Exodus 24

v.8

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled 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.”

The blood by which the covenant was ratified and sealed was the basis for union between the Lord and the people. This phrase becomes most important in the NT (Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20; 1Co 11:25; Heb 9:20; 10:29; also Heb 12:24; 13:20; 1Pe 1:2).

WalterKaiser

v.9-10

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up ¹⁰and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.

That Moses and his company “saw the God of Israel” at first appears to contradict 33:20; Jn 1:18; and 1Ti 6:16; but what they saw was a “form” [‘similitude’] of the Lord (Nu 12:8; cf. Eze 1:26; Isa 6:1). There is a deliberate obscurity in the form and details of the one who produced such a splendid, dazzling effect on these observers of God’s presence.

WalterKaiser

Since the blue gemstone sapphire was unknown in the ancient Near East, this richly decorated pavement was most likely made of lapis lazuli (brought by traders from Afghanistan). It was used to trim royal audience chambers and thrones (see Ezek 1:26). Some first-millennium Mesopotamian texts whose traditions are thought to go back to the Kassite period speak of three heavens. Each level of heaven is described as having a particular type of stone as its pavement. The middle heavens are said to be paved with saggilmud-stone, which has the appearance of lapis lazuli. This was believed to give the sky its blue color. The middle heavens were where most of the gods had their residence.

JohnWalton

v.16

and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud.

v.17

To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

v.18

Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.