The Temporary Sinai Covenant

Understanding the purpose and temporary nature of the covenant that God made with ancient Israel at Mt. Sinai is critical for comprehending the New Testament scriptures correctly. The contents of this covenant became, in effect, Israel's national constitution.

With God as its King, Israel became a theocratic state—essentially a temporary, earthly kingdom of God. Its people accepted all the covenantal conditions God laid out for them, saying, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8).

Amid the thunder, lightning, smoke and fire atop Mt. Sinai, God spoke the Ten Commandments to the entire nation (Exodus 20:1-18).

How did the people respond to Moses? "Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die.

"For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it" (Deuteronomy 5:24-27).

They requested, from sheer terror of the awesome power that God manifested to them, that never again would He speak to them directly with His own voice.

From that time forward the inspired words of God's prophets were regarded as carrying the same authority as if God were speaking to the people directly. For example, Moses included—for being obedient to the "voice of the LORD"—"statutes which are written in this Book of Law," statutes given to Israel some 40 years after God spoke at Mt. Sinai (Deuteronomy 30:10-11).

That the writings of the prophets represent accurately the instructions and teachings of God is confirmed in the New Testament: "But first note this: no prophetic writing is a matter for private interpretation. It was not on any human initiative that prophecy [the writings of the prophets] came; rather, it was under the compulsion of the Holy Spirit that people spoke as messengers of God" (2 Peter 1:20-21, REB).

In Deuteronomy 5:28-31, Moses recounts how God accepted the Israelites' request at Mt. Sinai that He would speak to them in the future only though His prophets: "And the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.

"'Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! Go, say to them, "Return to your tents." But as for you [Moses], stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess'" (New American Standard Bible).

The people had said all the right words. They had agreed to God's conditions. They had committed themselves to live by all the words that God would speak to them through Moses and the prophets that would come later. But God knew it would take more than their promises to produce the results He desired.

It would require a change in their hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit. And for the vast majority of them that would become possible only after the Messiah had come to pay the penalty for their sins. Prior to that time God gave His Holy Spirit to only a relatively small number of selected individuals such as Noah, Abraham, David and other prophets and servants as recorded in the Old Testament.

The people of ancient Israel have provided the lesson, through their example, that having righteous laws without a righteous heart is not enough. Their centuries-long example illustrates vividly that receiving knowledge of truth does not by itself produce full and lasting obedience (Romans 3:9-12).

The five books written by Moses—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—define the righteous way of life that God desires all peoples and nations to embrace (see Deuteronomy 4:6; 6:4-6; 8:2-3).

The books containing His instructions to them became ancient Israel's supreme religious and legal code. They contained not only the guidelines, laws and procedures by which its citizens were to be judged but also rituals and ceremonies that represented symbolically the kind of relationship God wanted them to have with Him.

They are called in the Hebrew language the Torah (meaning "the teaching" or, more commonly today, "the law"). As Moses explained: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?" (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).

It was in this Torah that "all His ways" were first committed to writing. These books reveal and define, as the voice of the Lord, the righteous behavior that is the foundation of a godly way of life.

Therefore, at least four decades after the giving of the Sinai Covenant, Moses explained again that what He wrote had indeed come from God: "The Lord your God will make you abound . . . For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey thevoice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law . . ."(Deuteronomy 30:9-10). (Be sure to read "How Can We Obey God's Commandments?" beginning on page 16.)

The point is that the covenant that God made with ancient Israel was not limited to only the words He spoke at Mt. Sinai. Whatever He would command them—then or in the future—they agreed to do. They asked that from that time forward God would not speak to them personally with His own voice, but through His prophets. Their agreement with God was that they would do all that He would command them—even through the words of the prophets that would follow Moses.

The prophets became God's spokesmen. The messages they received from God, often written in books for later generations, were to be obeyed as "the word of the Lord" (see Isaiah 38:4; Jeremiah 1:4-5; Ezekiel 6:1-3). This same authority was later given to Christ's apostles (Acts 4:29-31).

Today the entire Bible claims authority as the written Word of God. And God promises to bless those who obey it as His Word.

Near the end of Leviticus we find a long declaration of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Leviticus 26:3-45). These blessings and curses gave warning to the ancient Israelites not to take their covenantal relationship and responsibilities lightly.

If they obeyed God, they would enjoy bountiful harvests, good health, prosperity and national security (verses 4-10). These benefits, however, were mostly physical.

A comparison of the material blessings of Leviticus 26:3-13 with those cited in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 reveals a crucial omission in both lists. God agrees to be their God and regard them as His people (Leviticus 26:11-13; Deuteronomy 28:9). But no promise of eternal life is included in this covenant. Its blessings related mostly to what people could enjoy in this present physical life.

Exceptions were made for those servants and prophets of God who were given the Holy Spirit during that time. This is confirmed by Peter who explains: "Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow" (1 Peter 1:10-11, KJV).

That is significant for a major reason! In the New Testament explanation of covenants and law, it is made very clear that eternal life is available only though faith in Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah (Acts 4:12). The prophets of old looked forward in faith to the day when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would make that sacrifice for them.

At the time of the Sinai Covenant, the Messiah had not yet come. So eternal life was not offered to the people in that covenant, with the exception of those special servants who led and taught the people in God's ways. The Holy Spirit was not made available to the rest of the people.

But far from the Sinai Covenant and God's law being a burden, as they now are often represented, they bestowed on all the people of Israel an amazing array of blessings and benefits.

Though the Sinai Covenant sealed a unique relationship between the Israelites and God, it contained one essential condition. The benefits of that relationship were—for their own good—available to them only if they did their part by following His instructions! They had to faithfully put into practice all that they had agreed to do. And they had agreed to follow all the instructions God was giving them—to, in effect, become a "holy people."

Had they diligently kept their part of that agreement, they would have become the envy of the world, an incredibly blessed nation. No other nation on earth would have enjoyed the degree of blessings and benefits that God would have given them. They would have become the showcase of righteousness for all nations around them.

As God explained to them through Moses: "See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people'" (Deuteronomy 4:5-7, NASB).

God's laws define behavior that naturally results in peace, safety and prosperity. If the people of Israel had obeyed God, to the best of their natural ability, they would have reaped His promised blessings to the extent that neighboring nations could have noticed that they also might enjoy the same wonderful benefits if only they would also adopt the same laws.

Therefore, in the next verse Moses challenged the Israelites to ask themselves, "What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?" (verse 8, NASB).

Not only were they promised abundant physical blessings, they also had received from God the world's most fair and righteous system of governance!

One major limitation is present in this rosy picture—the selfish, stubborn inclinations of all human beings. Moses explained to the Israelites: "Know, then, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to occupy because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people . . . you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day you came out of the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 9:6-7, NRSV).

God knew in advance that without the gift of His Holy Spirit the people of Israel, like all other peoples, would not be able to fully live up to their promise to obey Him. However, they could have obeyed what they were taught much better than most of them did. This is evident in their history. During some limited periods the entire nation was mostly observant of God's instructions (Joshua 24:31; 2 Chronicles 32:26).

Significantly, the Israelites were given every natural advantage any people could desire—lacking only the super natural help of God's Holy Spirit, which would have enabled them to have a consistently righteous heart. Without a divinely changed heart, it is impossible for any people to consistently live a fully obedient life.

Though some individuals are more law abiding than others, none has succeeded in living without sin. That problem has been present in all peoples of all nationalities and cultures throughout human history. Only by receiving God's Spirit can that problem be eliminated. And not until Christ returns to rule all nations will it finally be resolved worldwide.

As Paul observed of mankind, quoting Psalm 14:3, "They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good [consistently], no, not one" (Romans 3:12). This is the lesson we must learn so we will never be tempted to think that the Sinai Covenant was a failure. It accomplished precisely what God intended it to accomplish.

The Sinai Covenant is not the complete, final model for our relationship with God. Though it contained many permanent, eternal principles, many of its figurative benefits, instructive as they were, represented only symbolically the far better benefits included in the New Covenant relationship with God that was established later by Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah.

As Hebrews 9:9-10 explains, the ritualism of the covenant at Sinai "was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation."

A future revision of that covenant—particularly in those features linked to the death and mission of the coming Messiah—was promised. God announced through His prophets that with this "better covenant" He would put His laws in the minds of humanity and He would write them on their hearts. He promised to provide—at the individual level—direct access to Him (Hebrews 8:6; Jeremiah 31:31-34).

It should now be made eminently clear that God was not blindsided by Israel's failures. He anticipated them. From the beginning He revealed hints of a "better" solution to the sinfulness of mankind that could be made available only through the coming Messiah. Those "hints," in the form of various ceremonies, symbols and rituals, are woven throughout the instructions given under the Sinai Covenant.

The problems caused by human weaknesses and desires (see James 1:14-15) extended far beyond the boundaries of ancient Israel. They cause problems for all peoples. Thus, in crafting a permanent solution, God has taken into consideration much more than merely the welfare of the Israelites. His solution applies to all peoples in all nations.

As He promised Abraham, "In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). Before that permanent solution is made available to more than the present "little flock" of truly obedient Christians who are given God's Spirit in this "present evil age" (see Luke 12:32; Galatians 1:4), all of humanity must learn some essential lessons.

God uses the experiences of ancient Israel, as recorded in Scripture, to help all of mankind, including the Israelites themselves, learn how easily we succumb to sin. Eventually all nations are destined to comprehend why sin is so terrible and why so much more than human effort is required to erase it from the heart.

In the Sinai Covenant with ancient Israel, God comprehensively and permanently defined the fundamentals of righteous behavior. But giving them the knowledge of God's laws did not automatically put righteousness in their hearts and minds.

The needed transformation occurs only in those who receive additional spiritual help through the gift of the Holy Spirit. To receive God's Spirit, one first must be called of God (John 6:44, 65) and genuinely repent of, or turn from, sin (Acts 2:38). God did not make His Spirit generally available until after Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected so that He could serve as the Mediator of the New Covenant.

Once sin entered the picture in the Garden of Eden, God chose to delay making His Spirit available to mankind—except to the few He used as His special servants and prophets—until after Jesus Christ's death, at which time He became mankind's Redeemer.

That is why understanding Christ's sacrificial and priestly roles in a "better covenant" that provides the means for receiving forgiveness of sin and the precious gift of the Holy Spirit is so vital.

These additions are the vitally important enhancements to the Old Covenant that God made with the people of ancient Israel. They will enable their descendants, who are to be gathered back to the Holy Land by Jesus Christ at His return (Jeremiah 23:5-8), to have a personal relationship with God that only a few of their forefathers ever experienced.

God promises for that time: "'This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach one another or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.' In speaking of 'a new covenant,' he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear" (Hebrews 8:10-13, NRSV).

This passage is quoting God's promise of a New Covenant as given in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Only a few decades after Jesus Christ was crucified, and not long after these words were written, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70 and the entire ceremonial and sacrificial system attached to it came to an end. It truly became obsolete.

Once the sacrifice of Christ was in place, those temple ceremonies and rituals were simply no longer needed. But as Hebrews 8:10-13 clearly tells us, the spiritual laws that God had included in the Sinai Covenant were not disbanded. With the Spirit of God now available, the principles of love that the law so eloquently expressed can finally be written in the hearts of all who repent of breaking them.

[...]"The five books written by Moses—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—define the righteous way of life that God desires all peoples and nations to embrace (see Deuteronomy 4:6; 6:4-6; 8:2-3)."[...]

Where does it ever say that the covenant with Israel and the law of Moses was made for, or applied to strangers, foreigners or uncircumcised Gentiles as Gentiles outside Israel?

[...]"Once the sacrifice of Christ was in place, those temple ceremonies and rituals were simply no longer needed. But as Hebrews 8:10-13 clearly tells us, the spiritual laws that God had included in the Sinai Covenant were not disbanded. With the Spirit of God now available, the principles of love that the law so eloquently expressed can finally be written in the hearts of all who repent of breaking them." [...]

These "spiritual laws that that God had included in the Sinai Covenant, that 'would be written in the heart"; where does it ever say that the laws that God will write on the heart are the the same laws of the Sinai Covenant, and that they include such things as new moons?

Cordially,

Where does it ever say that the covenant with Israel and the law of Moses was made for, or applied to strangers, foreigners or uncircumcised Gentiles as Gentiles outside Israel?

It didn't. But Israel was to be an example to other nations about how to live.

These "spiritual laws that that God had included in the Sinai Covenant, that 'would be written in the heart"; where does it ever say that the laws that God will write on the heart are the the same laws of the Sinai Covenant, and that they include such things as new moons?

What about the new moons? Can you be specific?

What about the new moons? Can you be specific?

1 Chronicles 23
³⁰ They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD. They were to do the same in the evening ³¹ and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the LORD on Sabbaths and at New Moon festivals and at appointed feasts. They were to serve before the LORD regularly in the proper number and in the way prescribed for them.

2 Chronicles 2:4
⁴ Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him, for setting out the consecrated bread regularly, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on Sabbaths and New Moons and at the appointed feasts of the LORD our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.

2 Chronicles 8:13
¹³ according to the daily requirement for offerings commanded by Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons and the three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles.

2 Chronicles 31:3
³ The king contributed from his own possessions for the morning and evening burnt offerings and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moons and appointed feasts as written in the Law of the LORD.

Nehemiah 10:33
³³ for the bread set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moon festivals and appointed feasts; for the holy offerings; for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the house of our God.

Cordially,

Thank you.

There was nothing in the original covenant really concerning new moons other than sacrifices (I believe) that were to be done at the beginning of the month. Since these were functions of the Levitical priesthood and that priesthood has been replaced by our high priest Christ they don't apply under the new covenant. But there wasn't any commandment to "sabbath" or refrain from work on the new moons nor were there commanded assemblies as there were for the feast days and the weekly sabbath.

Why then did the Jews ask in Amos 8:5, "When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?"

I would guess tradition. They were extra careful to observe physical laws even going so far as to institute non-biblical measures. But again there is no command by the Lord to keep the new moons as a sabbath or to refrain from work.

I did an O.T. word search of "new moon", and your statement there not commanded assemblies for New Moons as there were for the feast days and the weekly sabbath appears to be incorrect:

Ezekiel 46:1
" 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened.

Isaiah 66:23
From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD.

Isaiah 1:13
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

Psalm 81:3
Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast;

It seems that New Moons and Sabbaths were commanded times of assembly and worship, "as written in the Law of the LORD." In Numbers 10:8, it says the priests are to blow the trumpets, and it says, "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come."

Do you observe this Commandment? Do you blow the trumpets on the New Moons?

Cordially,

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