The Mosaic Covenant...miracle nation pt 5

https://billrandles.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/the-mosaic-covenant-miracle-nation-pt-5/ ^ | 12-31-15 | Bill Randles

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And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.(Deuteronomy 28:1-2)

And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: (Deuteronomy 28:14-15)

The second covenant which God gave the children of Israel, came four hundred years after the unconditional covenant He made with Abraham. The Law of Moses has no bearing on the Abrahamic covenant other than this…if the Abrahamic covenant promised a Land to the children of Israel, the conditional Mosaic covenant set the conditions for the children of Israel to remain in the Land.

Of course the Law of Moses, i.e. the Torah was much more than that. It served as teacher, prophet, sanctifying influence, separating Israel from the rest of the world in clothing, food, Health, intellect, worship and inter personal relationships.

The covenant was made between God and the people, through the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood on the people by Moses,

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. 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 basons; 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.(Exodus 24:3-8)

But as we see in the opening verses, the Law was conditional.By observance of the commandments of God, the Holy people would be blessed and prosper in the Holy Land. Blessings would overtake them, in every area of life, health, children, peace of mind, cattle , flocks , business, national security…Israel’s blessings would themselves be a witness to the whole world that there is a living God, to be feared and worshipped.

But should Israel ever depart from the Living God, defecting and going after strange gods, or imitating the abominable practices of the nations around them, curses would overtake them as surely as the blessings.

The blessings part of the covenant cover the first 14 verses of Deuteronomy 28, but the frightening curses go from verse 15 to verse 68!

The Land God gave to the chosen people is to be considered morally sensitive. That means it responds to godliness, and true worship, “flowing with milk and honey” and yielding abundantly.

On the other hand, if there is apostasy, the land is said to “Vomit out the inhabitants” in revulsion at the abominations performed therein.The Land can be defiled,

(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.(Leviticus 18:27-28)

The problem with the Mosaic Testament is that it was conditional, yet it required perfect observance as Paul noted in Galatians, when He quoted Deuteronomy 27:26.

Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.(Deuteronomy 27:26)

The book of Hebrews brings this out also, quoting Jeremiah, on the need for the New Covenant;

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.(Hebrews 8:8-12)

The Law itself was perfect, holy and good, but the people who vowed to keep the covenant were fallen, weak and sinful.Within days of Moses’ reception of the tables of the LAW, the very people who pledged to “Do all that is written therein”, were worshipping a golden calf. Moses in anger threw down the Holy tables of the Law which God had written with his finger, shattering them, and making a new Law necessary.

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