Finalizing the Covenant

Exodus 23 and 24

   The previous section looked at the Ten Commandments, and the Exodus record then begins to record the first of many lists of laws that Yahweh will set forth for His people.  The nation of Israel is to be a theocracy, under the direct rule of God. While the nations around them are governed by customs, rules, and laws of the king or other human authority figures, the Israelites will be governed by divine laws which they must observe as part of this covenant they are now making with God.

  The laws spoken to Moses on this occasion amplify the first ten commandments, which form the constitutional framework for all the other laws which follow.  God gives Moses a wide variety of laws ranging from proper altar worship to proper treatment of slaves; from laws relating to crimes against persons and property to other offenses, punishable by death, such as sorcery, bestiality, and idolatry.

   In addition, various duties are imposed upon Israel regarding strangers, creditors, the firstborn,and other matters.  Numerous ethical instructions are also promulgated to encourage honesty, justice, and mutual assistance in emergencies.  Finally,several laws are given regarding Sabbath rests, and the three yearly festivals which are instituted - the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering.

  If there is interest in our class, and to avoid the repetitious coverage of the records in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, all the laws can be discussed later - in a single collection, organized by subject.

  That change allows us to turn our attention back to God's final instructions, and the promises which He makes as His part of the covenant with the people of Israel.


“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.  Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 

“The Angel of the Lord” or “of God” or “of His presence” is readily identified with the Lord God. But it is obvious that the “Angel of the Lord” is a distinct person in Himself from God the Father.

Nor does the “Angel of the Lord” appear again after Christ came in human form. He must of necessity be One of the “three-in-one” Godhead. The “Angel of the Lord” is the visible Lord God of the Old Testament, as Jesus Christ is of the New Testament. Thus His deity is clearly portrayed in the Old Testament. The Cambridge Bible observes, “There is a fascinating forecast of the coming Messiah, breaking through the dimness with amazing consistency, at intervals from Genesis to Malachi. Abraham, Moses, the slave girl Hagar, the impoverished farmer Gideon, even the humble parents of Samson, had seen and talked with Him centuries before the herald angels proclaimed His birth in Bethlehem.”

If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

Note that God is taking the blame/credit/responsibility for genocide. The Israelites are to be His instrument, but they carry no more guilt for the action than the rock that someone uses to kill another.

Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

And the blessing follows from worship - not from the destruction.

“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

Don't claim more than you can maintain.

“I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. 

A different fate for the people in the Land who are not God's enemies.  Driven out, not wiped out.

Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”

The Israelites receive not only the instruction but also the reason behind the instruction.

God said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu [Aaron’s sons], and seventy of Israel’s elders, and worship at a distance.

Moses alone shall come near the Lord; the others shall not come near, and neither shall the people come up with him.

Moses came and told the people all that the Lord had said and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.

Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. He rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve pillars representing Israel’s twelve tribes.

And he sent young Israelite men, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.

And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people; and they said, All that the Lord has said we will do, and we will be obedient.

And Moses took the [remaining half of the] blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.

Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up [the mountainside].

And they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet it was like pavement of bright sapphire stone, like the very heavens in clearness.He did not reach out his hand against these notables of Israel; on the contrary, they saw God, even as they were eating and drinking.

And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to Me into the mountain and be there, and I will give you tables of stone, with the law and the commandments which I have written that you may teach them.

So Moses rose up with Joshua his attendant; and Moses went up into the mountain of God.

And he said to the elders, Tarry here for us until we come back to you; remember, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a cause, let him go to them [if there are any problems, go handle it].

Then Moses went up into the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day [God] called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

And the glory of the Lord appeared to the Israelites like devouring fire on the top of the mountain.

Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and went up the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and nights.

These rules and reminders are similar to the instructions seen in Ephesians 5:

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 

Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.