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 24:7 and Letter of Aristeas 310

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

Summary

In Exodus 24, Moses reads the book of the covenant to the people, and they answer that they will obey. The Letter of Aristeas follows the same pattern of public reading and consent when the Greek translation is read to the Jewish people of Alexandria.

Passages

Exodus 24:7

Hebrew Bible

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.”

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Letter of Aristeas 310

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates

When the work was completed, Demetrius collected together the Jewish population in the place where the translation had been made, and read it over to all, in the presence of the translators, who met with a great reception also from the people, because of the great benefits which they had conferred on them. They warmly praised Demetrius, too, and urged him to have the whole law transcribed and present a copy to their leaders. After the books had been read, the priests and the elders of the translators and the Jewish community and the leaders of the people stood up and said, that since so excellent and sacred and accurate a translation had been made, it was only right that it should remain as it was and no

200–150 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Letter of Aristeas

References

“... Harry Orlinsky has made the most complete case that in the scene that we observe in these paragraphs the combination of reading aloud to the people followed by some expression of consent comprises the biblical procedure for making something authoritative and binding. So, in Exod 24:3–7, Moses takes the leaders of the people aside to worship God, then he “recounted to the people all God’s words and statutes. And all the people answered with one voice, saying, ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken, we will do and heed’” (NETS). In 4 Reigns 23, when Josiah is presented with the scroll found in the temple, he gathered “all the elders of Iouda and Ierousalem”; then he read the scroll aloud to the people and to the priests and prophets, all of whom agreed to enter into the covenant. And, of course, in 2 Esdr 18:1–8 (=Neh 8:1–8 MT) Ezra brought the “book of the law of Moyses,” and he read from it to all the people all morning. They responded with “Amen.” ...”

Benjamin G. Wright III, The Letter of Aristeas: ‘Aristeas to Philocrates’ or ‘On the Translation of the Law of the Jews’ (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015), 442–443.

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 24:7 and Letter of Aristeas 310

Summary

Passages

Exodus 24:7

Letter of Aristeas 310

References

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