In today’s two readings (Ex 24:12–18 and 1 Kgs 19:3–8), we encounter the two great prophets of the Old Covenant. On the one hand, there is Moses, who freed the people of Israel from the yoke of the Egyptian pharaoh and led them through the desert on behalf of the Lord. God has great plans for Moses. He calls him to climb Mount Sinai and says to him: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tables of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’” (Ex 24:12).
Moses obeyed, and when the glory of the Lord appeared on the summit like a consuming fire, he climbed the mountain, where he remained “forty days and forty nights” (v. 18).
A decisive event was about to take place, for which God prepared Moses during that time, introducing him even more deeply into the mission He had entrusted to him.