I am trying to wrap my mind around the following phrase from Exodus 24:11, to find its significance for my life. It sticks out so much that I cannot get past it and I find myself returning to the phrase, “they beheld God, and ate and drank.” The context here is that Moses, the elders and the rest of Israel have just received the Book of the Covenant and now the elders and Moses are invited to go to the mountain to see God. They accept the invitation, and they witness a remarkable vision of the divine glory. This is such a privilege for the elders because without invitation those who see God would die. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
But what keeps me from moving on is the latter half of the phrase – the elders “ate and drank.” They basically had a meal, and I am assuming with God (though I could be wrong). God gives them his rules (the Book of the Covenant), an invitation to see him, and they do see him, and after all of that, a meal. Shouldn’t they have built an altar or had a ceremony or painted a picture to commemorate this unique event? Instead, they ate and they drank. They communed with God. They established and built a relationship with God at the dining table.
So is the writer of Exodus trying to show an aspect of God where he is not all about rules and laws and covenants (though those are important to him)? Is the writer trying to say that Yahweh is very much about relationship and having time to see him, to be in his presence and to enjoy his presence?
Is it time for me to enjoy his divine presence and to not worry so much about rules and “laws”? Is it time for me to simply sit with him and “behold” him, and to eat and to drink with him? How about you?
Thanks for reading.
