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ExodusSurvey of the Old Testament: The TorahFall 2004 |
[Previous Page: Chapters 1-18 ]
Contents: |
After the Israelites escaped the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, they traveled for 3 months to Mt. Sinai. There God announced his intention to enter into a covenant with the nation.
God's desire was to make the Israelites His own possessions, to established them as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Israel responded (verse 8), “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!”.
To become a nation a group has to have two things: (1) Independence, (2) Law. Israel had found their independence in the Exodus. Only now would they receive the law and become a true nation.
With the affirmation that Israel would obey the LORD, the focus of the book changes to the specifics of the covenant.
The covenant follows a standard format in that day for a covenant between a king and a vassal nation, known as a suzerainty treaty. This is a standard format found in Near Eastern treaties discovered in the nineteenth century. The consistency of the Mosaic covenant to these treaties shows that God wanted Israel to consider Him as their suzerain.
| The Mosaic Covenant Compared
with Suzerainty Treaties Source: Bible Knowledge Commentary |
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| Parts in the Near Eastern Suzerainty Treaties | Given on Mount Sinai | Given in the Transjordan | Given in Canaan |
| Preamble | Ex. 20:2a | Deut. 1:1-4 | Josh. 24:1-2a |
| Historical prologue | Ex. 20:2b | Deut. 1:5-4:43 | Josh. 24:2b-13 |
| General stipulations | Ex. 20:3-17 | Deut. 4:44-11:32 | Josh. 24:14-15,23 |
| Specific stipulations | Ex. 20:22-23:33 | Deut. 12:1-26:15 | |
| Deposit and periodic reading | Ex 25:16, 21 | Deut. 31:9-13, 26 | Josh. 24:25-26a |
| Invocation of witnesses | Deut. 30:19; 31:28 | Josh. 24:22, 26b-27 | |
| Curses and blessings | Lev. 26 | Deut. 27-28 | Josh. 24:19-20 |
| Vassal's oath of allegiance | Ex. 24:3 | Josh. 24:16-18, 21, 24 | |
| Solemn ceremony | Ex. 24:4-11 | ||
The next five chapters are his specific stipulations of the treaty. This treaty forms the basis for Israelite law and establishment of the Nation. The giving of the Law was crucial for very practical reasons. Here you have 2 to 3 million former slaves wandering the wilderness. These people had never governed themselves, and had no established rules or order.
The Ten Commandments summarize the rest of the Law. These general stipulations form the basis of the entire covenant-treaty. As you read through the rest of Exodus and on into Leviticus, you can find all the ordinances there will have a direct relationship to one of the ten commandments.
The covenant-treaty sets up Yahweh as their sovereign King, establishing theocracy as their form of government. If God is going to make Israel a kingdom of priests, their allegiance to this God-King is critical. Therefore, the first four commandments deal with the relationship of the people to this king. They must worship only Yahweh, and worship in truth.
The last six commandments dealt with the relationship of the people to each other. If they are to be a holy nation, the people must treat each other with honor and respect.
Jesus recognized this two-fold division of the Ten Commandments when he summarized the law in two commands: 1) love God; 2) love others (Matthew 22:37-40).
While the Ten Commandments are written in the context of God's covenant with the nation of Israel, the precepts here are sufficiently general that they have direct application for all saints in all time. All the commandments are at least implicitly affirmed prior to the giving of the Mosaic law. The New Testament affirms each of the Ten Commandments. These commands reveal the general ethical precepts of God, applicable for all.
Following the general precepts are specific applications for Israel at that point in history. The specifics begin with what could be termed “Israel's Bill of Rights .” The next three chapters specify the way people are to treat each other in the context of very practical relationships. It grants certain rights to individuals and requires that justice be served.
There were some very revolutionary provisions required for the institution of slavery. Here all masters are to set their slaves free every 7th year (vs. 2). Female slaves are not to be sold to foreigners, and must be taken care of, even in the event she is replaced (vs. 7-11).
While the allowance of slavery itself may seem barbaric, the very notion that there are limitations on how a slave may be treated was almost absurd. These laws, relative to their neighboring nations, were very humanitarian treatment of slaves.
Foreigners, widows, and orphans were to be treated well. Lending money to the poor should be without interest and made without collateral. The people were to look out for the disadvantaged.
In judicial proceedings, false testimony, listening to the majority opinion, partiality (even to the poor), and bribery was not allowed. The seriousness of a falsely finding a person guilty was reiterated strongly (vs. 7).
One of the constant themes of the Mosaic law is restitution. Punishment is not established for revenge, deterrence, or rehabilitation. Under the Mosaic law punishments, criminal and civil, require that the offender repay the offended for what was damaged or destroyed.
For example, premeditated murder and kidnapping requires the death of the murderer. However, other murderers are allowed to flee into exile. Verse 23 summarizes personal injury and assault claims:
(Exodus 21:23-25 NASB) "But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, (24) eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, (25) burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
In personal property cases, the same idea of restitution held true. However, punitive damages were also allowed:
(Exodus 22:1 NASB) "If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep."
From the perspective of many New Testament readers, the concept of eye for eye, tooth for tooth, must seem quite harsh. After all, Jesus said we ought to turn the other cheek. In reality, the eye for eye was, in the culture of the day, rather merciful. In Middle Eastern culture, the punishment was not eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but life for just about everything . God here is saying, the punishment must fit the crime.
As we will see in Leviticus, restitution must be paid to both the victim and to God. This is called the Guilt offering, and it too seeks to repay the offended, for God is holy and is offended by all sin.
The act of making restitution to a victim was so closely identified with the atoning sacrifice made to God, that the two expressions could be seen as elements of the same command. Neither could stand alone.
With this background, the cross of Jesus makes more sense. The atonement, or restitution must be paid for all the wrongs we have committed. The offended, God, must be repaid for what he has lost. Jesus made that restitution with His own life.
In chapter 19 the people agreed to obey God, but this was without knowing the details of the contract. It was only an indication of interest. Now that the law was more fully revealed, and the people have heard the details of God's command, Moses explained it to the people, and again the people responded.
(Exodus 24:3 NASB) Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!"
To ratify the covenant, Moses writes down the words of YHWH, makes an offering to God and sprinkles blood on the people. This is demonstrates that the Mosaic covenant is a blood covenant, the most binding form of contract between parties . As is typical of a blood covenant, the ratification concludes with a ceremonial meal as the elders join Moses on the mountain to eat with God. The covenant is signed, sealed, and delivered.
Prior to the Exodus, God declares that He has heard the cries of His people and that He would “come down” to rescue His people (3:8). The descent of Yahweh was not merely figurative, for God would reveal himself to His people in a very physical way. These revelations are seen as clouds, fire, lightning and other physical events. These manifestations of God's presence, or His Glory, are revealed in differing degrees to different people at different times.
This does not diminish God's omnipresence. God is in all places. Yet at certain places and at certain times God chooses to reveal more of himself to people.
We see God reveal His Glory first in the pillar of clouds and fire which lead them to the Red Sea and then on to Sinai. (13:21-22)
God Glory is more fully revealed to the Nation at Mt. Sinai. In verses 16-19 God descends on the mountain and brings thick clouds, thunder and lightning, and a loud trumpet sound.
The people were fearful at the sight. God had warned them that they would die if they went near the mountain. But now the people were afraid that if they even heard God's voice they would die. (20:18-19)
There was a two fold reason why God revealed himself to the nation in this way: 1) to give credibility to Moses (19:9) 2) to inspire fear that they might not sin (20:20).
While the people were not allowed to climb the mountain, God did allow the Elders of Israel to see more of his Glory. Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and 70 elders to affirm the ratification of the covenant. (24:9)
God here is revealed himself and did not kill them. Then they ate and drank with God himself.
Moses first sees a manifestation of God's glory in the burning bush (Chapter 3). Here he covers his face at the sight for fear that he would perish having seen God.
Moses is allowed to go even further up the mountain in chapter 24, and for 40 days and received the law and the instructions on the building of the tabernacle.
In chapter 34 Moses has a desire to see God in all of His glory. There God has to protect Moses in the cleft of the rock for fear that anything but a glimpse of his back would kill him.
Over the course of time Moses' desire to know God grew from a hesitant curiosity (chapter 3) to the point where God must protect him from seeing too much of Him. But the more Moses got to know God, the more he desired to know Him.
Now that Yahweh had ratified the covenant with Israel and was established as their King, arrangements had to be made to build a place from which the King would rule . So God, in excruciating detail outlines the design of his dwelling place amongst the camp of Israel. This place was called the tabernacle or sometimes the tent of meeting. The word tabernacle comes from the Hebrew word meaning “to dwell” or “to settle down” and “live among ,” signifying that this would be the place where God would settle down and live amongst the people. This was the fullness of Yahweh's promise to “come down” to His people to deliver them.
Source: Nelson Study Bible
The book of Exodus devotes 12 chapters, and nearly a third of the entire book, to the detailed plans of the tabernacle issued by God (chapters 25-31) and then the detailed carrying out of those plans (chapters 35-40). Such detail and prominence within the book reveals something of the importance in getting the exactness of the tabernacle correct. Much of the beauty of the temple is found facing inwards, far from public view. Even the description of the temple begins from the inside and works its way out, viewing the temple from God's perspective rather than Israel's .
This detail and perspective emphasizes the holiness of God. If this was to be the dwelling place of Yahweh, it had to be as perfect as possible, for Yahweh is holy and can not stand imperfection. God's presence within the tabernacle is most fully seen in the Holy of Holies, the place where the ark of the covenant dwells. This room is sectioned off and is only entered by a human once per year to make atonement for sin (Leviticus 16). God would be present with Israel within the temple, but the fullness of His glory was too great to bear and the people had to be shielded from this glory.
This detail, however, was also important, because the earthly tabernacle is an earthly representation of the heavenly tabernacle of God. The writer of Hebrews reveals this as he comments on Exodus 25:40:
…(the priests) serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, "SEE," He says, "THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN." (Hebrews 8:5)
The entire tabernacle was modeled after the heavenly dwelling place of God. The exactness of the dimensions, the detail of the materials, the quality of the workmanship were all crucial, for the tabernacle is not just a place where God reveals some of His glory physically on earth, but is a replica of the place where the fullness of God's glory dwells spiritually in heaven.
The model is important, because it helps serve as a picture of the priestly role of Jesus Christ. The priests would offer sacrifices for the people in the earthly tabernacle each day to atone for their sins. Furthermore, once a year, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies to atone for the people. But Jesus Christ entered not an earthly Holy of Holies, but the heavenly Holy of Holies to atone for the sins of the world, not annually, but once and for all.
Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance….But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:6-12)
The tabernacle represents that place where God demonstrates his love and concern for His people. It is the place where He has come down to dwell with them, redeem them, and show His glory to them. The final development of Yahweh's presence with His people, however, is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
(John 1:14, 18) And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.... No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
The full presence or glory of God has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Today we see God's glory, not in the tabernacle, but in the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, Yahweh has come down to dwell with His people, to redeem them, and to show His glory. To see Christ is to see the fullness of God's glory.
Now, even though Jesus no longer is physically dwelling on earth, His presence and His glory are still with us, for Christ has sent the Holy Spirit who explains and reveals the glory of Christ to us (John 16:7, 14).
Because of Christ incarnation and the filling of the Holy Spirit, today, God does not dwell in a temple made with hands, but in the church (1 Corinthians 3:16) and in our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19).
If we desire to grow in our knowledge of who God is, or to experience the presence of God, it requires an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and a sensitivity to the presence of the Spirit. It requires living according to the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).
God had revealed himself to the nation of Israel. But when 40 days of the thunder and lightning on Sinai became normal and Moses did not come down, the people became restless. They wanted another manifestation of God. So they demanded of Aaron, “Come, make us a god who will go before us.” (vs. 1).
Aaron fashioned the golden calf and proclaimed to the people, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." (vs. 4) Aaron was not making a new God, but was giving another manifestation of YHWH to the people (vs. 5 )
The people had violated the second commandment and had taken the Glory of God and reduced it to a golden calf. They had already broken the covenant that they had agreed to in chapter 24.
The covenant had been broken. God was no longer obligated to his part of the covenant. He states this intention to Moses in verse 10:
(Exodus 32:10 NASB) "Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them, and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation."
Moses pleads with God not to destroy the people for two reasons: (1) What would the Egyptians say about a God who frees his people only to destroy them; (2) Remember your covenant with Abraham.
Then Moses records a remarkable thought. God changed his mind. The immutable sovereign God of the universe, who had every legal right to destroy the people, relented. Because of God's abundant mercy, he allowed Moses to influence him and give the nation another chance.
God decided not to destroy the people. He decided to fulfill the promise to Abraham and give the people the land. However, because of their sin, the King was not going to go with His people.
(Exodus 33:3 NASB) "Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, lest I destroy you on the way."
Because the people had substituted the image of a golden calf for the Glory of Yahweh, God would not go with them. He would withhold his glory. The cloud which had been before the Israelites now descended on a tent far outside the camp when God was meeting with Moses. The people now had to worship God from afar.
Sin builds barriers between man and God. Even Christians, who sin after accepting God's gift of forgiveness through Jesus' death and resurrection, have to deal with the consequence of their sin. One of the realistic consequences is that there is an alienation that comes between us and our God whenever we disobey Him. Yes, we are still His child, just as the Israelites were still His people. Until we show genuine repentance, as the Israelites did, a barrier exists between God and us.
Moses was greatly upset by the prospect of going on to the Promised Land without God's presence. He has the people show their repentance and their sorrow by removing their jewelry. Moses again appeals to God and his reputation.
(Exodus 33:16 NIV) “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"
Even though Israel had sinned and God was not obligated to fulfill his part of the covenant, because of Moses righteousness, God relents.
The concept of one righteous man influencing God's punishment on wicked people is not unique to this event. God waited until Noah was the last left before destroying the earth. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed only after Lot and his family were the last left. It does not take many righteous people to forestall the punishment of God. In the case of Moses, his righteousness influenced God to accompany Israel into the Promised Land.
The nature of the accompaniment is build up with a prelude in chapters 25-31 and 34-40. In the detailed instructions on how to build the tabernacle and it's accouterments, God is proscribing how He wants His throne room to look. This would be the place where God in His glory would dwell with the Israelites.
In order for it to be a place where the Most Holy God could dwell, everything had to be done just right and to the exact detail. And the Israelites did just as God asked. Finally, after all the arrangements were made, God descended upon the tabernacle.
The covenant was back in place, and God dwelt among His people as their King.(Exodus 40:34-38 NASB) Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (35) And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (36) And throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; (37) but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. (38) For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.
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