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 24:8 and Hebrews 9:20

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

Summary

Hebrews 9 directly quotes Exodus 24 to recall the Sinai covenant ceremony. This is unusual, since Hebrews usually draws on Exodus through indirect themes and imagery rather than direct quotation.

Passages

Exodus 24:8

Hebrew Bible

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.

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Hebrews 9:20

New Testament

19 For when Moses had spoken every command to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep.” 21 And both the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship he likewise sprinkled with blood.

80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hebrews

References

"... There are only two citations, or quotations, of Exodus in Hebrews that scholars agree upon: Exodus 25:40 in Hebrews 8:5 and of Exodus 24:8 in 9:20. In Hebrews 12:20 we find what I describe as a condensed paraphrase of Exodus 19:12-13, where a longer portion of text is condensed with close verbal similarity preserved and, for that reason, there is no debate as to whether Hebrews 12:20 references Exodus 19:12-13. There are many instances, however, in which Hebrews alludes to Exodus and, in those cases, Hays’ criteria are most relevant. Some of the most significant allusions I (and others) identify, for instance, include the “word spoken through angels” in 2:2 (angels at Sinai), the wilderness generation (thematic allusions) and the promise of rest (Exodus 33:14) in Hebrews 3-4. The reference to God’s rest after creation in relation to the Sabbath command in 4:4 may allude to Genesis but it may also (or instead) allude to the Decalogue in Exodus and/or Exodus 31:17. Hebrews 5:1, 4 allude to the call of Aaron from among the people to be a priest (Exodus 28:1) and Hebrews dialogues with the concept of Aarons’ perpetual priestly line throughout Hebrews 5-7, as well. A detailed description of the wilderness tabernacle in Hebrews 9 alludes very specifically to Exodus and references to both covenant and atoning rituals in Hebrews can easily be understood as alluding to Exodus and/or Leviticus ..."

Scott Ronald Moore, “A Conviction of Texts Not Seen: Perceiving Exodus as the Generative Text of Hebrews” (diss., University of Denver, 2017), 69–70.

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 24:8 and Hebrews 9:20

Summary

Passages

Exodus 24:8

Hebrews 9:20

References

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