Image generated with ChatGPT by OpenAI. Moses reaching toward the tablets in reverent awe, with radiant cloud conveying God’s presence and the lapis-blue pavement echoing the surrounding Biblical passages.
“The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.””
Exodus 24:12 NIV
Over 1700 devotionals have been written for Heaven On Wheels, and out of that multitude, this is only the seventh verse from Exodus. This book is the second in both the Torah and the Christian Bible, and the author is traditionally thought to have been Moses himself, although many Biblical scholars believe it was passed from generation to generation verbally until it was committed to parchment during the Babylonian exile.
Exodus is the source of much of what we learned about the Old Testament in Sunday school. We learn of the Israelites, who are enslaved in Egypt but are freed through the strength of God, who chose them as His people. In the book, the Israelites journey with the prophet Moses to Mount Sinai, where God delivers the Law of Moses and enters into a covenant with them and their descendants.
If the people are faithful and follow His commandments, God promises to make them a “holy nation, and a kingdom of priests.” God not only gives them laws, but instructions on how to build the Tabernacle, a “portable temple” in which He will come from heaven, dwell with His people, and lead them in a holy war to conquer Canaan, the Promised Land.
Today’s verse comes at a critical point in Exodus — there has just been a ceremony to ratify the covenant with God (Exodus 24:3-8)
“When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.” 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.””
Now God commands Moses to come up to Him on the mountain — Mount Sinai — and remain there to wait for a while. This is when God was going to give Moses the stone tablets engraved with the Law and the Commandment He had written for the people.
There is a difference between the Law and the Commandment. The Law (תּוֹרָה - “tôrâ” or torah) is thought to have been what we know as the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17). So what is the Commandment? Well, it’s the laws that were given to Moses in Exodus chapters 21 - 23, who later revealed them in a very general way to the people for the ratification that occurred just before today’s verse. Kinda confusing, but just remember that the Law is the Ten Commandments and the Commandment is the other list of laws given to Moses.
There’s a fascinating lesson here that I found in a Bible Hub commentary by J.W. Burn. The Lord invited Moses to the mountaintop for communion — defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “intimate fellowship or rapport : COMMUNICATION”. As Christians, we commune with God through prayer. From Burn’s commentary:
I. That communion with God is NECESSARY.
1. For religious teachers.
2. For those engaged in business.
3. For parents, etc.
II. That SPECIAL PLACES are appointed for communion with God.
1. House of God.
2. Privacy of own chamber.
III. That PREPARATION should be made for communion with God (ver. 14; see Matthew 6:6).
1. Guard against interruptions from without.
2. Drive away worldly and anxious thoughts within.
IV. That communion with God should be most frequently ALONE.
1. Presence of others may distract mind or embarrass thoughts.
2. Presence of others may divert attention from personal concerns of soul.
3. Private sins and wants to be laid bare.
V. That in communion with God, THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS IS SOMETIMES HELPFUL AND EVEN NECESSARY. Family worship — prayer meetings — for those who have common wants, interests, etc.
VI. That communion with God is THE CONDITION UPON WHICH MAN MAY WITNESS THE DIVINE GLORY (vers. 16, 17; see Isaiah 6.)
VII. That communion with God MAY RE PROTRACTED, and man must not weary of it.
VIII. That among the purposes of communion with God, are RECOGNITION OF THE DIVINE AUTHORITY AND PREPARATION FOR FUTURE WORK.
(J. W. Burn.)
There is another variety of Communion (notice the capitalized first letter) that Christians are familiar with. Merriam-Webster defines it as “a Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Christ's death or as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and communicant or as the body and blood of Christ.”
The Old Testament of the Bible is filled with perfect foreshadowing of the New Testament. At the conclusion of the communion of Moses and God, young bulls were sacrificed, with their blood splashed on the altar and sprinkled on the people of Israel. Moses then said “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Exodus 24:8 NIV) When Jesus celebrated the first Communion at the Last Supper, He told the disciples:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
In our daily prayers, or as we received Communion with others in church, we all have the blessing of being able to have our mountaintop moments. May those moments always remind of His laws and commandments, and of the new covenant with God sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I come to You today with a humble heart, just as Moses did on Mount Sinai all those many years ago. I pray for Your guidance and understanding of Your commandments, and Your help in embracing Your laws and their application to my life. Keep my mind and my heart open to learning from You and growing in faith. AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
BibleHub was accessed on November 5, 2026 for commentary on Exodus 24:12