What Does Exodus 24:12 Mean?
And the LORD said to Moses, Come up to me into the mountain, and be there, and I will give you tablets of stone, and instruction, and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.THE KEY
The word for the instruction Moses receives shares its root with the verb for teaching, so what is written on stone is meant to become direction carried to others.
THE MEANING
The verse holds receiving and teaching together: Moses is told to be present, and the written words are given so they can be taught. For you reading now, instruction reaches beyond what is recorded; it becomes direction that others can understand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that instruction is complete once it is written down; here, its stated purpose is teaching.
THE ROOT
תּוֹרָה
torah
GROWS FROM
י־ר־ה
to direct or teach
The verse uses תּוֹרָה (torah, instruction) and ends with לְהוֹרֹתָם (lehorotam, to teach them), words from the same root. The writing and its purpose are joined: this instruction is meant to point people toward understanding.
ALSO GROWS
yarah: to teach or direct
יָרָה
This verb shares the root of torah, revealing instruction as direction that can be taught.
lehorotam: to teach them
לְהוֹרֹתָם
This form appears at the end of the verse, making teaching the stated purpose of what is given.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
מ־שׁ־ה
to draw out
“Moses” in this verse is Mosheh. The Hebrew text links the name Mosheh with מָשָׁה (mashah, to draw out). Here, the name’s image meets the call to ascend and receive words whose purpose is to be carried outward through teaching.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: to draw out
מָשָׁה
This verb is the root associated with the name Moses, giving the name its image of being drawn out.
Mosheh: Moses; the name linked in the Hebrew text to being drawn out
מֹשֶׁה
The name places the image of being drawn out alongside the call to ascend and receive instruction.
THE PATTERN
Instruction received from God becomes direction for others through teaching.
Good and straight is the LORD. Therefore he aims those who miss the mark down the way.And you shall sharpen them to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.Teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age. Amen.THE THREAD
And many peoples shall go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will aim us along his ways, and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion the instruction shall go forth, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.Isaiah joins the mountain, תּוֹרָה (torah, instruction), and יָרָה (yarah, to teach), the same root link found in Exodus 24:12. The instruction given on the mountain opens into teaching a way that people can walk.
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