And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Parallel translations
- WEB He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
- BSB But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.
- NKJV But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.
- NASB Yet He did not reach out with His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.
- NLT 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!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God did not strike the leaders down, and they ate and drank in His presence. The covenant meal celebrates fellowship and peace with God.
Overview
That God 'didn't lay his hand' on the nobles is remarkable, since sinful people normally cannot survive His presence; this mercy rests on the covenant blood. Eating and drinking before God signifies reconciliation, communion, and shared fellowship. It is a covenant meal sealing the relationship just established. This anticipates the table fellowship believers enjoy with God through Christ, climaxing in the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Luke 15:23–24And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
- Exod 18:12And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father in law before God.
- Gen 31:54Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount.
- Gen 16:13And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
- Deut 12:7And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.
- 1 Cor 10:16–18The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
- Eccl 9:7Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
- Exod 19:21And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.
- Gen 32:24–32And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
- Judg 13:22And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
- Exod 33:20–23And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
- Num 21:18The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah:
- Gen 18:18Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
- Jer 14:3And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
- Neh 2:16And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.
- Deut 4:33Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
- Exod 24:9–10Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:
- 1 Kgs 21:8So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.
- Exod 24:1And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.
- Judg 5:13Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.
- 2 Chr 23:20And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the LORD: and they came through the high gate into the king’s house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 24:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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