The People Respond to the Covenant and Confirm Their Acceptance of Its Terms (Exodus 24:1-11).
This passage can be analysed as follows:
a Moses, Aaron and his eldest sons, and the seventy are called up to worship ‘afar off' (Exodus 24:1).
b Only Moses may approach Yahweh (as the mediator) (Exodus 24:2).
c Moses declares the words of Yahweh and all His judgments and the people respond, ‘All the words which Yahweh has said we will do' (Exodus 24:3).
d Moses writes all the words of Yahweh (preparing the covenant document for the people) (Exodus 24:4 a).
e Moses builds an altar and erects twelve pillars in accordance with the tribes of Israel (Exodus 24:4 b).
e Moses sends young men who offer whole burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings to Yahweh (Exodus 24:5).
d Moses takes of the blood and sprinkles it on the altar (committing the covenant to Yahweh) (Exodus 24:6).
c The covenant having been accepted by the Overlord Moses takes the book of the covenant and reads it to the people and they respond, ‘All that Yahweh has said we will do and be obedient' (Exodus 24:7).
b Moses sprinkles the people with the blood of the covenant sealing the covenant with them (as the mediator) (Exodus 24:8).
a Moses, Aaron and his eldest sons, and the seventy go up to behold Yahweh and to eat and drink before Him (Exodus 24:9-11).
We note that the first five references refer to preparation for the covenant and the second five refer to the application of the covenant. In ‘a' the representatives of Israel are called together to worship (preparation), and in parallel eat and drink the covenant meal before Yahweh (application). In ‘b' Moses approaches Yahweh as the mediator (preparation), and in parallel sprinkles the people as the mediator (application). In ‘c' the covenant is declared and accepted (preparation) and in the parallel it is read out (having meanwhile been written down) and accepted (application), with in both cases a willing response from the people. In ‘d' the covenant words of Yahweh are written down for presentation to the people (preparation) and in parallel the blood of the written covenant is presented to Yahweh (application). And central to all in ‘e' is the preparation for and offering of the offerings and sacrifices.
We can now look at it in more detail.
‘And he said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you will worship afar off. And Moses alone will come near to Yahweh, but they shall not come near, neither shall the people go up with him.” '
This is the commencement of the covenant procedure, the call of the Overlord for the people's representatives to approach. It is then followed by the selection of the mediator who alone can approach the Overlord.
“And He said to Moses.” The use of ‘He' instead of ‘Yahweh' (contrast Exodus 20:22 with which it therefore connects, see also Exodus 24:12), demonstrates the close connection between this and the previous words, stressing that this is a continuation of the theme. He had been speaking to all Israel through Moses (Exodus 21:1), now He speaks to Moses in his own right. Exodus 24 is integrally connected with what has gone before,
The change of person in the sentence from ‘you' to ‘him' appears to be a pattern (compare Exodus 23:23), and here indicates a firm and emphasised movement from the general welcome of all to the particular access provided to the chosen mediator. The purpose here would seem to be to stress the names of Yahweh and of Moses, and the latter's unique privilege of access.
A group of ‘seventy of the elders of Israel', as the people's representatives, together with Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, were to ascend the lower mount so as to ‘worship afar off'. But they were not to go up higher. That was to be left for Moses alone. And the people were excluded altogether. This feasting before Yahweh would seal the covenant.
Nadab and Abihu were two sons of Aaron (Exodus 28:1; see also Exodus 6:23). Here they were given a huge privilege and were being prepared for great responsibility. But they would shortly sadly die before they had fulfilled themselves because they dealt lightly with sacred things (Leviticus 10:1-2). Great privilege brings great responsibility of many kinds.
“Seventy of the elders of Israel.” These would seem to represent specifically the combined leadership (compare Numbers 11:16; Numbers 11:24-25). The number seventy signifies divine completeness (compare Exodus 1:5), and the leading elders were possibly limited to that number. Compare Numbers 11:24-25 with 26. The two were ‘of those who were written' and therefore part of ‘the seventy'. But it may be that this means that at that stage there were seventy two, although ‘gathered the seventy' might simply be describing the group as a whole without saying that they were all present. The group was probably known as ‘the seventy' regardless of exact numbers. On this number was patterned the later Sanhedrin, the governing body of the Jews in the time of Christ. Compare also Luke 10:1; Luke 10:17.
The purpose of this event was as a ceremony at which Yahweh would receive the response of the people to His covenant and would seal it by handing over the official covenant documents, just as a great overlord would when sealing his suzerainty treaty. But before this could be done there were things that Moses had to do.