FRIDAY
In the verses we read today we will see God re-establishing his covenant with his people. God’s character is the sole basis of this covenant relationship. God enters into this covenant relationship with Israel because of his character and to reveal his character through covenant relationship with them.
Exodus 34:8-17, 27-28 8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. 11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. 13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
15 “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
17 “Do not make any idols.
27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
God is here revealing himself to be who he has just said he is. In his compassion, grace, and loyal love he forgives his people and returns into covenant relationship with them. Although they have been unfaithful, he will remain faithful.
Whereas the first covenant was more bilateral as it was ratified when the people agreed to follow the terms of the covenant, there is no hint of that here. God is simply reinstating the covenant with his people on his own.
However, he still requires obedience. Obedience to the terms of the covenant will result in blessing. Disobedience will result in cursing. (see Deut. 11:26-28; 30:15–20) Even though they will continue to sin and even commit heinous idolatry in later generations, God will will punish them but ultimately remain faithful to his people. He punishes them with exile, but still brings them back. It is after the exile that Jesus appears to establish God’s new covenant relationship with his people.
In verse 14 God describes himself as Jealous! In our modern sense, jealousy carries the idea of a petty possessiveness. That is not the sense here. Instead, the sense is more of a passionate exclusivity. Think of it in the context of marriage. It is right and good for a husband to be passionate for his wife’s exclusive love. The same applies for the wife. This loyal love, covenant faithfulness is required in this type of relationship.
Additional Content
I included this passage from 1 Kings so you can see how blatantly the people of Israel will violate the covenant God is establishing with them here. He punishes them, yet he remains faithful to them and brings them back from exile. This whole saga reveals that the Law is simply not sufficient for God’s people to be faithful to him and his way. The story of the OT reveals that we need a new covenant. We need Jesus!
2 Kings 17:14–23 14 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.” 16 They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. 17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger. 18 So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, 19 and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. 20 Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence. 21 When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin. 22 The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them 23 until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.
Reflection
God desires an exclusive relationship with his people—he is a jealous God. Repent of any ways you have drifted toward idols that demand your worship, attention, and sacrifice above God. Thank him for his faithfulness to you in spite of your wandering. Thank him for Jesus who establishes a new covenant with us based on his blood shed for us and his righteousness given to us through faith in Jesus. Respond to God's faithful love by embracing exclusive devotion to him and rejecting anything that competes for his rightful place in your life.