^24:9Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up,²⁴^24:10and they saw²⁵ the God of Israel. Under his feet²⁶ there was something like a pavement²⁷ made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself.²⁸^24:11But he did not lay a hand²⁹ on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God,³⁰ and they ate and they drank.³¹

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Footnotes

24 The verse begins with “and Moses went up, and Aaron.…” This verse may supply the sequel to vv. 1–2. At any rate, God was now accepting them into his presence. This next section is extremely interesting, but difficult to interpret. For some of the literature, see: E. W. Nicholson, “The Interpretation of Exodus 24:9–11,” 24 (1974): 77–97; “The Antiquity of the Tradition in Exodus 24:9–11,” 26 (1976): 148–60; and T. C. Vriezen, “The Exegesis of Exodus 24:9–11,” 17 (1967): 24–53.
25 S. R. Driver (Exodus, ) wishes to safeguard the traditional idea that God could not be seen by reading “they saw the place where the God of Israel stood” so as not to say they saw God. But according to U. Cassuto there is not a great deal of difference between “and they saw the God” and “the Lord God appeared” (Exodus, ). He thinks that the word “God” is used instead of “Yahweh” to say that a divine phenomenon was seen. It is in the that they add “the place where he stood.” In v. 11b the has “and they appeared in the place of God.” See James Barr, “Theophany and Anthropomorphism in the Old Testament,” 7 (1959): 31–33. There is no detailed description here of what they saw (cf. Isa 6; Ezek 1). What is described amounts to what a person could see when prostrate.
26 S. R. Driver suggests that they saw the divine Glory, not directly, but as they looked up from below, through what appeared to be a transparent blue sapphire pavement (Exodus, ).
27 Or “tiles.”
28 Heb “and like the body of heaven for clearness.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven” or “sky” depending on the context; here, where sapphire is mentioned (a blue stone) “sky” seems more appropriate, since the transparent blueness of the sapphire would appear like the blueness of the cloudless sky.
29 Heb “he did not stretch out his hand,” i.e., to destroy them.
30 The verb is חָזָה (khazah); it can mean “to see, perceive” or “see a vision” as the prophets did. The safeguarded this by saying, “appeared in the place of God.” B. Jacob says they beheld—prophetically, religiously (Exodus, 746)—but the meaning of that is unclear. The fact that God did not lay a hand on them—to kill them—shows that they saw something that they never expected to see and live. Some Christian interpreters have taken this to refer to a glorious appearance of the preincarnate Christ, the second person of the Trinity. They saw the brilliance of this manifestation—but not the detail. Later, Moses will still ask to see God’s glory—the real presence behind the phenomena.
31 This is the covenant meal, the peace offering, that they are eating there on the mountain. To eat from the sacrifice meant that they were at peace with God, in covenant with him. Likewise, in the new covenant believers draw near to God on the basis of sacrifice, and eat of the sacrifice because they are at peace with him, and in Christ they see the Godhead revealed.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders, and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. God did not harm the Israelite nobles; they saw him, and they ate and drank.

NLTNew Living Translation

Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy from the elders of Israel went up. And they saw the God of Israel, and what was under his feet was like sapphire tile work and like the very heavens for clearness. And toward the leaders of the Israelites he did not stretch out his hand, and they beheld God, and they ate, and they drank.

KJV 1900King James Version

Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 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 his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

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