Exodus 24:12-14 (ESV)
The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”
Moses has just finished giving the nation what might be referred to as their national code of ethics. In chapters 21 through 23 he gives them several “rules” they are to live by. Note the beginning of chapter 21 and the end of 24:
Exodus 21:1 (ESV)
“Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.
Exodus 24:3 (ESV)
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.”
In between those two verses are a number of rules, laws, and/or codes the nation is to live by. From topics like slavery to injuring a pregnant woman, to leavng a dugout pit open, Israel was supposed to be unique, different and living completely counter culture to the world around them. God’s theme of redemption and restoration weave in and out of the narrative of the laws.
In the above passage, God now wants to bring Moses (and Joshua) up to the mountain to give them the official “Ten Commandments.” Moses is delegating the responsibility of the nation to Aaron and his sons. We know that in a few chapters, while Moses in the mountain for 40 days and nights that the people will get bored, have wandering minds and will be led by Aaron into worshipping a golden calf. Notice a laws that Moses has just given them, however.
Exodus 22:20 (ESV)
“Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction.
This “code of ethics (rules)” that Moses gives them will not even last a month. (They will ultimately violate all these laws and rules, whether specifically or in spirit.) Moses has gone to the mountain to talk with God and Aaron and his sons lead the people astray. Probably one of the reasons leaders don’t like to delegate is this reason. Aaron is NOT up for the challenge. Moses was told to come to the mountain. God would know that Aaron will lead them astray. Never-the-less God and Moses, with Joshua at his side, would talk with Moses and give him the Ten. But, the nature of man, despite the laws of God laid out and about to be further cemented in a quick Ten code, does what the nature of man does: Rejects God’s Word and simply does what he wants to do. That is part of what this book teaches us. Despite God’s interventions, mankind still rebels against God. This is what Christ came. He came to fulfill the law, set us free from the death of the law and empower us to live for God. The nation of Israel was given all truth and knowledge and yet rebelled against God, despite their privileged status. This is why we need Christ to step in and make a way possible to give us peace with God.
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