He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
Parallel Translations
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He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
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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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And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand; and they beheld God, and did eat and drink.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Exodus 24:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 18:12 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron came with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
- Luke 15:23-24 Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.
- Genesis 31:54 Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain.
- Genesis 16:13 She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?”
- Exodus 19:21 Yahweh said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to Yahweh to gaze, and many of them perish.
- Deuteronomy 12:7 There you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you.
- Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.
- 1 Corinthians 10:16-18 The cup of blessing which we bless, isn’t it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn’t it a sharing of the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf of bread. Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?
- Genesis 18:18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?
- Genesis 32:24-32 Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, the man touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained as he wrestled. The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.” He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”. He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” He blessed him there. Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel don’t eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
- Exodus 24:1 He said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.
- Exodus 24:9-10 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness.
- Exodus 33:20-23 He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.” Yahweh also said, “Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
- Numbers 21:18 the well, which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter, and with their poles.” From the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;
- Deuteronomy 4:33 Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
- Judges 5:13 “Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. Yahweh came down for me against the mighty.
- Judges 13:22 Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”
- 1 Kings 21:8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth.
- 2 Chronicles 23:20 He took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from Yahweh’s house. They came through the upper gate to the king’s house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom.
- Nehemiah 2:16 The rulers didn’t know where I went, or what I did. I had not as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work.
- Jeremiah 14:3 Their nobles send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, rejoiced.
That is, rejoiced.
He made them not afraid, nor punished them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 24:11 And upon the nobles of the children…
Exo 24:11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Ver. 11. He laid not his hand,] i.e., They came off without hurt; which is reckoned as a great mercy: since no man, ordinarily, can see God and live: besides the infinite distance that is betwixt God and the greatest nobles.
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And did eat and drink,] i.e., They were much cheered, and made merry in the Lord. Others sense it thus: - Though they had seen God, yet they turned again to temporal pleasures; they soon after ate and drank at that idolatrous feast of the golden calf, and rose up to play. It is set as an aggravation of Solomon’s sin, that he departed from God "that appeared unto him twice." {1Ki 11:9}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The nobles; or, separated or select ones, i.e. the…
The nobles; or, separated or select ones, i.e. the persons who were singled out to go up with Moses, Exo 24:1,9, the same of whom it is said here, and Exo 24:10, that they saw God.
He laid not his hand, i.e. did not hurt or destroy them, as they might expect according to the vulgar opinion, Gen 16:13; 32:20, &c., and the conscience of their own guilt, as being now before their Lord and Judge. And so the phrase of putting or stretching forth the hand is most frequently used, as Gen 37:22; 1Sa 26:11,23; Es 2:21; Job 1:11,12; Psa 138:7, &c.
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Did eat and drink; so far they were from being destroyed, that they were not affrighted at this glorious appearance of God, but were refreshed and comforted by it, and did joyfully eat and drink together in God’s presence, celebrating the sacred feast made of the remnant of the peace-offerings, according to the manner. Thus God gave them a taste of his grace and mercy in this covenant, and an assurance that he would not deal with them according to the rigours of the law, but for the sake of the blood of Christ typically represented there, would graciously pardon and accept all those that sincerely, though imperfectly, obey him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And upon the nobles of the children of Israel…
And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand,.... Which some interpret of his hand of prophecy, and of the measure of the Spirit, such an one as Moses had, and by virtue of which he lived forty days and nights without eating and drinking; but these not having such a measure of the Spirit, were obliged to eat and drink to support nature, as in the next clause: but it is rather to be understood of the hand of God; he did not inflict any disease or death upon them on their sight of him, it being a notion that no man could see God and live; but these men did live, not only Moses, and Aaron and his two sons, but the seventy elders, who were the principal choicest persons among the children of Israel; wherefore the Targum of Jonathan wrongly restrains this to Nadab and Abihu:
also they saw God, and did eat and drink: though they saw God, they continued alive and well, and in good health, of which their eating and drinking were a sign and evidence; or they ate, as Abendana, the sacrifices of the peace offerings, which were usually eaten by the priests and the people; and as a feast was common at covenant making, here was a feast kept by the elders, the representatives of the people, when they covenanted with God. Onkelos favours this sense,"and they rejoiced in their sacrifices, which were accepted with good will, as if they had ate and drank.''
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Upon the nobles or elders of Israel he laid…
Upon the nobles or elders of Israel he laid not his hand - Though they were men, the splendour of his glory did not overwhelm them, but it was so moderated (Job xxxvi, 9,) and they were so strengthened (Dan. x, 19,) that they were able to bear it: nay, though they were sinful men, and obnoxious to God's justice, yet he did not lay his avenging hand upon them, as they feared he would. When we consider what a consuming fire God is, and what stubble we are before him, we shall have reason to say, in all our approaches to him, It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. They saw God, and did eat and drink; They had not only their lives preserved, but their vigour, courage, and comfort; it cast no damp upon their joy, but rather increased it. They feasted upon the sacrifice before God, in token of their chearful consent to the covenant, their grateful acceptance of the benefits of it, and their communion with God in pursuance of that covenant.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. Upon the nobles of - Israel he…
Verse 11. Upon the nobles of - Israel he laid not his hand] This laying on of the hand has been variously explained.
1. He did not conceal himself from the nobles of Israel by covering them with his hand, as he did Moses, Ex 33:22.
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2. He did not endue any of the nobles, i.e., the seventy elders, with the gift of prophecy; for so laying on of the hand has been understood.
3. He did not slay any of them; none of them received any injury; which is certainly one meaning of the phrase: see Ne 13:21; Ps 55:20. Also they saw God, i.e., although they had this discovery of his majesty, yet they did eat and drink, i.e., were preserved alive and unhurt.
Perhaps the eating and drinking here may refer to the peace-offerings on which they feasted, and the libations that were then offered on the ratification of the covenant. But they rejoiced the more because they had been so highly favoured, and were still permitted to live; for it was generally apprehended that God never showed his glory in this signal manner but for the purpose of manifesting his justice; and therefore it appeared a strange thing that these should have seen God as it were face to face, and yet live. See Ge 16:13; Ge 33:10; and Jdg 13:22-23.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 24:11. Upon the nobles — Or elders; of…
Exo 24:11. Upon the nobles — Or elders; of Israel he laid not his hand — Though they were men, the splendour of his glory did not overwhelm them, but it was so moderated, (Job 36:9,) and they were so strengthened, (Dan 10:19,) that they were able to bear it: nay, though they were sinful men, and obnoxious to God’s justice, yet he did not lay his avenging hand upon them, as they feared he would. When we consider what a consuming fire God is, and what stubble we are before him, we shall have reason to say, in all our approaches to him, “It is of the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed.” They saw God, and did eat and drink — They had not only their lives preserved, but their vigour, courage, and comfort; it cast no damp upon their joy, but rather increased it. They feasted upon the sacrifice before God, in token of their cheerful consent to the covenant, their grateful acceptance of the benefits of it, and their communion with God in pursuance of that covenant.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain He laid not his hand - i. e. He…
He laid not his hand - i. e. He did not strike them. It was believed that a mortal could not survive the sight of God Exo 33:20; Gen 32:30; Jdg 6:22; Jdg 13:22 : but these rulers of Israel were permitted to eat and drink, while they were enjoying in an extraordinary degree the sense of the divine presence, and received no harm.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Saw God, under the appearance of a burning fire,…
Saw God, under the appearance of a burning fire, ver. 17. They beheld some rays of his glory, but not distinct similitude, (Deuteronomy iv. 15,) though Cajetan thinks that God appeared in a human form. (Calmet) --- Drink. They made a feast of thanksgiving for so great a favour, and for the preservation of their lives, after beholding such a glorious apparation. (Vatable)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain upon the nobles of the children of Israel he…
upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand--The "nobles," that is, the elders, after the sprinkling of the blood, were not inspired with terror in presence of the calm, benign, radiant symbol of the divine majesty; so different from the terrific exhibitions at the giving of the law. The report of so many competent witnesses would tend to confirm the people's faith in the divine mission of Moses.
eat and drink--feasted on the peace offering--on the remnants of the late sacrifices and libations. This feast had a prophetic bearing, intimating God's dwelling with men.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. He laid not his hand — Hebrews, He…
11. He laid not his hand — Hebrews, He sent not forth his hand. No stroke of divine wrath was sent forth from that sublime display to destroy the Israelitish nobles. It was the common belief that such a vision of God must needs destroy the beholder, (comp. Gen_32:30; Jdg_6:22; Jdg_13:22; Isa_6:5,) but these chief men of Israel not only thus saw God, but they did eat and drink in presence of the awful sight. They ate in solemn reserve the sacrificial meal of the peace offerings by which the covenant had been sealed.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. It was the general belief (see on Exo_33:20)…
11. It was the general belief (see on Exo_33:20) that God could not be ‘seen,’—except in a purely spiritual sense,—with impunity; but upon this occasion Jehovah put not forth his hand (Exo_9:15, Exo_22:8) upon Moses or his companions, to harm them.
nobles] Heb. ‘ãẓîlîm, only here in this sense. The etym. is uncertain. In Isa_41:9 ’âẓîl means angle, corner: so perhaps, like pinnâh (see Jdg_20:2 RVm.), the word denotes men of position and responsibility, as the corners, or supports, of the community.
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beheld] Heb. ḥâzâh, in prose only Exo_18:21 besides, but often used of a prophet seeing a vision (e.g. Num_24:4), and the verb of which one of the words rendered ‘seer’ (Amo_7:12 al.) is the partic. LXX. (cf. on v. 10) paraphrase by ‘appeared in the place of God.’
did eat and drink] viz. at a sacrificial meal: see on Exo_18:12
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) The nobles.—The word used is an unusual one,…
(11) The nobles.—The word used is an unusual one, but seems to designate the “elders” of Exo_24:1; Exo_24:9. It implies nobility of birth.
He laid not his hand—i.e., He in nowise hurt or injured them. The belief was general that a man could not see God and live (Gen_32:30; Exo_32:20; Jdg_6:22-23, &c.). In one sense it was true—“No man hath seen the Father.” But the Son could reveal Himself under the Old Dispensation, as under the New, and not even cause terror by His presence. (See the last clause of the verse.)
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Also they saw God.—Rather, they both saw God, and also did eat and drink. It is intended to express in the clearest way that the two facts were concurrent. As they feasted on the sacrificial meal, the vision of God was made manifest to them. It is impossible to doubt that we have here a precious forecast of the Christian’s highest privilege—the realisation of the presence of God in the sacred feast of the Holy Communion.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The noblesi.e. , the notables the seventy elders, and…
The noblesi.e. , the notables the seventy elders, and other persons, already mentioned (vers. 1, 9). He laid not his hand. God did not smite them with death, or pestilence, or even blindness. It was thought to be impossible to see God and live. (See above, (Exo_32:20; Jud_1:6:22, 23, etc.) Man was unworthy to draw near to God in any way; and to look on him was viewed as a kind of profanity. Yet some times he chose to show himself, in vision or otherwise, to his people, and then, as there could be no guilt on their part, there was no punishment on his. It is generally supposed that, in all such eases, it was the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity who condescended to show himself. Also they saw God. Rather, "they both saw God, and did eat and drink." The two were simultaneous. As they were engaged in the sacrificial meal, God revealed himself to them.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain eat and drink
eat and drink
Symbol of communion. Cf. Luk 22:15-18. A blood-sprinkled people, see Heb 9:19-22 who had not yet broken the law could thus commune with God. Never again was this repeated. Cf. Exo 24:9-11 with Lev 16:2 and Heb 9:6-8 But cf., under grace,; Eph 2:13; Heb 10:19; Heb 10:20.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 24:11 Around the world, then and now, the act…
24:11 Around the world, then and now, the act of eating a meal together is often a sign of peace and good relations.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.