12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”

15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. Exodus 24:12-18

As I picture the scene, Moses was with 73 others at a “base camp” of sorts. The Lord called for Moses to go up, so he and Joshua set out a little.

When the cloud surrounded the mountain, Joshua and Moses waited for six days. What did they do during this time? What did they talk about? Did they even talk at all? We don’t know.

Meanwhile, the elders and Aaron and Hur were still watching the top of the mountain (yet close enough to the people). When God finally spoke, it was if it were a consuming fire. There he stayed for 40 days and nights. Elijah fasted that long (1 Kings 19:8), and so did Jesus. In Deuteronomy 9:9, Moses himself said he was without food or water during that time.

You might ask, how could he have survived that length without food or water?

We don’t know for sure, but I can speculate.

I’ll answer the question with a question, is there food and drink in heaven?