The
covenant "I have made" of Exodus 34:27
Covenant, Exodus 34, Mt. Sinai, Moses, forty days,
Horeb, Israel, tablets, words of the covenant
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Once Moses realized what Israel did in the episode
of the golden calf he fell to the ground and begged the Creator not to
destroy Israel (Deu 9:18, Ex 32:10-14). He was still pleading for
Israel after this when he went back up Mount Sinai to get the replacement
tablets (Ex 34:9, Deu 10:1-4). The conversation on that 40-day
occasion included Exodus 34:27.
Exodus 34:27 'Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write
these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant
with you and with Israel"'.
Is God talking about yet another covenant here. Did He impose
upon Israel another covenant to which they never agreed? Or was He simply reinforcing with Moses the
importance of doing what Moses and Israel had already agreed in Exodus 24? Below are quotes from the Creator’s
statements in Exodus 34 followed by similar statements from the Sinai covenant. It seems
apparent that His instruction in Exodus 34 is repeating the earlier terms of
the Sinai covenant.
34:12 "Take heed to yourself, lest you
make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it
be a snare in your midst."
Ex
23:32 "You shall make no covenant
with them, nor with their gods."
34:13
"But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred
pillars, and cut down their wooden images"
23:24
"You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do
according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely
break down their sacred pillars."
34:14
"(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose
name is Jealous, is a jealous God),"
20:3 "You shall have no other gods before
Me. :5ab
"you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your
God, am a jealous God"
34:15
"lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land,
and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods,
and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice,"
See above:
this is additional instruction warning against serving and/or
involvement in the works of other gods.
It is simply a continuation of verse 14 with a connection to verse 12
as well.
34:16 "and you take of his daughters for
your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your
sons play the harlot with their gods."
23:33 "They shall not dwell in your land,
lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will
surely be a snare to you."
34:17 "You shall make no molded gods for
yourselves."
20:23 "You shall not make anything to be
with Me––gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves."
(Although molded gods were not specifically mentioned, it is fairly obvious
they were forbidden in principle.
Likely due to the sin of the golden calf specific mention was made
here of molded gods.)
34:18 "The Feast of Unleavened Bread you
shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in
the appointed time of the month of Abib; for in the
month of Abib you came out from Egypt."
23:15 "You shall keep the Feast of
Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded
you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib,
for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);"
34:19 "All that open the womb are Mine,
and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep."
22:29 "You shall not delay to offer the
first of your ripe produce and your juices. The firstborn of your sons you
shall give to Me. 30 "Likewise you shall do with your oxen and your
sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall
give it to Me."
34:20 "But the firstborn of a donkey you
shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall
break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none
shall appear before Me empty–handed."
See
23:15 above and Ex 13:13 "But every firstborn of a
donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you
shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall
redeem." (Although redeeming is not specifically recorded in Exodus
20-23, Exodus 22:29-30 establishes the firstborn as belonging to God. Earlier precedent in Exodus 13:13, established how that would typically be handled.)
34:21 "Six days you shall work, but on the
seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest."
Ex
20:9 "Six days you shall labor and do all
your work, 10 but the seventh day is
the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: 23:12
"Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest,
that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and
the stranger may be refreshed."
34:22 "And you shall observe the Feast of
Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the
Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.
23 "Three
times in the year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the LORD God of
Israel. 24 "For I will cast out the nations
before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land
when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year."
23:16 "and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the
field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have
gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 "Three times in the year all
your males shall appear before the Lord GOD."
34:25 "You shall not offer the blood of My
sacrifice with leaven, nor shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover
be left until morning."
23:
18 "You shall not offer the blood of My
sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until
morning." Ex 12:10 ‘You shall let none of
it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn
with fire." (Although the handling of the Passover sacrifice was
not specifically mentioned in Exodus 20-23 the expected procedure was
recorded earlier)
34:26 "The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of
the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk."
23:19 "The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house
of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk."
Also see 22:29 above.
According to Galatians 3:15, one does not normally
amend or annul a covenant. However, Israel broke the Sinai covenant beyond repair.
Yah evidently didn’t feel bound by that covenant since He seriously considered
destroying them. That covenant confirmed in Exodus 24 was still important
even though Israel was not up to its full expectation. Yah still wanted
it respected. He was not asking them to do anything to which they had not
already agreed. Another covenant with the same terms would have been redundant
and serve no purpose.
The early chapters of Deuteronomy rehearse the
important events of Israel's journey from the time they left Egypt until the
day Moses spoke the words of Deuteronomy.
Particularly chapters nine and ten cover this occasion when Moses met
with the Creator on Mount Sinai. There
is no indication there or anywhere else that another covenant was made with
Israel on Moses second 40-day stay on Mount Sinai. The only prior covenant referred to in
Deuteronomy is His Covenant that was made with the Patriarchs (Deu 8:18) and Israel in Exodus 20-24 (Deu
4:12-13, 23)
When the Covenant of Exodus 20-24 was made, the
basic if not the detailed terms were rehearsed with Israel at least three
times (Ex 19:7-8, 24:3, 7). It is
likely they knew the terms even before this (Ex 16:28). Great effort was put forth to make sure
they knew the terms. This also gave
opportunity to ask questions or seek clarification. This approach has nothing in common with a
covenant being imposed on a people without their even hearing the terms or
having a chance to understand or affirm their agreement, which must have been
the case if Exodus 34:27 is talking of a third covenant. Imposing a covenant on someone is out of
character with the God of Israel.
Therefore, it seems apparent that Exodus 34:27 and
the terms mentioned beginning in verse 12 are simply reinforcing the
importance of continuing with the original agreement, at least until the
covenant that was in the making (verse 10) was finalized and confirmed. "according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel"
Exodus 34:10 is a direct response to verse 9. “Then he said, "If now I have found
grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we
are a stiff–necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us
as Your inheritance." ” (Ex 34:9)
Verse 10 explains how the Creator will deal with
this stiff-necked people. He plans to
“make a covenant”. "And
he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels,
such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the
people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a
terrible thing that I will do with thee." Verse 27 documents the fact that one
covenant was already made. That was done in Exodus 24. So another covenant is coming. Deuteronomy contains an account of another
covenant being confirmed. It follows
that the covenant being ‘made’ in Exodus 34:10 is the covenant that
was confirmed in Deuteronomy.