Hello Friend. ☺️

Here we are again on Mount Horeb.

Why-did-we-ever-leave-Egypt counter:2️⃣

(🧄🧄 2 garlic bulbs)

Moses mountain climbing meter:4️⃣ (he’s been up there for 4 chapters)🌋🌋🌋🌋

“And to Moses he (Yahweh) said, “Go up to Yahweh—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy from the elders of Israel—and you will worship at a distance.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭24‬:‭1‬ ‭LEB‬‬

That’s interesting wording isn’t it? Kinda like “The Lord said to my Lord…” Yahweh said, “Go up to Yahweh.” 🤔 This is, again, the two Yahweh figures in the OT.

So finally Moses comes down the mountain to talk to the people and gather the 70 elders who Yahweh has summoned. And while he’s down there we get the inauguration of the Mosaic Covenant.

Not mosaic as in a picture made with tiles. (Though, now that I think of it, that sense is not entirely wrong. 😏) Mosaic as in, Moses. There are some details that are important:

1. Moses reads the terms of the covenant (it’s the 10 Commandments plus basically chapters 21-23), and the nation agrees to it.
2. Moses writes down chapters 20-23. In a scroll. I bet you thought the 10 Commandments were written on stone, right? We all think that thanks to the movies. They weren’t. Not yet. They appear first on a scroll written by Moses. Later they’ll be on stone written by God.
3. He has “young men” from among the children of Israel to offer bulls as sacrifices, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings. These guys are not exclusively Levites. This is God’s initial plan for a “nation of priests” in action. It’s the first and only time we’ll see it in the OT. It won’t be restored until version 2.0 in the book of Acts.
4. There’s WAY more blood here than you think. Gallons. It’s the “blood of the covenant.” 🤔 Hmm. Why does that sound familiar?

“And he took the scroll of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that Yahweh has spoken we will do, and we will listen.” And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and he said, “Look, the blood of the covenant that Yahweh has made with you in accordance with all these words.” Exodus‬ ‭24‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Compare:

“And after taking the cup and giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew‬ ‭26‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭LEB‬‬

The first one got replaced by the second one. That’s why the second one is called the “New Covenant.”

Look at this cool detail from the epistle to the Hebrews about this event with Moses:

“Therefore not even the first covenant was ratified without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭9‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Water. Scarlet wool. Hyssop.

Hyssop was what Yahweh asked the children of Israel to use as a “brush” to apply the blood of the Passover lamb to their doorposts and lintel.

In Leviticus and Numbers, hyssop and scarlet cord/yarn/wool and water (along with planks of cedar wood) will figure prominently in cleansing rituals.

In Psalm 51:7 David pleaded, “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭7‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Then there’s this moment:

“A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” John‬ ‭19‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Have you ever seen hyssop?

Imagine this purple plant dripping with blood and slapped against a rough plank of wood.

It’s all there. The cross. The bloodied, mocked, crowned, and crucified King. It’s there in picture form at the Passover AND in this moment where Moses confirms God’s covenant with His chosen people. Like a painter using the spatter technique, Moses takes a brush of hyssop and sprinkles the people and the scroll 📜 of the written covenant with blood. And I kinda wonder- did the thousands of people pass by and Moses spattered them all?

There’s no way the blood stains ever came off that document. It was marked forever. This document will be called “The Testimony” from now on. Remember this.

Immediately following the sealing of the covenant…

“And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy from the elders of Israel went up. And they saw the God of Israel, and what was under his feet was like sapphire tile work and like the very heavens for clearness. And toward the leaders of the Israelites he did not stretch out his hand, and they beheld God, and they ate, and they drank.” Exodus‬ ‭24‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Clear sapphire tiles. I can’t wait to see that.

🤩

If your head didn’t explode just now, you might need to read that again. More slowly.

Y’all. They get to have a mountain picnic with God. 😲🤯 Heaven and the physical realm are overlapping here. They are seeing the visible Yahweh- the Angel of the Lord Who has been leading them in the cloud. It was unprecedented access. Mortal men eating a covenant meal with their Creator.

Jesus did that. With the Apostles. A Covenant meal. That’s what Communion is.

Then…

Moses mountain climbing meter: 5️⃣

Yes, I know he was kinda already on the mountain, but apparently they were at a nice spot for a picnic and not all the way up. There are some details we need to note.

1. Joshua goes with Moses. We read about Joshua defeating Amalek. We knew he was a fighter. But here we learn that he serves Moses. I like the term “assistant.” (v13)
2. The elders, Aaron and Hur (where did he come from? Maybe he’s one of the elders) and probably Nadab & Abihu were to wait there. (v14)
3. Moses (and Joshua?) waits in the Yahweh cloud for 6 days. Finally on the 7th day, God speaks to him. [You don’t rush God. You wait for a week in a cloud and you don’t care.] (v16)
4. Moses presses completely in to the cloud (which looked like fire from an outside perspective… shooo… that’ll preach), and he’s there for 40 days and nights. (v18)

I don’t know at what point Aaron and the 70 elders gave up waiting for Moses to return but I’m guessing it didn’t take long. Probably when they ran out of leftovers. By the time we get to chapter 32 when Moses comes down from the mountain, Aaron has long been back in camp trying his hand at a new hobby- metallurgy.

So while Moses is on the mountaintop this time, God will give him detailed instructions on building a place to meet. The Tabernacle.

The first piece is the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of the Covenant. It will hold the written testimony/covenant. Note the cherubim. Where did we last see them? That would be the entrance of Eden. Usually where God is, the kheruvim are not far. Cherubim are God’s conveyance. Cowboys ride horses. Yahweh, on the other hand…

“And He mounted a cherub and flew, and he swooped down on wings of wind.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭10‬ ‭LEB‬‬

I don’t care who you are. That. Is. Cool. 😎

The Ark is Yahweh’s mobile throne. Some translations call the lid “the atonement cover.” In the KJV it’s the “Mercy Seat.” That’s an interesting phrase because neither the word for mercy (hesed) nor seat (kisseh) appear. Let’s look at it.

The Hebrew letters (right to left) are:

Kaf – palm of the hand, cover, grip, grasp

Peh – mouth, opening, rim, edge, speech, command, saying

Resh – head, top, first, beginning

Tav – mark, strong indicator, this thing

So we get: cover opening top this thing.

Yep. That’s what a lid does.

The root word is kaphar. Same as above but without the Tav. It means “cover.” It’s the picture of a the palm of a hand over a mouth on a head. Look at what all kaphar means.

Let’s look at the word used for the lid of the ark in the NT (Greek).

The lid of the ark is the place where expiation will be made. But it’s also where the One Who makes expiation is located. The Voice of Yahweh that speaks from between the cherubim is the “atoning victim.” The mercy seat is the chair, the throne, of Yahweh who will become human to make amends, full satisfaction, for the sin of man. He’s got you covered.

Finally in chapter 25 we get the Table and the Lamp.

“And you will make its plates and its ladles and its pitchers and its bowls with which libations will be poured; of pure gold you will make them. And you will put on the table the bread of presence to be before me continually.” Exodus‬ ‭25‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭LEB‬‬

It’s what we’d call a Communion Table. The priests are going to have Communion in the Tabernacle. The Lord’s Supper didn’t start in the Gospels.

The lamp is basically a golden almond tree. Sort of. It’s also very much like a grapevine- with a central branch and six vines. Seven lamps. We should connect dots with Jesus in the middle of seven lamp stands in Revelation 1. If you really want to geek out, go to Zechariah 4 and connect that dot too. I don’t honestly know what it means but it’s a dot for sure.

But check this out. God says to Moses,

“And see and make all according to their pattern, which you were shown in the mountain.” Exodus‬ ‭25‬:‭40‬ ‭LEB‬‬

God didn’t just give Moses a description, He showed him things. The writer of Hebrews confirms that there is a sanctuary in heaven.

“Therefore it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf,” Hebrews‬ ‭9‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Let’s keep this in mind as we move ahead. We’re going to get lots of detailed descriptions this week. And it can get a bit tedious to modern readers. It helps to realize what is being described. It’s heaven.