These chapters look at various laws God gave to the Hebrews. We see a few things about God in these chapters. He cares about women and children, the poor, and immigrants. He reminds the Hebrews that they were immigrants in Egypt. These laws call for justice, "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (21:22-23). These laws also take in consideration if the action is premeditated or just in the moment. The Lord tells us that He is compassionate, and He hears the cries of the oppressed. These laws reflect who God is, and as such, when we obey them, we are holy as He is holy. Also included in the laws are three festivals the Jews are to observe, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of the Harvest, and the Feast of the Ingathering. The Lord also reminded His people that the journey would be long, but He has a plan, and He will go before them, and He is with them. The people commit again to the Lord and they said, "Everything the Lord has said we will do. We will obey." Moses wrote down all the Lord had commanded. The next morning he made an altar, they offered sacrifices unto the Lord. Moses sprinkled blood on the altar and 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 (24:8). At the command of the Lord, Moses, Aaron and two of his sons, with 70 elders were allowed to go up the mountain and see, eat and drink with the Lord. They were closer than the people at the foot of the mountain, but they were still at a distance. From there Moses and his aid, Joshua, went up to the top of the mountain, and he was there for 40 days and 40 nights. The people below saw the glory of the Lord in what looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.
