Exodus 24 · a question people ask
Why sprinkle blood on people?
The chapter doesn't stop to explain. It gives Moses' words: "Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words" (24:8). Elsewhere the law says, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life" (Leviticus 17:11). Hebrews, just before it retells this day, says, "Therefore even the first covenant has not been dedicated without blood" (Hebrews 9:18), and "apart from shedding of blood there is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). The same chapter speaks of "the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God" (Hebrews 9:14), who "has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26).
The verses
“Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words.””
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.”
“how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
“Therefore even the first covenant has not been dedicated without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” He sprinkled the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry in the same way with the blood. According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.”