Today’s text contains a strong sequence of actions regarding the word of the Lord. It tells us that Moses came down from the mountain and told the people all the words and ordinances that God had spoken (Exodus 24:3). Then it tells us that “Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord” (24:4). Then it reports that Moses “took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people” (24:7).

We should be attentive to the four-fold level of familiarity that Moses had gained by the end of this sequence. First, he had heard God speak; second, he had proclaimed the message to the people; third, he had written it down; and fourth, he had read the book to the people. We can see how this repetition would have planted the content of God’s revelation deeply in Moses’ heart. If we are wise, we will ask ourselves how much familiarity with the word we also might attain if we followed a similar methodical process of reading and reciting the text..

It is noteworthy as well that the Book of the Covenant is “all the words of the Lord” which Moses wrote down (24:4) and then read to the people (24:7), not just the Ten Commandments, written on tablets of stone by God (24:12). The Ten Words summarize the Covenant; but the Covenant is more than just those 17 verses (20:1-17).

Finally, we should appreciate the people’s response. “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do” (24:3), they said, after Moses had recited what God had said to him. Then, after Moses had written down the words of the Lord in a book and then read it to the people, they said it again. “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient” (24:7). Most of us are not too good at obedience. Most of us, indeed, don’t really have much intention of being obedient, preferring to do whatever we happen to feel like at the time. Along the way the people of Israel would fail to keep their promise. Still, the strength of their desire to follow the will of the Lord is exemplary.

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Help us, Lord! Our hearts are frail, and our resolution is weak. Teach us your word: grant us diligence in reading it and meditating on it, and grant us the courage to put it into practice: so that all that you have spoken we may do: so that we may be obedient to your will.