Exodus 19 to 24 · Doctrine · Featured Study
The Mosaic Covenant
Exodus 19 to 24 records the terms the LORD set for the tribes of Jacob and the rite that bound them to Him.
God offered Israel His covenant only after He had already brought them out of Egypt.
- First taught
- Exodus 19:5 “Now if you will indeed obey My voice…”
- Fullest statement
- Exodus 24:3 to 8 “When Moses came and told the people all…”
Ferdinand Bol, Moses Descends from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, 1662. Public domain.
Summary
In the third month after leaving Egypt, Israel camped in front of Mount Sinai, and God called Moses up the mountain with words for the house of Jacob.
- God offered to make Israel His treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, if they would obey His voice and keep His covenant.
- The people answered three times that they would do all the LORD had spoken, the last time just before the blood was sprinkled on them.
- Moses sealed the covenant with blood, half on the altar and half on the people, and seventy elders saw the God of Israel and ate and drank.
- Jeremiah promised a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and Hebrews calls the first covenant obsolete beside it.
The Offer on Eagles' Wings
The offer of Exodus 19:3 to 6 is spoken to Moses on the mountain for the house of Jacob.
‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.God calls the people as witnesses of what He did to Egypt and names Himself as the end of their journey.
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. And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”Moses carries these words down and sets them before the elders of the people in Exodus 19:7.
A kingdom of priests stands between God and the nations as a priest stands between God and a people. Peter gives the church the titles a royal priesthood and a holy nation in 1 Peter 2:9.
The Covenant, Step by Step
Six texts carry the covenant from the offer at Sinai to the cup of the Last Supper.
God offers the covenant and sets its terms, blood seals it, and a new covenant is promised and given.
- What the text gives
- I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself
- Text
- Exodus 19:4
- What the text gives
- you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations
- Text
- Exodus 19:5
- What the text gives
- These are the ordinances that you are to set before them
- Text
- Exodus 21:1
- What the text gives
- This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you
- Text
- Exodus 24:8
- What the text gives
- I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
- Text
- Jeremiah 31:31
- What the text gives
- This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many
- Text
- Matthew 26:28
Each step gives the Berean words of its text, in the order the covenant is made and then renewed.
All That the LORD Has Spoken
Israel's answer is the same each time, and what the people have heard grows.
The people consent before the terms are given, again after Moses tells them, and again after the book is read.
- Exodus 19:8the offer of Exodus 19:4 to 6, before any commandmentthe third month after EgyptExodus 19:8
- Exodus 24:3all the words and ordinances of the LORD, told by Mosesafter the law of Exodus 20 to 23Exodus 24:3
- Exodus 24:7the Book of the Covenant, read aloudearly the next morning, at the altarExodus 24:4 to 7
Each row gives the verse, the words heard by then, and when it falls.
The Blood of the Covenant
Exodus 24:4 to 8 records the sacrifice that sealed the covenant.
And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.Moses builds at the foot of the mountain, where the people had stood to meet God in Exodus 19:17.
Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 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.” 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.”The book is read between the two halves of the blood, so the people consent between the altar's half and their own.
Jesus takes up the words of Exodus 24:8 at the Last Supper and speaks them over the cup, This is My blood of the covenant (Matthew 26:28).
The Treaty Form
Scholars compare the shape of the Sinai covenant with treaties written by Hittite kings.
Each part of the Hittite treaty form has its answer in the Sinai covenant of Exodus and Leviticus.
| Part of the treaty form | The Sinai covenant |
|---|---|
| Title or preamble | And God spoke all these words (Exodus 20:1). |
| Historical prologue | I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 20:2). |
| Stipulations | The ten words of Exodus 20:3 to 17 and the laws that follow them. |
| Deposit and reading of the text | The Testimony placed in the ark (Exodus 25:16) and the book read to the people (Exodus 24:7). |
| Witness | The twelve pillars Moses set up at the foot of the mountain (Exodus 24:4). |
| Blessings and curses | If you follow My statutes (Leviticus 26:3). If, however, you fail to obey Me (Leviticus 26:14). |
George Mendenhall, in two articles in The Biblical Archaeologist in 1954, pointed out the likeness between the Hittite treaties and parts of Exodus and Joshua 24.
The comparison helps explain the shape of Sinai, and what the covenant teaches rests on the text itself.
How early is the form? Kitchen against Weinfeld3 paragraphs
Kitchen, in On the Reliability of the Old Testament, sets out six phases of treaty, law and covenant from about 2500 to 650 BC. He argues that the Sinai documents have a fourteenth or thirteenth century format. He also notes that the weight at Sinai, short blessings beside long curses, follows the usage of the older law collections.
In his sixth phase, about 900 to 650 BC, Kitchen finds treaties without the historical prologue, the blessings set against the curses, or the deposit and reading of the text. Sinai shares all three with the Hittite treaties.
Kitchen quotes Moshe Weinfeld, in his Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School of 1972, holding that the treaty formulation remained substantially unchanged from the Hittite Empire down through the Neo-Assyrian period. On that view the form gives no date, and the question stays contested.
The Elders See God and Eat
Exodus 24:9 to 11 tells what follows the blood rite at the altar.
Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was a work like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.Seventy-four men go up, and the meal on the mountain seals the covenant made below.
Beyond the pavement under His feet, the account leaves the vision unexplained and turns to the meal.
The Words Underneath
The offer of Exodus 19:5 to 6 turns on its Hebrew words.
Five Hebrew words name the covenant, the people's place in it, and the obedience it asks.
| Word and Strong's | Sense | Where it stands and times in the Old Testament |
|---|---|---|
| berith, H1285 | covenant | My covenant, Exodus 19:5; 284 times |
| segullah, H5459 | treasured possession, a king's own wealth | My treasured possession, Exodus 19:5; 8 times |
| mamlakah, H4467 | kingdom, dominion | a kingdom of priests, Exodus 19:6; 117 times |
| qadosh, H6918 | holy, set apart | a holy nation, Exodus 19:6; 116 times |
| shama, H8085 | to hear, to obey | obey My voice, Exodus 19:5; 1,159 times |
Kitchen notes that segullah, the especial treasure, is common across the Semitic world from the early second millennium onward, in the laws of Hammurabi, at Nuzi and at Ugarit.
Teachers on the Covenant
Six quotations from Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes, Adam Clarke and John Gill speak to the offer, the answer, the blood and the meal.
1662 to 1714 · Matthew Henry
Commentary on the Whole Bible
The quotation1 quotation
“They were brought not only into a state of liberty and honour, but into covenant and communion with God. This, this was the glory of their deliverance, as it is of ours by Christ, that he died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible · on Exodus 19:4Puritan
1662 to 1714 · Matthew Henry
Commentary on the Whole Bible
The quotation1 quotation
“They feasted upon the sacrifice, before God, in token of their cheerful consent to the covenant now made, their grateful acceptance of the benefits of it, and their communion with God, in pursuance of that covenant. Thus believers eat and drink with Christ at his table, Luke xxii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible · on Exodus 24:11Puritan
1697 to 1771 · John Gill
Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)
The quotation1 quotation
“And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins,.... Half of the blood of the above sacrifices, this he put into basins, and set by, in order to sprinkle on the people: and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar; the Targum of Onkelos adds, to atone for the people. But the altar here seems to represent the Lord, who was one of the parties covenanting, and therefore is sprinkled with blood as a ratification of the covenant on his part, and the promises of it.”
John Gill · Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) · on Exodus 24:6Reformed
1762 to 1832 · Adam Clarke
Commentary on the Bible
The quotation1 quotation
“And all the people answered, etc. - The people, having such gracious advantages laid before them, most cheerfully consented to take God for their portion; as he had graciously promised to take them for his people. Thus a covenant was made, the parties being mutually bound to each other. Moses returned the words - When the people had on their part consented to the covenant, Moses appears to have gone immediately up to the mountain and related to God the success of his mission; for he was now on the mount, as appears from Exo 19:14.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible · on Exodus 19:8Evangelical
1798 to 1870 · Albert Barnes
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The quotation1 quotation
“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) · on Exodus 19:5Evangelical
1798 to 1870 · Albert Barnes
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The quotation1 quotation
“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) · on Exodus 24:8Evangelical
John Gill, Adam Clarke, Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes
Two Readings of Sinai and the New Covenant
Covenant theology and dispensational teaching place the covenant at Sinai differently in the history of redemption.
One covenant of grace under two administrations2 paragraphs
The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 7, holds that the covenant of grace was administered under the law by promises, prophecies, sacrifices and other types, all fore-signifying Christ to come. It concludes that there are not two covenants of grace differing in substance, but one and the same under various dispensations.
The objection is C. I. Scofield's, whose note at Genesis 12 calls the covenant with Abraham wholly gracious and unconditional. The covenant at Sinai opens with If you will in Exodus 19:5, so on his reading the two are covenants of different kinds.
A national covenant for Israel, set aside as a legal system2 paragraphs
C. I. Scofield's Reference Bible of 1917 reads the Mosaic Covenant as given to Israel in three divisions, the commandments, the judgments and the ordinances. It holds that the Christian is not under the conditional Mosaic Covenant of works.
The objection is the Westminster Confession's, that the substance of grace is one in every age even where its form differs.
Promise and condition: why Sinai reads differently from the covenant with Abraham2 verses
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.Abram lies in a deep sleep (Genesis 15:12) while the firepot and the torch pass between the halves, so only God passes through the rite of that covenant.
What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise.Paul argues that the law given at Sinai cannot revoke the covenant God had already made with Abraham.
The partners of the new covenant2 verses, 1 paragraph
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.The promise goes to the nation that stood at Sinai and broke the covenant made there.
By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.Hebrews quotes Jeremiah in full and draws from the word new that the first covenant is obsolete.
John Wesley, in his note on Jeremiah 31:31, extends the new covenant beyond the Jews to all those who should be ingrafted into that olive, the figure Paul uses in Romans 11.
Books to Read Next
Four works from 1646 to 2003 read the covenant at Sinai closely.
Commentary on the Whole Bible
Matthew Henry · 1710
Henry comments verse by verse on Exodus 19 and 24, from the eagles' wings to the meal on the mountain.
The Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Assembly · 1646
Chapter 7 sets out the covenant of works and the covenant of grace in a few short articles.
Read chapter 7 at CCELThe Scofield Reference Bible
C. I. Scofield · 1917
Scofield gives the dispensational reading of Sinai in his notes at Genesis 12 and Exodus 20.
On the Reliability of the Old Testament
K. A. Kitchen · 2003
Kitchen sets the Sinai covenant and its renewals in Deuteronomy and Joshua 24 beside the treaties of the ancient Near East, part by part.
In print: find it wherever books are sold.
Where It Points
The covenant made at Sinai looks ahead to the covenant made in the blood of Christ.
Hebrews 9:19 to 20 recalls the day Moses sprinkled the scroll and all the people with blood, and quotes his words of Exodus 24:8.
Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.Hebrews places the ministry of Jesus where the covenant of Sinai had stood.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments.
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible.
- John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748 to 1763)
- John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (2003), the table of the Sinai covenant and its renewals, the table of treaty, law and covenant, and the pages on Mendenhall and Weinfeld.
- The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapter 7.
- C. I. Scofield, The Scofield Reference Bible (1917), the notes at Genesis 12 and Exodus 20.
Keep Studying
Read it6
Studies7
People and groups3
Doctrines14