Covenant Confirmation (24:1-15)

C. Covenant Confirmation (24:1-15)

After the content of the covenant had been revealed, the covenant relationship was ceremonially initiated. Chapter 24 contains two different traditions relating to the covenant ratification ceremony. In the first tradition, only representatives of the people approach God.

¹ And he said to Moses, "Come up to YHWH, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel, and worship at a distance. ² Moses alone shall come near to YHWH; but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him." (24:1-2)

    This tradition is continued in verses 9-11, which describe a meal Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the elders ate with God in a covenant confirmation (or ratification) ceremony. In this version the Israelites as a whole take part in the covenant ceremony only indirectly through their leaders.

God's Appearing. The traditions of Yahweh's appearing are complex. In 24:9-11 Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders all saw God. In the tent of meeting Yahweh appeared to Moses "face to face, as one speaks to a friend" (33:11). In 33:18-23, an Elohist text, Moses would see only the divine backside. In 34:5-8, a Yahwist text, Yahweh descends in a cloud and stands with Moses. On the one hand, no one can see God and live (33:20), but on the other hand, many do see God.

⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, ¹⁰ and they saw the Elohim of Israel; and there was under his feet what looked like a sapphire stone street, like the heavens itself for clarity. ¹¹ And he did not lay his hand on the leaders of the people of Israel; they saw Elohim, and ate and drank. (24:9-11)

    All in all this is a remarkable story and quite uncharacteristic of Elohist theology, which guards people from seeing God. Perhaps this is a story from a different source. Here Israel's leaders actually saw God and ate with him, but even though they gazed on him, they did not die.

Covenant Banquet. Eating a meal at the conclusion of covenant making also is found in Genesis 26:30 and 31:46, 54. Eating a ceremonial meal in the presence of God is an important component in later sacramental meals such as the Eucharist.

    In the second version the people gathered together for sacrifices and directly took part in the covenant ceremony.

³ Moses came and told the people all the words of YHWH and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which YHWH has spoken we will do." ⁴ And Moses wrote down all the words of YHWH. And he got up early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, along with twelve pillars, matching the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to YHWH. ⁶ And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that YHWH has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient." ⁸ And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, "Here is the blood of the covenant which YHWH has made with you, in agreement with all these words." (24:3-8)

    In this ceremony the altar represents God. When Moses took blood from the sacrifices and sprinkled it on the altar and on the people, the two parties were bound together in the covenant. Blood represents life in the Hebrew Bible. This ceremony symbolically states that both parties were pledging their lives to the endurance of the covenant relationship.
    Note how the people agreed to the covenant with full knowledge of its requirements. The Book of the Covenant was read directly to them and the people knowingly accepted the covenant requirements. The covenant would remain in effect as long as they were obedient. As with Exodus 19:3b-6, here too the Elohist covenant has the condition of the people's obedience attached to it.
    After the covenant ratification ceremonies, God called Moses up to the mountain to receive copies of the law.

¹² YHWH said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there. I will give you the stone tablets containing the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction." ¹³ So Moses got up with his servant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of Elohim. ¹⁴ And he said to the leaders, "Wait here for us, until we return. For now, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a problem, let him go to them." ¹⁵ Then Moses went up onto the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. (24:12-15)

    These verses record yet another trip up the mountain, and seem to contain yet another tradition of meeting God. Joshua and Hur are introduced in this account, while Nadab and Abihu are absent.
    Moses received the stone tablets containing "the law and the commandments." This seems to be a reference to the Ethical Decalogue, but one cannot be sure. Moses presumably already had something written down according to 24:7, which refers to the Book of the Covenant. In any case, these two stone tablets are the ones Moses smashes in Exodus 32.

Two Tablets. Exodus 31:18; 32:15; and 34:1, 4, 29 specify two tablets (or tables) of stone. Traditionally it has been imagined that five commandments were written on each tablet. Studies of ancient Middle Eastern covenant conventions clarify that the two tablets represent two complete copies of the covenant document, one for each party to the covenant.

    Reading through these chapters we might get exhausted for Moses--he has been going up and down, up and down. It is really difficult to sort out how many trips he actually takes. Apparently, these chapters have a very complicated editorial history. Each tradition has Moses going up the mountain, and they were all retained in the final version.

 For the traditions concerning the written form of the covenant see Table 3.U, Scribing the covenant. For the collection of texts that tracks Moses' trips up Mount Sinai to meet God see Table 3.V, Moses up and down the mountain.