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Exodus

About this book

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 24:11 and Onkelos Exodus 24:11

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Exodus 24 says that the leaders saw God and they ate and drank a covenant meal, implying that God has a body and eats. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos instead says it only seemed as if they ate and drank to remove the physical depiction of God.

Passages

Exodus 24:11

Hebrew Bible
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

Onkelos Exodus 24:11

Targum
10 And they saw the Glory of the God of Israel, and under the throne of His glory something like the work of a precious stone, and like the face of heaven in its clearness. 11 Yet the nobles of the sons of Israel were not harmed; and they saw the Glory of the Lord, and rejoiced in their sacrifices, which were accepted with favor, as though they had eaten and drunk. 12 And the Lord said to Moses, Come up before Me on the mountain, and stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone, and the law and the commandments, which I have written, so that you may teach them.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Exodus

References

"... By adding phrases to the verse such as 'as if' the Aramaic transforms the biblical 'and they ate and drank,' and negates the unseemly implication that the leaders indulged themselves with food and drink during their experience of God. This would have been improper and impious behavior. However, Rashi states that they ate and drank during the experience. Ibn Ezra also accepts the view that the leaders ate and drank, but explains that, being human, they had to sustain themselves. The Babylonian Talmud (Yoma 70a) has the notion that they piously rejoiced with eating and drinking 'as did the high priest after the Day of Atonement.' Ibn Ezra believes that the episode is mentioned to distinguish these people from Moses, who miraculously did not eat for forty days and nights while in presence. Nachmanides emphasizes that the lesson contained in this passage is that Jews should feast on holidays and when they conclude a unit of Torah study ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 161.

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

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Exodus 24:11 and Onkelos Exodus 24:11

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