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The Mosaic Covenant, Part I
Introduction & Background of the Covenant
Exodus 19:1-8
Read Exodus 19:1-8
Introduction
 Today we continue our study of the Divine Covenants God has entered into w/ mankind.
 Let me refresh your memory about a few of the things we’ve learned about the covenants
 A divine covenant, we learned some time back, is “an unchangeable, divinely imposed
legal agreement between God & man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship.”
 There are several divine covenants in Scripture, all of which form the basic framework by
which God chooses to relate to man & ultimately, to bring glory & honor to Himself.
 Our study of these covenants has taken us all the way back to the Garden of Eden where
the Lord entered into the Covenant of Works w/ man’s federal representative (Fig. 1)
 This covenant promised blessings for obedience & curses for disobedience; & when they
rebelled, they threw the entire world under the curse of sin that contaminates us today.
 But even in this dark moment in the history of the world, the grace of God is displayed,
b/c in the same passage that details God’s righteous judgment on the man, the woman,
the serpent & even the ground, hope for restoration came in the form of a prediction.
 In prophesying of the seed that would come from the woman which would cause enmity
between man & Satan, God revealed to sinful men a covenant that had been agreed upon
by the Triune Godhead before the foundations of the world were ever laid. (Fig. 2)
 This Covenant of Redemption, conditioned only upon the faithfulness of God, would
ensure that all three members of the Trinity would be actively involved in redeeming a
people that would be Holy & pure & brought into an intimate communion w/ Holy God
 Years later, God begins to make good on this promise by preserving this seed through a
man named Noah & his family during a worldwide flood that destroyed all life on earth
 After the floodwaters receded, God promised to never again destroy the world by water
& He sealed it w/ the rainbow; this is what is known as the Noahic Covenant (Fig. 3)
 Some years later, even after the world had once again turned their backs on God &
determined to make their own way of things, God remembered the promise of the seed &
made a covenant w/ Abram to preserve that seed & establish a chosen nation, Israel.
 This came to be known as the Abrahamic Covenant (Fig. 4) today, we look ahead about
430 years on the historical timeline to the next Covenant known as the Mosaic Covenant
 This covenant does not cancel out any of the promises of these prior covenants, but
through a progressive revelation, serves as divine a means of keeping these promises.
Introduction to the Covenant
 The Mosaic Covenant goes by different names; to some it is known as the Covenant of
Sinai; Paul & the author of Hebrews referred to it as the old covenant (II Corinthians
3:14; Hebrews 8:13) primarily b/c they were comparing it to the new covenant (Gospel)
 Some call it the 2nd Covenant of Works, Moses the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 24:7)
 At any rate, understanding the Mosaic Covenant is essential to understanding Exodus, the
Pentateuch, & the OT; & b/c many denominational differences we have today come from
different interpretations of this covenant1& how it relates to the Church, it’s worthy of att.
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Gentry, Peter J. The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. (Louisville, KY: The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Vol. 12, No. 3, Fall 2008), 38
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The heart of the Mosaic Covenant covers six chapters in Exodus (19-24); but it is
supplemented by the rest of the Pentateuch (Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy)
God graciously accommodates the people of Israel in His choice of the form of this
covenant b/c unlike any other divine covenant, this is one is given in a form that is similar
to a familiar man-made treaty of the ancient world known as a suzerainty treaty.
In the Middle East in these ancient times, this was a treaty that was commonly written up
between a superior & an inferior; it was typically a greater king and a lesser king; often,
after a great conquest or military victory of the superior king or nation, etc.
In this type of treaty, the inferior really had no say in what the stipulations of the treaty
would be; they only had the option to agree or disagree w/ the terms & conditions, but in
doing so, would have to deal with the positive & negative consequences of that decision.
Typically, in such a treaty, the superior would pledge to provide benevolent rule and
protection to a conquered people group in exchange for their loyalty & obedience.
The general format of this treaty are similar to the Mosaic Covenant in many ways
For example, this type of treaty usually began with a 1) historical introduction; it was a
review of the past relationship between the two parties (Exodus 20:1-2); you see that
same format briefly here in chapter 19 & also at the beginning of chapter 20 (20:1-2)
Another similarity was that this kind of treaty would generally consist of a 2) a statement
of obligations that both parties had toward one another; these were the terms &
conditions of the treaty that governed their relationship;
In the Mosaic Covenant, there are general terms & conditions found in chapter 20 (10
Commandments) as well as more detailed terms & conditions found in chapters 21-23
Finally, the covenant takes on a similar form to a suzerainty treaty 3) in a document
clause where we basically find the covenant formally ratified in a public ceremony.
The reason that the Mosaic Covenant is written this way was so that Israel would
understand it & so that God would be clearly defined as the superior & Israel the inferior
Today, by way of introduction, there are several features of the Mosaic Covenant that I
want to highlight that I pray will serve to guide us in our study together. (Fig. 5)
First of all, it’s important to note the participants in this Covenant: God & Israel.
The only reason we call it the Mosaic Covenant is b/c Moses served as mediator between
Holy God & Israel. Secondly, I want you to see the nature of this divine covenant
Unlike the covenants that God made w/ Noah & Abram, this covenant is conditional,
meaning that the fulfillment of the promises of the covenant depend on Israel’s obedience
For this reason, some have called the Mosaic Covenant a repeat of the Covenant of Works
We will see this more as we look next week at the “if/then” structure of this covenant
(Vs. 5-6) of this text; but let me give you one more unique feature about this covenant.
Thirdly, I want you to see the stipulations or terms & conditions of this divine
covenant.; this is the central feature of the Mosaic Covenant; the Law (Exodus 20-24)
In giving the Law to Israel, 1) God was establishing Israel as a distinct people group.
This is the purpose of the Mosaic Law. It was never meant to be a means of salvation; but
primarily, for the people of Israel, the Law of Moses was a means of consecration.
The Apostle Paul tells us that by the works of the Law, no flesh will be justified in His
sight (Romans 3:20); the Law was not given to Israel as a means of their salvation
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Instead, it was an administration of detailed written laws given to Israel to restrain their
sins (so that they would reflect the holiness of God to the world) and it would also serve
to point them to the Messiah2; every sacrifice required in the law foreshadowed Jesus
 The Law was given to them as a means of consecrating them; it was a means of setting
them apart for a Divine purpose, they were going to fulfill the promises made to Abram
 God told Abram that he & his descendents would be a blessing to others; ultimately, this
was fulfilled in the person & work of Jesus Christ (the preserved seed), but this promise
was to find a degree of fulfillment in the way that Israel related to God & to the world!
 By obeying God’s Law, the world around them would have noticed something different
 They could have been a channel of divine blessing to others, as God’s ambassadors; but
they failed, repeatedly disobeying the Law & blaspheming Him before the heathen.
 And so we see the weakness of the law; it could not offer man the ability to obey what it
demanded; it only condemned him for failing to come up to God’s Holy standard.
 So a new covenant was needed, a better one that gave man the ability to obey God.
 This is the glory of the new covenant; it’s the miracle of regeneration (the new birth).
 Through faith in Jesus, God would replace the repentant sinner’s heart of stone w/ a heart
of flesh; one that is sensitive to the Spirit’s leading; He would grant them the indwelling
presence of the Spirit who would guide them in truth & cause him to obey God’s law
 So the Law of Moses was not given to save the Israelites, likewise, it was not intended to
save us; instead, it serves to reveal our sinfulness to us (Romans 3:19-20)
 The Psalmist says that the Law of the Lord is perfect in restoring the soul (Ps. 19:11);
how is that? It serves as a mirror that we look at & see our depravity & how we come
short of God’s Standard (Romans 3:23); it reveals the hideous nature of sin (Romans
7:8-13); Paul said that through the commandment, sin would become utterly sinful.
 When you see the perfect Law of God, you cannot reduce sin as a mere mistake!
 So what purpose does the Law hold for Believers today? Paul says that the Law has
become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24).
 But the Law also reveals to us the Holiness of God; the Bible says that God is light and
in Him there is no darkness at all (I John 1:5); generally speaking, the law is a
reflection of the nature & will of the lawgiver3; the law is holy, as God is Holy, the law is
true & just as He is true & just, & it is the embodiment of His benevolence & kindness.
 So in giving the Law to Israel, God established them to distinctly represent Him to all!
 Next, 2) God promised to be their God, and they His people; this is how the Mosaic
Covenant would be used to fulfill the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant; God would
commit His own attributes to their well-being; and they would be His representatives.
 The final condition of this covenant comes in Israel’s response of 3) vowing to do all that
God required of them in the Law; which we know, historically, they failed to do.
 So let’s get into the text to see the setting & the background of the Mosaic Covenant.
I. The Setting of the Covenant (Vs. 1-2)
 Vs. 1-“In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on
that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.” ; now the month of the Exodus
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3
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology, 521
Towns, Elmer. A Theology for Today, 129
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was the first month of the Hebrew calendar year, so all of this takes place during the
Hebrew month called Sivan ‫;ןויִס‬
ָ which on our calendar, is sometime between May-June
So three months have passed since Israel has been delivered from Egypt; this miraculous
deliverance is recorded in the first eighteen chapters of Exodus in an incredible narrative
Nearly 400 years after God’s covenant w/ Abram, his descendents became slaves in the
land of Egypt, under the reign of Thutmose III (Ex. 1:8) who used the Israelites to build
cities for him (1:11), & the Bible says they began to grow in number, as God promised
Thutmose III is known by most historians as a military genius; he’s often been referred to
as the “Napoleon of Ancient Egypt”, he was a mighty king who made them prosperous
So thinking militarily about the size of the Hebrew people who lived in his land & fearing
that they would revolt, he decided not only to oppress them under the yoke of slavery, but
he also ordered the Egyptian midwives to kill all the Hebrew male babies that were born
This is where we see God’s Providence in action, for in the opening chapter of Exodus,
we read about the birth of a Hebrew boy that God protected from the wrath of Pharaoh.
80 years later, God used this little Hebrew boy named Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt
& into the Promised Land; Moses is an interesting OT figure, not only b/c of the role he
played in leading Israel out of Egypt, but also b/c he’s what we call a type of Christ
A Type of Christ is a prefigurement or foreshadowing of Jesus found in the OT; these are
people, events, & objects found in the OT that point us directly to the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are several ways in which Moses was a prefigurement of Jesus; 1) both were in
danger of death by the ruling power at birth; 2) both were mediators between God &
man; we’ll see Moses’ role as mediator very distinctly as we study this covenant further
So God used the first 80 years of Moses’ life to instruct & train him for the role that God
had for him; to lead the Israelites out of Egypt & into the Promised Land (Canaan)
The 1st 40 years of Moses’ life were spent in the courts of Pharaoh, later, Stephen says
that he was being educated in all of the ways of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22); this would
help him later in his dealings w/ Pharaoh & in pleading w/ him to let God’s people go.
The 2nd 40 years of Moses’ life was spent in self-imposed exile in Midian; after killing an
Egyptian slave master who was mistreating one of the Hebrews, Moses fled to Midian.
There, he met Jethro, who would later become his father-in-law; during his 40 years in
Midian, Moses learned to shepherd, which came in handy in leading Israel into Canaan.
It was while he was shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep that God appeared to him from
the burning bush (Ex. 3), and told him to go back to Egypt & free Israel from their bonds
Later, God told him the purpose of the Exodus; that He’d remembered the covenant He’d
made w/ Abram (Gen. 12), & that through Moses, He’d fulfill the covenant promises,
taking them out of Egypt, delivering them from bondage, redeeming them & taking them
to be His people, He would be their God & they would be His people (Exodus 6:2-9)
So the Mosaic Covenant does not in any way cancel out the promises that God made to
Abram; it was simply a means by which God would make good on those promises!
So when Moses returned to Egypt from Midian, there was a different Pharaoh in power,
Amenhotep II, who, probably did not sing as well as Yule Brenner, but this king was
openly hostile to non-Egyptians, as even the secular historians record for us about him.
We see his cruelty & hostility revealed to us in Scripture in his hard-heartedness towards
the Israelites; but God would use, even the wicked heart of this pagan king to display His
power & proclaim His name throughout all of the earth (Exodus 9:16; Romans 9:16-17)
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After a series of 10 catastrophic plagues which devastated the people & the land of
Egypt, Pharaoh finally lets the Israelites go, even showering them w/ gifts as they send
them on their way; but he changed his mind & gave chase, trying to bring them back; this
didn’t go well for him b/c both he & his army were crushed in the Red Sea (Ps. 136:15)
And here we are (Ex. 19), 3 months after Israel has left Egypt-after all of that-they’ve
reached the wilderness of Sinai-but don’t confuse the wilderness as being a thick forest.
The Hebrew term translated wilderness in the NAS ‫ ָר ְבדִמ‬simply means uninhabited landthis is a desert. It is a place that is not fit to live in! Rock, dirt…no AC (Fig. 6)
The northern region consists of dried up rivers, sand dunes, & fossil beaches; the central
region (or the plain) consists of limestone, & then southward, in the highlands region,
there is nothing but more limestone, granite, & volcanic rock & dirt! Not fit to live!
In reading about it this week, I came across a statement which defines this area well.
“Although the general conditions of the Sinai Peninsula are dry and hot with sparse
vegetation, it is not without life…There are several species of snakes and most are very
poisonous”4…This would probably not be the place you’d choose for a family getaway
Vs. 2-“When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and
camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain.”; the
exact location of Rephidim is unknown; the word means rests, stays or resting place.
This has led some to believe that it could have just been a place of rest before they came
to the foot of the mountain; at any rate, they would camp here for eleven months. Why?
Why would they stay in this desolate area for such a long time? B/c something big was
going to happen at Mt. Sinai; you see this in the way they prepared for it in chapter 19.
The people were told to wash their clothes; they were to refrain from physical intimacy
w/one another, and they were not allowed to even touch the mountain or they’d die!
Why? Not b/c there was anything special about the mountain; it was b/c God was there
You read the end of the chapter & you see that the mountain was covered in smoke, there
was thunder & lightning flashes all around, & the Lord descended on the mountaintop
in fire (Vs. 18); the smoke ascended like smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain
quaked violently…when Moses spoke to God, God answered him with thunder (Vs. 19)
God called Moses & told him to warn the people not to break through the boundaries that
they’d set at the foot of the mountain so that they could get a peak at God, lest they die!
You hear this kind of a description of an encounter with Almighty God & it makes you
second guess some of the nonsensical testimonies of Jesse Duplantis & others who say
that they’ve “seen God” or they commune w/ Him daily; yet they are still alive & fearless
What kind of depraved people are we, by the way, who would refer to such a God as “the
big guy upstairs”, call Him our co-pilot or some other blasphemous, irreverent statement
The Lord is a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24); He is a God to be feared; a God that sinners
should tremble at the feet of; He is a God who is furious against sin, a God of wrath
A.W. Pink: “Because God is holy, He hates all sin; and because He hates all sin, His
anger burns against the sinner.5” (Psalm 7:11); our God is a God that is to be feared.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7); the fear of the Lord
prolongs life (Proverbs 10:27); to fear God is the duty of every man (Eccl. 12:13) & not
adapted from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Sinai_Peninsula on 5.4.12
Pink, A.W. The Attributes of God, 35
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to fear Him is sin (Rom. 3:18); & when we know this fear of God, we will seek to
persuade men to flee the wrath that is to come ( Matthew 3:7; II Corinthians 5:11)
Conclusion
 So the stage is set; God has shown up & He’s about to do something miraculous.
 Next week, we will examine further, the elements of this covenant together.
 For today, let us remember that all of these divine covenants not only serve as the
framework by which He graciously chooses to relate to man; but they are also the way in
which God will ultimately bring glory & honor to Himself; Who is worthy of such glory?
 The Lord is worthy of such praise (Psalm 18:3); call upon Him today, for Great is the
Lord, and greatly to be praised (Psalm 48:1); let us honor the lamb that was slain!
 If you need to come & talk to me about anything today, come & do so at this time.
Closing Prayer