pass and then on the seventh day, the number of God, the LORD speaks. Also notice the verse numbers that just happened to be assigned to these sentences. In numerology, the numbers can be added together. Verse 15 would be 1 plus 5 and equal 6. Verse 16 would be 1 plus 6 and equal 7, the very numbers listed in the verses themselves. Coincidence or divine? You decide.
God created time and He works within the restraints of time as He interacts with mankind. God took six days to create the world and everything in it. He rested on the seventh day and admired His work. God took six days to create the law and the statutes that were to govern a new people or nation. And on the seventh day He began to reveal this new covenant to Moses.
Application: Moses could have gotten tired of waiting. After all, it could not have been comfortable living rough out in that rocky mountain with no physical comforts or provisions. Moses did not hike up Mount Sinai with a backpack and a sleeping bag! But Moses persevered because he wanted to hear from God. Often believers pray for a situation and, when they do not get an immediate answer from the LORD, they give up and feel that the LORD let them down. Just like Moses, believers need to wait upon the LORD. “Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.” Psalms 123:2
Verse 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.
The Hebrew people waiting down below had no idea what had happened to Moses. They just saw the dark cloud, and then the mountain heated up and looked like it was on fire. What an amazing sight that must have been!
Verse 18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
None of these manifestations frightened Moses. He just drew closer to the LORD and remained in His presence for forty, 24 hour days. Remember that 40 is the number of a generation and also of judgement. God was giving the law to Moses and the law would require judgement of those individuals who broke the law. Remember also that Moses was a type of Christ. Just as Jesus Christ spent 40 days in the wilderness communicating with the Father prior to starting His ministry, Moses spent 40 days on the mountain before starting this new phase of his ministry to God and to the Hebrew people.