Exo 24:1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.” Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 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.”
We are reminded that God spoke Exodus chapters 20:22 through 23:33 to Moses alone. Now others were to come up on the mountain and keep their distance. When the people heard the law of God they responded with complete agreement (all the people answered with one voice). Then they verbally agreed to obey the LORD. Israel here was perhaps guilty of tremendous over-confidence. The way they seemed to easily say to God, “We will keep Your law” seemed to lack appreciation for how complete and deeply comprehensive God’s law is. However, a nation that had been terrified by God’s awesome presence at Sinai was in no state of mind to do anything but agree with God. In the previous verse (Exodus 24:3), Israel verbally agreed to a covenant-relationship with God; but there is a sense in which this is simply not good enough. They must do specific things to confirm their covenant with God. First, the word of God must be written. God’s word was important enough that it was not be left up to human recollection and the creative nature of memory. Just as much as God would not negotiate His covenant with Israel, neither would He force it upon them. They must freely respond. “Half of the blood being sprinkled on the ALTAR, and half of it sprinkled on the PEOPLE, showed that both GOD and THEY were mutually bound by this covenant.”
The blood of Jesus’ covenant saves us: this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. The blood of Jesus’ covenant is also the foundation for all our growth and maturity in Christ: Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Guzik)
For a moment, the people were ennobled, and obedience seemed easy. They little knew what they were saying in that brief spasm of devotion. It was high-water then, but the tide soon turned, and all the ooze and ugliness, covered now, lay bare and rotting. ‘Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.’ We may take the lesson to ourselves, and see to it that emotion consolidates into strenuous persistency, and does not die in the very excitement of the vow. *MacLaren)
God’s covenants and commands are so just in themselves, and so much for our good, that the more we think of them, and the more plainly and fully they are set before us, the more reason we may see to comply with them. (Henry)
