The Covenant Agreement

Read Exodus 19-20 Then Exodus 23:20-24:18
 
Exodus 20:1-3 Then God gave the people all these instructions: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 You must not have any other god but me.”
 
FIRST, note the Chronological Bible moves past some chapters here. These will be included later as the editors combine certain laws into one place.
   Exodus 20:1-17 is God’s ten main commandments to the Jews. This is the formal beginning of the Law. We have been reading of God’s powerful revelations to the patriarchs in Genesis and now to Moses and Israel. His many nature-changing miracles, including the Flood, Isaac born in Abraham’s and Sarah’s old age and the plagues. Now he begins to command his authority over mankind’s sin nature that is prone to resist and reject him.
   God wants his nation’s love and worship. His will is that they love him with their minds and hearts – to know and desire his presence in their lives. And he wants Israel, his inheritance, to love each other with respect and kindness. The commandments point to these two purposes: to love God and to love one another.  
   God’s first command establishes his supremacy, “You must not have any other god but me.”  None of the law will be obeyed if Israel disobeys this one. The first sin was the temptation people could be as God – in other words, we could worship ourselves. Our sin nature since then automatically goes to worship everything but God. As we have seen in Israel’s mindset since they left Egypt, they have been quick to condemn any circumstance that challenges them. Having seen God act to free them, they still worship their own desires and abilities above the LORD.
   Now as the nation settles into what is supposed to be a direct, short journey to the Promised Land, God commands their full submission to him. He is above all other things. They must worship him only, never make any image of him and never speak his name vainly. Israel is to obey God through keeping the Sabbath, honoring their parents, holding life sacred, keeping their marriages, protecting each other’s possessions, telling the truth and being satisfied with their own possessions.
   There will be many more laws on worship and community administration. But these are foundational covenant conditions. If Israel cannot obey these ten, they will weaken and threaten God’s covenants with Adam to send a redeemer and with Abraham to form a great nation that will bless the world.    
   It is significant to note that before God writes these laws, he gives this promise: Exodus 19:5 “Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. 6 And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.”
   Israel is to be a theocracy. God is the law. He has given the first laws. They are non-negotiable. Will Israel accept their King’s decrees? Do you?