Concept
Soteriologyalso The Sinai covenant · The lawThe Mosaic Covenant
The conditional covenant at Sinai: blessing for obedience, curse for breach: given to a people already redeemed.
#covenant#law
- 7passages
- 44original words
- 1approved connection
- 132cross-references
The words behind it
Hebrew and Greek standing in the 7 passages listed below, not a lexicon of "the mosaic covenant" itself. The number on each word is how often it occurs in those passages; the connecting words the languages use everywhere are set aside so the words that carry meaning can be seen.
Hebrew27
17 more hebrew words ▾
The passages
Every passage this site attaches to the concept, in canon order. Each row says where it came from.
Old Testament5
- Exodus 19:5listed key text
Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Exodus 19:52 voices
The reasonableness of this demand is, long after, pleaded with them, that in the day he brought them out of the land of Egypt this was the condition of the covenant, Obey my voice ( Jer. vii. 23 ); and this he is said to protest earnestly to them, Jer. xi. Only obey indeed, not in profession and promise only, not in pretence, but in sincerity.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Puritan
A peculiar treasure - A costly possession acquired with exertion, and carefully guarded. The special relation in which Israel stands, taken out of the pagan world and consecrated to God, as His slaves, subjects, and children, determines their privileges, and is the foundation of their duties. The same principle applies even in a stronger sense to the Church. See Act 20:28; 1Co 6:20; 1Pe 2:9. All the earth is mine - It was a point of great practical importance, to impress upon the Jews that their God was no mere national Deity. Compare Deu 10:14; Psa 24:1.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
- Exodus 24:7listed key text
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Exodus 24:71 voice
The book of the covenant - See Exo 20:22 note. The people had to repeat their assent to the book of the covenant before the blood was thrown upon them. Compare 2Ki 23:2, 2Ki 23:21; 2Ch 34:30.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
- Exodus 24:8approved connection
So Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Commentary on Exodus 24:81 voice
The blood which sealed the covenant was the blood of burnt offerings and peace offerings. The sin-offering Lev. 4 had not yet been instituted. That more complicated view of human nature which gave to the sin-offering its meaning, had yet to be developed by the law, which was now only receiving its ratification. The covenant between Yahweh and His people therefore took precedence of the operation of the law, by which came the knowledge of sin. Rom 3:
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
- Deuteronomy 28:1listed key text
“Now if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:11 voice
A comparison of this chapter with Exo 23:20-23 and Lev. 26 will show how Moses here resumes and amplifies the promises and threats already set forth in the earlier records of the Law. The language rises in this chapter to the sublimest strains, especially in the latter part of it; and the prophecies respecting the dispersion and degradation of the Jewish nation in its later days are among the most remarkable in scripture. They are plain, precise, and circumstantial; and the fulfillment of them has been literal, complete, and undeniable. The Blessing.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
- Deuteronomy 28:15listed key text
If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:152 voices
But . . . if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord--Curses that were to follow them in the event of disobedience are now enumerated, and they are almost exact counterparts of the blessings which were described in the preceding context as the reward of a faithful adherence to the covenant.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
The curses correspond in form and number Deu 28:15-19 to the blessings Deu 28:3-6, and the special modes in which these threats should be executed are described in five groups of denunciations Deut. 28:20-68. Deu 28:20-26 First series of judgments. The curse of God should rest on all they did, and should issue in manifold forms of disease, in famine, and in defeat in war. Deu 28:20 Vexation - Rather, confusion: the word in the original is used Deu 7:23; 1Sa 14:20 for the panic and disorder with which the curse of God smites His foes.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
New Testament2
- Romans 3:20listed key text
Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Romans 3:202 voices
And it is not without reason, that he so often mentions the works of the law, whether ceremonial or moral; for it was on these only the Jews relied, being wholly ignorant of those that spring from faith. For by the law is only the knowledge of sin - But no deliverance either from the guilt or power of it.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Evangelical
Only when these humiliating conclusions are accepted and felt, are we in a condition to appreciate and embrace the grace of the Gospel, next to be opened up. GOD'S JUSTIFYING RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, ALIKE ADAPTED TO OUR NECESSITIES AND WORTHY OF HIMSELF.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
- Galatians 3:24listed key text
So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Galatians 3:242 voices
NEITHER the Jewish Law of Ten Commandments, nor its Law of ceremonies were ever intended to save anybody. It was not the intent of the ceremonial Law, in itself to effect the redemption of the soul—by a set of pictures it set forth the way of salvation—but it was not, itself, the way. It was a map, not a country. It was a model of the road, not the road itself. The blood of bulls and goats, nor the ashes of a heifer could take away sin!
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1196: “The Stern Teacher” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1874
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ - It was designed to train us up for Christ. And this it did both by its commands, which showed the need we had of his atonement; and its ceremonies, which all pointed us to him.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Evangelical
Approved connections
1 link an editor approved, each with the reason it was kept.
- covenant enactmentExodus 24:8
Mosaic covenant ratified in blood: 'Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you' (Exod 24:3-8).
text (Exod 24:8, PD)
Voices on these passages
Commentary matched to the verses above, each named with its source: the full pool sits on each verse page.
The reasonableness of this demand is, long after, pleaded with them, that in the day he brought them out of the land of Egypt this was the condition of the covenant, Obey my voice ( Jer. vii. 23 ); and this he is said to protest earnestly to them, Jer. xi. Only obey indeed, not in profession and promise only, not in pretence, but in sincerity.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole BiblePuritan
Exodus 19:5
The book of the covenant - See Exo 20:22 note. The people had to repeat their assent to the book of the covenant before the blood was thrown upon them. Compare 2Ki 23:2, 2Ki 23:21; 2Ch 34:30.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
Exodus 24:7
The blood which sealed the covenant was the blood of burnt offerings and peace offerings. The sin-offering Lev. 4 had not yet been instituted. That more complicated view of human nature which gave to the sin-offering its meaning, had yet to be developed by the law, which was now only receiving its ratification. The covenant between Yahweh and His people therefore took precedence of the operation of the law, by which came the knowledge of sin. Rom 3:
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
Exodus 24:8
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Walk out from the passages
The passages above carry 132 cross-references between them, links from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, the great 1830s reference work, together with the reader-voted index at OpenBible.info. The most-linked destinations:
Read it in both testaments
Set the earliest passage beside the New Testament one and ask what changed and what did not, the shape of the mosaic covenant before Christ and after him.
Read the whole chapter around it
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Where this comes from
Sinai comes after the exodus, not before it: Israel is rescued first and given law second. Its form matches the suzerain treaties of the Late Bronze Age: preamble, history, stipulations, blessings and curses, witnesses, and its terms are conditional, "if ye will obey my voice."
Its work is diagnostic. "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20); it shows the disease it cannot cure, and points past itself to a covenant written on hearts.