MONDAY
This week we are skipping ahead to chapter 19 when the people of Israel arrive at Mt. Sinai. My hope is to return to the passages we skipped over (crossing the Red Sea, provision of manna, quail, water and the victory in battle) at the end of the campaign, with our guest speakers. I want to be sure we spend adequate time on the key events that reveal Moses’ experiences in the presence of God.
In chapter 19 we come to the next movement of the book and this is the central theme of Exodus.
Exodus 19 (NIV)
At Mount Sinai
1 On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
Remember when God in the burning bush first met with Moses, he promised to bring the people back to Mt. Sinai to meet with God there. This is the fulfillment of that sign.
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Here God gives them two reasons to accept this covenant: 1. What he has done for them in delivering them in Egypt and 2. What he will do for them in the future.
This seems to be the central purpose of the Exodus—God is bringing his people to himself so that he can reveal his true nature and character to them. The promised land is secondary. Even obedience to the covenant is secondary to God’s covenant relationship with his people. He redeems them, not because they obey his laws—they didn’t even know them yet—but because he chose them as his people generations prior and he will remain faithful to his promises. God primarily wants a covenant relationship with his people. This remains true of God’s character today.
To establish this relationship with his people, God uses a social construct that they would all be familiar with, but we are less familiar with today. This form of covenant was a common treaty in the ancient world. The more powerful member in the covenant relationship (the suzerain, Yahweh) would put forward stipulations of the covenant relationship. If these stipulations are met, blessing will result. This blessing will be in the form of land, provision, military protection, etc. If the stipulations are violated, the suzerain will bring about the curse as stipulated in the covenant terms. This would mean the removal of land rights, provision, military protection and even perhaps an attack by the military that was meant to protect (cf. Deut. 11:26-28). The less powerful member of the treaty (the vassal, Israel) agrees to uphold those standards or risk the curse. The vassal in this covenant relationship was required to give undying loyalty to the suzerain. The vassal was to have no other suzerain, lord or king. Yahweh has redeemed Israel so they now belong to him.
The promised blessing for this covenant relationship is that Israel would be God’s treasured possession. This term refers to a possession in which the owner has exclusive rights. Among all the other nations, Israel will be the people who belong to Yahweh. In reality, all of the earth belongs to Yahweh. This is a unique idea in the ancient framework. The more common idea was that a god owned only the land of the people who represented that god. Yahweh here reveals that is not the case. He has proven it by decimating the “gods” of Egypt. Although he owns all the earth, he will establish a special relationship with Israel. He will reveal his nature and character to them in a unique way. They will be to him a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The people of Israel are to mediate the revelation of God’s character and nature to the world. They are to be set apart for him.
It is through this covenant relationship that God will reveal his nature and character to his people. This is so awesome I don’t want to just zoom over it. God doesn’t just tell his people who he is then expect them to believe it. He does tell them but he also reveals it to them via relational experiences with them. They will know him by what he tells them and their experience with him! We can interpret the Bible so woodenly that we often forget that we are interpreting real people’s experiences with the real God. We so easily forget that we can experience God as well and know him more through those experiences (with the caveat that our experiences of God must align with the revealed character of God in Scripture).
God also didn’t just want his people to know him (in the full sense) he wants them to become like him in his character. So he demands obedience to his covenant stipulations. We will talk about this more tomorrow. But for today, the covenant relationship is the perfect way for God to form his people into his character and way of living.
Now we must remember that the people of Israel were former slaves steeped in the culture of ancient Egypt. They had learned that there were many gods in the world. They had learned that the gods were the world. The gods were sexual. The gods could be controlled or manipulated to do what humans want. Humans were a relative afterthought to the gods. Yahweh is not like these gods. In their commentary on Exodus, Ross and Oswalt write:
“God is not the world; he transcends it. God is not many; he is One. God cannot be manipulated through the world; he can only be trusted and surrendered to. God is not sexual and may not be approached through human sexual behavior. God is absolutely trustworthy; he never lies. In creation, humans are of ultimate worth, the very image of God. But how was God to teach his people these complex truths, so contrary to what the Egyptians and every other brilliant people in the world believed? They were former slaves, so no complex intellectual or philosophical educational scheme was feasible. The answer was the covenant. God would call his people to act in certain ways that would be expressive of their relationship with him.” - Allen Ross and John N. Oswalt, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, vol. 1 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2008), 429.
This covenant that God establishes with his people also differs from the common treaties of the ancient world in some specific ways. The biblical authors will also use the father-child metaphor or the husband-wife metaphor to illustrate this relationship as well.
“The idea that this covenant was with God altered the covenant form as well. Thus, there is a much greater concern for the interior life of the vassal than is found in any of the other covenants of the ancient world. That is as it should be, for this covenant lord is not a suzerain who has conquered his vassals by aggression and now demands their external obedience. This is the loving Creator who has delivered his people from oppression so that they can share a life with him in which they will be transformed into his own likeness. Thus, these stipulations touch on every area of life: religious, social, and personal. No longer is it necessary, or even possible, to separate these realms. This is a covenant with the Creator.” - Allen Ross and John N. Oswalt, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, vol. 1 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2008), 440.
Reflection
Reflect on how you have come to know God through a living, covenant relationship with him. Remember, we are not to only know of him through Scripture but through our experience with God as well.