Exodus Chapter 24 Verses 1,2 

 :1 “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.”   

Some people have the mistaken idea that somehow God must treat everybody the same.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In the above we find that God allows some to come and worship afar off, one to come near unto him and all of the people were forbidden to go up with Moses.  We are not all alike.  We do not all have the same gifts.  We are not all given the same work to do.  We worship differently in the New Testament church than the children of Israel worshipped in the Old Testament worship.  

First, the LORD allowed and commanded Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel to come up and worship afar off.  Notice that anytime we truly worship that we are “coming up” unto the Lord.  The very act of true worship carries us up above our usual station in life.   

“Moses alone shall come near the LORD:” Moses had a unique position in the Old Testament days.  God gave to Moses alone the laws, ordinances, and commandments to deliver unto the children of Israel.  In the New Testament Moses is compared to Jesus as far as being a certain prophet to deliver the Testaments of God: John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”  What Moses delivered shows our condemnation before God, while what Jesus Christ delivered shows us our salvation from sin by the finished work of Jesus Christ.   

“But they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.” There are several parallels between Moses and the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is one of them.  When it came to the work that God had Moses to do, he was unique in what he saw and what he did.  Likewise, when it came to the work that Jesus Christ came to do, he was unique in that work and in the deliverance of the elect family of God from sin: Matt. 1:21 “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”  Thus, Moses was unique in that God used him to deliver the “law” unto the children of Israel.  Moreover, Jesus was unique in that he alone saved his people from their sins.

Verses 3-8 

: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. 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. 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 basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 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. 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.” 

“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.”  When all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do, they verbally ratified the covenant that God had made with them.  They were now bound to this covenant and all its terms including the blessings of obedience and the judgments of disobedience.   

“And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD…”  We have preserved for us a record of all the words of the LORD which he gave unto Moses with regard to the covenant He made with the children of Israel.  We have them because Moses wrote them.  Thus, there was a verbal ratification of the covenant and a written record of that covenant and its ratification.  Since, they were written, future generations would have the benefit of what the people verbally agreed to and the terms of the covenant. 

“And rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.”  We begin to see a pattern that will extend throughout the scriptures of the priority of worship and service unto God.  By rising up early, Moses is demonstrating to us that worship should be first in our lives and not last.  After the example of Abraham, Moses built an altar for worship.  Moreover, Moses erected twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.  Twelve, is the representative number and is a part of the combined kingdom number of one, twelve, and seventy.  Israel had twelve sons and these twelve sons multiplied and now there were twelve tribes named after the twelve sons of Israel.  The twelve pillars were thus figurative of the twelve tribes of Israel, in other words, all of Israel.  

“And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.”  Moses, will later write about the significance of the different types of offerings that were made unto the LORD.  The burnt offerings testify unto us of the judgment of God meted out upon Jesus for our sins.  The peace offerings testify unto us of the effect of judgment of God bringing peace between us and God.  The setting and timing of this worship was based on a covenant that God had made with the children of Israel.  Likewise, we have a similar setting today, in that God made a covenant under which we can give praise, honor, and glory to God for his work in redeeming us unto God, causing us to be born of the Spirit and promising unto us a future resurrection of our bodies from the grave.  This covenant is set forth for us in Rom. 8:29, 30: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”   

“And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.”  The blood is shed for an atonement and is sprinkled to sanctify or set apart.  Here the altar is set apart by the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices.  Similarly, we are set apart (sanctified) by the shed blood of Jesus Christ by which he atoned for our sins.  Now we are set apart for a holy use of God. 

“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. 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.”  Again we see where the people agreed to the things written in the book of the covenant.  By the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices upon the people after they had verbally agreed to do all the things written in the book of the covenant and be obedient, the people were being set apart under covenant obligation to do all that was written in the book and to be obedient unto all those words.