p. 6 | Making of the Covenant by W. L. Iles

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 16, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 49.

Making of the Covenant.

By W. L. Iles

After Israel had encamped at the base of Mt. Sinai, Moses went up into the mount, and the Lord said unto him: "Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people [''thou becamest mine'']; for all the earth is mine; and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." Ex. 19: 3-6.

The foregoing text presents the following important facts:—

1. God set forth a proposition for the Jews to accept or reject.

2. In this proposition the Lord requires them to obey his voice and keep his covenant.

3. If they agree to the terms of the proposition, they become a "peculiar treasure" unto the Lord. "Thou becamest mine." In this proposition the Lord has in mind the Levitical priesthood and the Jewish theocracy.

This proposition must be presented to the Jewish nation, and so "Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord." Ex. 19: 7, 8.

This is the covenant "entered into" by which Israel became the Lord's. God would not take advantage of his people, and so before the covenant is ratified by blood, God speaks to them his holy law, which is the embodiment of all morality, and which was the constitution of the Jewish theocracy, and then gives them other precepts through Moses, which "were only the principles of the Ten Commandments amplified and given in a specific manner, that none need err."

"And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do." Ex. 24: 3. This is now the second time they make this important declaration.

In this transaction we have a mutual agreement between two parties, namely, God and the Jews. The Jews have agreed to obey all the words of the Lord. Upon these conditions the Lord promises to make them a "peculiar treasure" unto himself, and to make them a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. This form of agreement is recognized as a covenant in the Word of God. Ex. 23: 32; 34: 12, 15; Deut. 7: 2.

The Covenant Ratified.

"And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people; and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." Ex. 24: 4-8.

Note the following facts in the above text:—

1. Moses wrote in a book "all the words of the Lord," and then read them "in the audience of the people." This is called the "book of the covenant," for it contained the "covenant" and the laws which the Jews agreed to perform in the covenant. The Hagar-covenant was made at Sinai, but in the formation of this covenant the Jews agreed to keep God's law, which existed before the covenant was made, and still exists, altho that covenant has ended.

2. Just before the ratification of the covenant, the Jews the third time promise to obey all the words of the Lord.

3. Moses took blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold, the blood of the covenant," which the Lord hath made with you.

4. The statutes and laws written in the book were not the covenant, but the covenant, or agreement, was "concerning those words." The "book" contained laws of a moral, civil, and ceremonial nature (Joshua 8: 34, 35; Exodus 21; 22; 23), and were given to regulate the Jewish theocracy.

All can plainly see that the above scripture is a description of the ratification of a covenant. Have we positive evidence that this is the "first," or "old" covenant?

"For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament [covenant] was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament [covenant] which God hath enjoined unto you." Heb. 9: 16-20.

Paul is here describing the ratification of the "first testament," and gives the same facts as are given in Ex. 24: 4-8. Therefore the compact formed at Sinai between God and Israel, and ratified by the blood of a sacrifice, is the "first" covenant. Many consider this covenant a small affair, and fail to see that it was the foundation of the Jewish theocracy and the Levitical priesthood. The "new covenant" plan is the plan of salvation. The "old covenant" plan is the plan of the Jewish theocracy.

All that God can require of his creatures in any age is perfect obedience to his requirements. There is only one way that man since the fall can render obedience, and that is by faith in Jesus Christ. Faith brings Christ to our aid, enthrones him in the heart (Eph. 3: 17), and he then works in us that which is well pleasing in his sight (Heb. 13: 21; Phil. 2: 13). As the Jewish nation enter into this covenant, they do "not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts, and without Christ it is impossible for them to obey God's law." "Feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient."

The object and purpose of this covenant is to lead the Jewish nation to the blessings and privileges of the new covenant. The promises God made to them could not be fulfilled until they had faith in Jesus Christ. A self-righteous nation can not be "an holy nation." A self-righteous people are not "a peculiar treasure" unto the Lord. The Christian church is "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people." 1 Peter 2: 9. As God requires obedience in both the old and new covenants, and as the promises of God set forth in the old covenant can only be realized when Israel comply with the Gospel or new covenant, therefore, if the Jewish nation had accepted of Christ and the Gospel, it would have established the "first covenant."

Duration of the Covenant.

"I entered into a covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine." The covenant entered into must last as long as the union formed or resulting by the covenant. Marriage vows are made binding until death. Altho one party may break their marriage vow, that does not divorce the parties. The Jews soon broke their agreement, and worshiped the golden calf. Through the prayer of Moses God still retained them as his chosen people. Had he consumed them (Ex. 32: 10), the old covenant would have ended. After this event, God still recognized the covenant as binding.

"And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. But I will, for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God." Lev. 26: 44, 45.

"My people are bent to backsliding from me, tho they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt him. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel?" Hosea 11: 7, 8.

"He came unto his own [thou becamest mine], and his own received him not." John 1: 11.

All through the old dispensation, or from the time when the old covenant was made until the cross, God recognized the Jews after the flesh as his people. The marriage covenant made at Sinai ended when Christ died upon the cross.

"For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband." Rom. 7: 2.

Christ was Israel's husband. Jer. 31: 32; Hosea 2: 7, 19, 20. With cruel and wicked hands she murdered her own husband (Acts 7: 52), and thus the covenant "entered into" at Sinai forever ended, and the Jews as a nation were no longer God's chosen people.