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Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Exodus, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God’s Identity and Power
Redemption and Deliverance
The Covenant
Mediators and the Priesthood
Summary
Analysis
Then the LORD tells Moses to come up Mount Sinai, along with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 elders of Israel. But only Moses should come near to God. Moses tells the people of Israel all the words of the LORD. The people vow to obey these words. Moses writes down God’s words and, early the next morning, builds an altar at the foot of the mountain. After the young men of Israel offer sacrifices, Moses splashes the blood of the sacrifices against the altar. He reads the book of the covenant aloud to the people, then splashes blood on them, too, as a sign of the covenant God has made with them.
In this chapter, God confirms his covenant with the people. This takes place in three ways. First, Moses relays God’s words to the people, they promise to obey, and the promise is ritually formalized: sacrifices are offered, and blood, symbolizing cleansing, is splashed as a sign of the covenant. This covenant confirmation follows the form of an ancient treaty between king and vassal—God being the King who claims the people and summons them to his service.
Themes
Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 elders ascend Mount Sinai, and they see God. The men eat and drink in God’s presence. Then the LORD summons Moses up the mountain to receive tablets of stone, upon which God’s law is written. Moses takes Joshua and heads up the mountain. The glory of the LORD settles on top of the mountain in the form of a cloud. To the people below, it looks like a “devouring fire.” Moses enters the cloud for 40 days and 40 nights.
The second covenant confirmation takes place through a special meal which Moses, Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and other elders eat in God’s presence. Since it’s stated elsewhere in Exodus that nobody can see God and remain alive, “seeing God” might refer to some kind of partial vision. The third confirmation occurs when Moses alone ascends Mount Sinai and enters the glorious “cloud” symbolizing God’s presence. This shows that only Moses occupies the role of mediator between the Israelites and God.
Themes
