The Mosaic Covenant

God did fulfill His promise to Abraham to make his descendants into a great people and to lead them out of their oppression in Egypt. He did so, the Bible says, because He “remembered His covenant with Abraham” (Ex. 2:24). Yes, it took many years. But when God judged the time to be right, He brought Abraham’s descendants, the people of Israel, out of Egypt and to Mount Sinai to expand His covenant and give them the blessing of the law.

God’s covenant-making activities began with awesome promises of divine favor: “ ‘ “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people.… And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” ’ ” (Ex. 19:5–6a). To their credit, the people of Israel readily agreed: “ ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do’ ” (Ex. 19:8b). What followed was God’s outlining of the stipulations of the covenant, the responsibilities that fell on the Israelites. He began with a summary—the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:2–17)—and followed with more specific laws in the Holiness Code (Ex. 21:1–23:33). And, of course, other laws and instructions were given to the people over time.

The laws of the Mosaic covenant have caused much confusion throughout the history of the church. Many have understood them as a prescription for life; they believed God was saying, “Do this and live.” In fact, however, Scripture elsewhere indicates that we cannot earn eternal life through obedience to God’s commands. And the mandates for sin offerings in the law also point to another way of salvation. Why, then, were we given the law? We see its purpose in the promise God held out for covenant obedience: “You shall be a special treasure to Me.” The law is a prescription for blessedness, for favor. God had said to Abraham, “ ‘Walk before Me and be blameless’ ” (Gen. 17:1b), and that command was incumbent on Israel, too. Here, at Sinai, He was saying to Israel’s descendants: “Here’s how to do it. Do this and I will bless you.”

In this same chapter of Exodus, the Israelites were given a glimpse of the glory of God on Sinai, and they trembled. They, perhaps more than any people before them, were allowed to see the might of the one who had made promises to them.