"40 Days" on either side of Covenant Rebellion

Exodus 24 narrates Moses approaching YHWH on Mount Sinai with Aaron, his two oldest sons and seventy of the elders of the children of Israel. Also Moses goes beyond this group to receive a copy of YHWH's ten words (with Joshua but leaving Aaron and Hur behind to be with the people). Moses waited six days, then on the seventh day God called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud which had been covering the Mountain. Toward the biginning of this episode, YHWH said to Moses, "Come up to me on the moutain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandments, which I have written..." (Exo 24:12). This episode ends, several chapters later, "And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking to him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of stone, written with the finger of God" (Exo 31:18).

• Q1) What happens in between the invitation to receive the two tablets of stone and the actual giving of them?
• A1) The entire section pertains to YHWH's plan for the children of Israel to build him a sanctuary for him to dwell in thier midst (25-31; see 25:8).

• Q2) How long is Moses on the mountain?
• A2) 40 Days.*

What an amazing combination of significant material: the two talbets of stone with the ten words, the instructions for the Tabernacle, given on Mount Sinai in a 40 Day period.

Coming soon -
How does this relate to our purposes of thinking about Luke's two volumes?

*Interesting - many commentators point out that, while the plague narrative carries a de-creation theme, the Tabernacle includes a re-creation theme. See earlier post about the original "40 Days" of the flood, the presence of the Dove and creation language and how Luke narrates the baptism and temptation of Jesus as signaling him as God's Agent of new creation.