The Israelites (and a "mixed crowd" (Ex. 12:38)!) begin their wander through the desert and we see that God's covenant with them begins to take on more explicit conditionality - there is the introduction of the "if"! This "if" is perhaps best seen in Moses' final speech to his people as recorded in Deuteronomy, where he says:
"If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding today, the Lord you God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God..." (Deut. 28:1-2)
"But if you will not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees...hen all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you..." (Deut. 28:15)
Within the Abrahamic covenant there didn't seem to be this "if;" God just made Abraham a load of promises and then committed his life to them in the covenant-making ritual involving cut-up animals! So what do we make of this "if"?
Well, firstly, it’s not a totally fair distinction, because God’s relationship with his people was always on the basis of faith – Abraham’s faith mattered! (+ there was the “if” of circumcision!). Rather, the difference is that firstly God’s people were asked to commit to him as a person and only secondly to obeying his wishes (see Kidner, p. 140). This priority is reflected again in dazzling bright lights through the 10 Commandments, where the 1st few commandments are all about what? Loving the Lord God - having him only as God, not rejecting him by turning to idols for help instead of him, not taking his name in vain (in other words not bringing his name into disrepute through our actions) and so on!
So… Israel was commitment fundamentally to a person, only secondly to a way of life, which is a bit like if you’re getting married: you get married to that person because of who they are – because you love them and want to be with them then, secondly, as part of this relationship you’ll hopefully want to behave in ways that please them – for example if your spouse doesn’t like fish it wouldn’t be very loving to constantly cook them fish for tea! But the not liking fish bit doesn’t come first, the relationship does – if that makes sense! And so too with God, fundamentally he calls his people into a relationship with him. Only secondly does he outline more about what this relationship should look like; in other words what pleases him and what doesn’t, what’s good for us and what isn’t and so on.
Secondly, because of God’s unconditional covenantal commitment that he made to Abraham – which comes out of his grace – we see that there is a strong biblical theme of God overlooking sin, which doesn’t end here but actually continues on, albeit that some sins now start to be specifically judged! You see, as we learned last time, Abraham wasn’t perfect. Further, within the family line between Abraham and Moses there is a lot of trickery and deception, which isn’t the type of behaviour that God likes. However, God overlooks this and responds to faith! Further, he weaves his will through the midst of it all.
Here, we start to get a far more comprehensive view of the type of behaviour that God does want. The justice he expects in relationships and business dealings, the compassion we must have for those who are less well-off, the importance of commitment and trust in marriage and so on. However, even here God doesn’t address everything. He doesn’t address the issue of polygamy, for example, and the sacrificial system he gives to Israel as a way of dealing with sin doesn’t really cover the cost for their sin, since an animal has less worth than the human whose life it atones for. And so, this Mosaic covenant doesn’t replace the Abrahamic covenant; the Abrahamic covenant cannot be annulled. Rather, God is introducing some sanctions to misbehaviour whereby he starts to judge people’s sin more specifically. And yet even within this, in order to still be with his people and not totally consume them, God still overlooks huge amounts of sin – does this make sense?! So, in other words, God is starting to judge sin more specifically, but it's still within a context of grace! A context in which vast amounts of sin are compassionately overlooked, for if that was not the case, God couldn’t dwell with his people at all!
Thirdly, just as God reveals himself through his actions in history, so too does he reveal himself through his law. And he reveals himself to be a God who is concerned with people! And with every part of their lives! – which is why Leviticus in particular has so many laws that seem so random to us about mildew in houses, rashes and the like! Through his law God reveals that he is:
"If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding today, the Lord you God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God..." (Deut. 28:1-2)
"But if you will not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees...hen all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you..." (Deut. 28:15)
Within the Abrahamic covenant there didn't seem to be this "if;" God just made Abraham a load of promises and then committed his life to them in the covenant-making ritual involving cut-up animals! So what do we make of this "if"?
Well, firstly, it’s not a totally fair distinction, because God’s relationship with his people was always on the basis of faith – Abraham’s faith mattered! (+ there was the “if” of circumcision!). Rather, the difference is that firstly God’s people were asked to commit to him as a person and only secondly to obeying his wishes (see Kidner, p. 140). This priority is reflected again in dazzling bright lights through the 10 Commandments, where the 1st few commandments are all about what? Loving the Lord God - having him only as God, not rejecting him by turning to idols for help instead of him, not taking his name in vain (in other words not bringing his name into disrepute through our actions) and so on!
So… Israel was commitment fundamentally to a person, only secondly to a way of life, which is a bit like if you’re getting married: you get married to that person because of who they are – because you love them and want to be with them then, secondly, as part of this relationship you’ll hopefully want to behave in ways that please them – for example if your spouse doesn’t like fish it wouldn’t be very loving to constantly cook them fish for tea! But the not liking fish bit doesn’t come first, the relationship does – if that makes sense! And so too with God, fundamentally he calls his people into a relationship with him. Only secondly does he outline more about what this relationship should look like; in other words what pleases him and what doesn’t, what’s good for us and what isn’t and so on.
Secondly, because of God’s unconditional covenantal commitment that he made to Abraham – which comes out of his grace – we see that there is a strong biblical theme of God overlooking sin, which doesn’t end here but actually continues on, albeit that some sins now start to be specifically judged! You see, as we learned last time, Abraham wasn’t perfect. Further, within the family line between Abraham and Moses there is a lot of trickery and deception, which isn’t the type of behaviour that God likes. However, God overlooks this and responds to faith! Further, he weaves his will through the midst of it all.
Here, we start to get a far more comprehensive view of the type of behaviour that God does want. The justice he expects in relationships and business dealings, the compassion we must have for those who are less well-off, the importance of commitment and trust in marriage and so on. However, even here God doesn’t address everything. He doesn’t address the issue of polygamy, for example, and the sacrificial system he gives to Israel as a way of dealing with sin doesn’t really cover the cost for their sin, since an animal has less worth than the human whose life it atones for. And so, this Mosaic covenant doesn’t replace the Abrahamic covenant; the Abrahamic covenant cannot be annulled. Rather, God is introducing some sanctions to misbehaviour whereby he starts to judge people’s sin more specifically. And yet even within this, in order to still be with his people and not totally consume them, God still overlooks huge amounts of sin – does this make sense?! So, in other words, God is starting to judge sin more specifically, but it's still within a context of grace! A context in which vast amounts of sin are compassionately overlooked, for if that was not the case, God couldn’t dwell with his people at all!
Thirdly, just as God reveals himself through his actions in history, so too does he reveal himself through his law. And he reveals himself to be a God who is concerned with people! And with every part of their lives! – which is why Leviticus in particular has so many laws that seem so random to us about mildew in houses, rashes and the like! Through his law God reveals that he is:
- Holy! Although he overlooks sin for a time in order to be with a people who are, at heart, still sinful; he hates it and does not want to go anywhere near it! And God even hates the consequences of sin, which I think is the idea behind the rules about uncleaness, whereby people are barred from access to God’s closer presence due to things like rashes and menstruation, not just sin for which people are personally culpable.
- Just – and hates injustice
- Fair – many of the punishments, although they may seem harsh to us, are actually fair and restrained in comparison to the surrounding nations
- Compassionate – the laws regarding orphans, widows, slaves and foreigners are particularly noteworthy in this regard
Fourthly, God’s law helps the people to be the people God intended them to be. Behaving in accordance with God’s law would mark them out as God’s holy nation and lead to an individual and community life which was far safer, more enriching and beautiful than if they followed the barbaric and perverted practices of the surrounding nations (cf. David Istone-Brewers very helpful article (p. 66)). God had rescued the people from slavery into a nation that was uniquely his! Behaving in accordance to the law wasn’t the way people attained this special status – God gave it as a gift – but it was part of what it meant to be this people on a day-to-day basis. This is a bit like our situation now! We’re not saved by living in any particular way, that is a gift at Christ’s expense – we receive it simply by faith. However, part of this gift is that we’re transformed into the people God wants us to be – into people who are truly flourishing and truly free!
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