The Covenant Confirmed

Chapter 24

1 But to Moses the Lord said, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu,⁠ and seventy of the elders of Israel,⁠ and worship from a distance.⁠ 2 Moses alone may come near the Lord, but the others must not come near, nor may the people go up with him.” 3 Moses came and told the people all the Lord’s words and all the decisions. All the people answered together, “We are willing to do all the words that the Lord has said,” 4 and Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and arranged twelve standing stones—according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 He sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls for peace offerings to the Lord.⁠ 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar. 7 He took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people,⁠ and they said, “We are willing to do and obey all that the Lord has spoken.” 8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people⁠ and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”⁠ 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up,⁠ 10 and they saw the God of Israel.⁠ Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of blue sapphire, clear like the sky itself.⁠ 11 But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank.⁠ 12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that I have written,⁠ so that you may teach them.”⁠ 13 So Moses set out with Joshua his attendant, and Moses went up the mountain of God. 14 He told the elders, “Wait for us in this place until we return to you.⁠ Here are Aaron and Hur with you. Whoever has any matters of dispute can approach them.” 15 Moses went up the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord resided on Mount Sinai,⁠ and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from within the cloud.⁠ 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in plain view of the people. 18 Moses went into the cloud when he went up the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 24:10 and Zechariah 14:4

Hebrew Bible

Summary

Exodus 24 describes God’s feet and hints at his superhuman size, a detail that follows ancient Near Eastern traditions of deities with giant bodies. Zechariah similarly describes God’s feet on the Mount of Olives, large enough to split it in half.

Passages

Exodus 24:10

Hebrew Bible

9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of blue sapphire, clear like the sky itself. 11 But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank. 12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them.”

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Zechariah 14:4

Hebrew Bible

2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away. 3 Then the Lord will go to battle and fight against those nations, just as he fought battles in ancient days. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives that lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward. 5 Then you will escape through my mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him.

500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zechariah

References

"... Exodus 24:10 offers a unique glimpse of God’s body: “Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone [lapis lazuli], like the very heaven for clearness.” The feet are God’s feet, and they are perceived by the human figures through what looks “like a pavement of sapphire stone” (see also the divine throne of “sapphire” in Ezekiel 1:26; 10:1). Judging from descriptions elsewhere of the heavenly temple located on the mountain, Brevard S. Childs surmised that Moses and the other leaders are looking up through the flooring of the temple. The men may be viewing the deity (or at least the divine feet) in his throne room, but without being able to enter it. In short, the superhuman-sized God is enthroned in the palace on the mountain, with the divine feet perhaps resting on a divine footstool, as surmised by Friedhelm Hartenstein. The giant footprints of the deity carved into the sanctuary floor at ‘Ain Dara might suggest a similar size for the divine feet in Exodus 24:10 (compare 2 Samuel 22:10; Psalm 18:9; Nahum 1:3; Zechariah 14:4). By implication, the rest of the divine body that goes unmentioned in Exodus 24:10 would also be superhuman in scale ..."

Mark S. Smith, Where the Gods Are: Spatial Dimensions of Anthropomorphism in the Biblical World (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016), 19.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

The Covenant Confirmed

Exodus40 chapters

Compare Exodus 24:10 and Zechariah 14:4

Summary

Passages

Exodus 24:10

Zechariah 14:4

References

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