It is the alliance that has been declared obsolete. It has no legal authority. In addition, we cannot assume that part of the contract is valid if the entire contract has been declared obsolete. We cannot assume that a certain group of laws must remain together. Israel`s weakness and sin were demonstrated almost immediately after the covenant was made. While the people were still at the foot of the mountain, they built a golden calf and worshipped it, breaking the covenant. But through Moses` intercession and God`s great mercy, Israel`s sins were forgiven and the covenant renewed. Then Yahweh suggested: “If you truly hear (and obey) my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my special possession (segullah) of all nations, because the whole earth is mine. (19:5, author`s translation). And thou shalt be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy people” (19:6). George A.
F. Knight explained the word Segullah as follows: 1. The law of the Old Testament is a covenant. A commitment is a binding contract between two parties, both of whom have obligations set out in the agreement. The alliance format of Old Testament laws consisted of six parts: Preamble, Prologue, Rules, Witnesses, Sanctions, and Document Clause. The preamble named the parties to the agreement. The prologue gave a brief history of how the parties were related. The provisions are the individual laws themselves. The witnesses are the ones who will apply the pact. Sanctions are blessings and curses that encourage compliance with the pact.
The document clause provides for the regular revision of the Confederation so that it does not fall into oblivion. Can we really believe that the covenant between God and Abraham had no obligation for Abraham? There would certainly have been a commitment that Abraham and his descendants would continue to worship the God in question, and since the main feature of the covenant was the promise of the earth, it is possible that tithing of the products of the earth and the firstborn of the flocks and flocks would have been required of that God as offerings. [10] Nicholson, p. 66. See also R. E. Clement, Abraham and David (London: SCM Press, Ltd., 1967), pp. 33-34. In the first place, we must say that the covenant was before the law.
Yahweh delivered Israel from Egypt before He gave them the law. J. M. Myers says, “It is quite clear that tradition regarded the deliverance from Egypt as a precursor to the Torah.” [13] Myers, p.14. Roy Honeycutt says: “The primacy of the covenant over the law in the religion of Israel is significant. The demonstration of the Lord`s will (law, Torah) is not the prerequisite of the covenant, but the consequence of the covenant. [14] Roy Honeycutt, “Hosea,” Broadman Bible Commentary, 12 volumes, Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), 7:36. Some said that victim laws were added “for transgressions” as if victims were not part of the original law.
But that`s not true. Moses told Pharaoh that the Israelites wanted to leave Egypt so that they could offer sacrifices and burnt offerings in the wilderness (Exodus 10:25). Before leaving Egypt, the Israelites sacrificed Passover lambs. Even in the Old Covenant, altars and burnt offerings were commanded (Exodus 20:24), all before the covenant was ratified and before it had a chance to be transgressed. Let`s look at each of these points and show that they all support the same conclusion. The New Testament is consistent. First, the question of alliances. They are discussed at length in Hebrews, especially chapter 8. There, the high priesthood of Jesus Christ is opposed to the high Levitical priesthood. The ministry Jesus received is far superior to Levitical service, and His covenant is far superior to the old covenant (verse 6). New Testament authority is required before ancient practices are imposed or required.
This is because the law of Moses, the Old Covenant, the Torah, is outdated. We are not subject to this law; we are not obligated to obey the laws given only to the Israelites. 5. Do not expect Old Testament law to be frequently quoted by prophets or the New Testament. Remember that the essence of the law (the Ten Commandments and the two main laws) is repeated in the prophets and the New Testament. Some people disagree, saying that God`s covenants are compared to marriage contracts and that we are only betrothed to Christ and that marriage has not yet taken place. Some have concluded from this analogy that the new covenant has not yet been made. However, marriage is only an analogy, and we must not push it so far that it distances us from the facts! Yeshua`s covenant with Israel is a culmination and incorporation of all other covenants into a renewed form in which all the promises of the Messiah are made available by the power of God and man is the recipient of these benefits. On the third new moon, after leaving Egypt, the children of Israel entered the Sinai desert and camped before the mountain (Ex 19:1-2). God suggested to Moses that he (Yahweh) make a covenant between him (Yahweh) and Israel.
He told Moses to tell the people, “You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle`s wings, and brought you to me” (19:4). The fact is that God had already “saved” Israel. He had freed them from Egyptian slavery as an act of mercy. The writer of Hebrews says that the Old Covenant “will soon disappear” and, in fact, most of its operations ceased in 70 A.D. when Roman armies destroyed the temple. Although elements of the Old Covenant system continue to be observed in Judaism, the New Testament declares that the Old Covenant itself is obsolete. Because Jesus destroyed the legal basis for discrimination against the Gentiles, the Gentiles became part of God`s people. Does this mean that non-Jews must become like Jews and obey the laws that affect Jews? Certainly not. This was the conclusion of the Council of Jerusalem, and it is also Paul`s conclusion, since he says that even the Jews died to the law of the Old Covenant and are not bound by it. Paul had the freedom to live as a Jew, or the freedom to live as someone who lived badly, even if that person did not have Jewish law. In Sinai, the covenant was made between God and the people, not between God and a patriarch or ruler.
The conditions of the covenant were laid out in the Decalogue and the Law not as a way of salvation, but as a means of revealing God`s will for His people and as a guide for His daily life. The people answered yes to the covenant proposed by God. They said, “Whatever the Lord has said, we shall do” (19:8 RSV). In 19:9-25 follows a series of concrete instructions for three days of preparations for the people before the opening of the covenant on the mountain. Regardless of their private experiences, each patriarch claimed the God who had spoken to him as his personal god and the patron of his clan. The Genesis image of a personal relationship between the individual and his God, supported by a promise and sealed by a covenant, is most authentic. The promise is hardly a return of the later faith. It is, as described (e.g.
Gen., chap. 15), primarily a promise of land and posterity.
