Chapter 24
2023 - Begins with "Then". So once these rules, and possibly many more that were not passed down to us, but were important for them, are recorded, Moses is called up the mountain with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 elders. This would be one elder for each PERSON who went into Egypt under Joseph. It would be one person for each nation established after the flood. Even these could not "come near". Only Moses could do so.
Moses writes all the laws that God has given him in the Book of the Covenant. He builds an altar with 12 pillars. He takes blood from sacrificed animals and sprinkles it on the altar. He reads the book to all the people, and they all agree to abide by these new laws. So:
8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." [Exo 24:8 ESV]
Is this the first baptism? Done with real blood and not water. Or is this a blood covenant, a different thing completely? Water now because we don't sacrifice animals anymore? Didn't baptism look back at this? You have to ask what they were being baptized into, if this was a baptism. Baptism into Moses? And let's not forget that previously, some, that is 8 souls, were saved by water in the ark. So this is not the first. But is it a type?
2023 - We don't hear much about "The Book of the Covenant" either. The Ten were first spoken, but I don't recall them being written. Then, once the people agreed to the "just decrees" given to Moses, God has Moses write them down in this book. This written book came before the written commandments.
9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank. [Exo 24:9-11 ESV]
But it is written somewhere that no man has seen God at any time. MSB cross references I Jn 4:12, which is where it says no man has seen God. See further explanation in "Contradictions to Explain" Notebook.
2024 - There is a footnote on vss 9-11 in MSB. He notes that the wording implies that they saw God's "footstool", they saw God and saw what was under his feet. Likely they dared not raise their eyes to behold his face. They saw only the pavement and the feet of God resting on that pavement. This is one possible way of resolving these two scriptures.
2026 - Also this:
11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank. [Exo 24:11 ESV]. It seems to me that this verse implies - strongly - that God insured that these men did nothing that would mandate their deaths. It seems reasonable that they were so in awe and fear that they dared not raise their eyes.
Note also that phrase "as it were" in vs. 10 - and in other versions "appeared to be". I looked that word up and it seems to have a lot of possible translations that are a long way from "as it were". So perhaps what this is actually trying to convey is lost in history because we do not really understand this usage of the word. It is Strong's 4639. But it is used 235 times in the KJV. You would think we could nail it down in this passage with that many examples of its interpretation! Here is the Outline of Biblical Usage from BLB:
deed, work
deed, thing done, act
work, labour
business, pursuit
undertaking, enterprise
achievement
deeds, works (of deliverance and judgment)
work, thing made
work (of God)
product
None of them really fit for "as it were".
I note also that this word is connected to the pavement or whatever it was "under his feet", and not really at all connected to the appearance of God.
12 The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction." [Exo 24:12 ESV]
So God spoke the 10 to all the people, together, and they heard his voice, each and every one. Then He gave Moses the rest of the law and Moses wrote it all in the Book of the Covenant. Then the book was read to the people, they accepted it, and the blood of the covenant was sprinkled on the whole of the people.
Then, and only then, did God say he was going to write it in stone. AFTER it was accepted it was carved in granite!
2023 - This verse: 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. [Exo 24:17 ESV]. Throne's described:
3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. [Rev 4:3 ESV]. Jasper is always very red - not bright red like blood, but saturated red. Carnelian is sort of a translucent red.
27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. [Eze 1:27 ESV]
9 "As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. [Dan 7:9 ESV]
2023 - So this is the first "40 days and 40 nights" that Moses is up on the mountain. Back in 20, God SPOKE the Ten. The people heard it and asked that God speak only to Moses in future, because it scared them too bad. There is nothing there about them accepting the Ten as their Law. The "just decrees" begin at 20:22 and go until the end of 23. In 24, the people accept the Book, but the Ten are not mentioned - even though the people heard these themselves with their own ears. God had spoken the Ten directly to each and everyone of them. Now, God calls Moses up alone (but sort of with Joshua but not Aaron?) for this purpose: 12 The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction." [Exo 24:12 ESV].