Bible

 

Exodus 24

Studie

   

1 And he said to Moses, Come up to the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.

2 And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we perform.

4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose early in the morning, and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen to the LORD.

6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.

8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire-stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness.

11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and ate and drank.

12 And the LORD said to Moses, Come up to me on the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayst teach them.

13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up upon the mount of God.

14 And he said to the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again to you: and behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man hath any matters to do, let him come to them.

15 And Moses went up upon the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.

16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel.

18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and ascended the mount: and Moses was on the mount forty days and forty nights.

   

Komentář

 

Stone

  

Stones in the Bible in general represent truths, or things we know concerning the Lord and what He wants from us and for us in life. This is why the people of Israel built altars of stone, and is also why stoning was a principal form of capital punishment (using truth to destroy falsity, or in the negative sense using falsity to destroy truth). It is also why precious stones are described in such detail on Aaron's breastplate and ephod, and also in the New Jerusalem in Revelation; precious stones represent true ideas directly from the Lord with the various colors showing various forms of love. Stones are not alone in representing truth, of course -- it sometimes seems that almost everything in the Bible represents either true ideas or desires for good. But that makes sense, since our thoughts and our desires together are everything we are in life, and the interplay between them is what life is all about. The many ways they are represented in the Bible reflect the incredible variety in our feelings and thoughts, though we can only distantly understand how those representations work. In the case of stones, in their weight, strength and permanence they tend to represent true ideas that come from a desire for good, the understanding we can have if we are truly good and loving -- and in the highest sense the exalted ideas that come from the Lord's love. Those ideas are ones that are not easily moved or changed, and make wonderful foundations for the things we want to build in our spiritual lives.