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After God through Moses delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt’s oppression and slavery, He brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai, where He made a covenant with them, the fifth covenant that He made with man (Exo. 20—23).
The One who made this covenant was the God who redeemed the children of Israel. When the children of Israel were under the tyranny and slavery of the Egyptians, God heard His people’s cry and came down to deliver them. Because Pharaoh would not allow the children of Israel to go out of Egypt, God through Moses sent ten plagues to punish the Egyptians. After the first nine plagues, the Egyptians, who were still hardened in their hearts, would not allow the children of Israel to go out from them. Therefore, God sent the tenth plague, through which He smote all the firstborn, in order to demonstrate His power and accomplish His saving way. He instructed the children of Israel that each household should prepare a lamb without blemish, kill it in the evening on the fourteenth day of the first month, and take its blood and put it on the upper doorposts and on the side posts, for the angel of Jehovah would go through the land at midnight and enter the houses which were not sprinkled with blood to smite the firstborn. Therefore, at midnight Jehovah slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, but He passed over the children of Israel, since the blood of the Passover lamb had been sprinkled on the upper doorposts and side posts of their houses (Exo. 12:1-14). Hence, Jehovah, the God of Israel, rescued them out of His judgment through the Passover.
Jehovah God not only delivered the children of Israel from His judgment through the Passover, but He also rescued them by His mighty hand from the Egyptians’ oppression that they might be delivered out of the tyranny of Pharaoh. First, God used His mighty hand to smite the firstborn of Egypt and thus subdue Pharaoh and the Egyptians so that Pharaoh drove the children of Israel out of Egypt (Exo. 12:31-33). Afterwards, when Pharaoh regretted and led an army to pursue after them, God used the pillar of cloud to separate the pursuing army and the children of Israel. Then God divided the water of the Red Sea with His mighty hand and led the children of Israel through the Red Sea. Finally, God used His mighty hand again to bury Pharaoh and his army under the water of the Red Sea (Exo. 14:5-9, 15-30). Therefore, it was with His mighty hand that Jehovah God rescued the children of Israel from Egypt, bearing them as on eagles’ wings and bringing them to Himself (Exo. 19:4).
Jehovah God led the children of Israel through the wilderness with the heavenly and spiritual provision. When the children of Israel came to the wilderness, God fed them with the manna sent from heaven (Exo. 16:14-35), supplied them with the living water from the cleft rock (Exo. 17:5-6), and bore them as on eagles’ wings (Exo. 19:4) that they might journey through the wilderness. The manna sent from heaven is a type of Christ as the heavenly food to God’s people (John 6:51) that they might become heavenly people. The living water from the cleft rock is a type of Christ becoming the Spirit (1 Cor. 10:4) to quench the thirst of God’s people for their satisfaction. The eagles’ wings signify the grace of God by which they went out of Egypt and journeyed through the wilderness. Therefore, it was by the supply of grace, by the provision of the heavenly food and the spiritual living water, that Jehovah God brought the children of Israel through the wilderness.
After the fall of Adam, God revealed the way of His redemption to man, showing him that he could not be justified by God by his own works and that only by offering the sacrifices with the shedding of blood could he be acceptable to God (Gen. 4:3-4). God revealed this way of redemption again to the children of Israel in the matter of their keeping the Passover. God also promised Abraham that his seed, that is, Christ, would be a blessing to the nations of the earth (Gen. 22:18). This is the grace of God’s promise. God told the children of Israel to build an altar for the offering of sacrifices and to build the tabernacle (Exo. 20:24; 25:8) that this grace might be fulfilled in type. Hence, through the tabernacle and the offerings, both of which typify Christ, they were blessed to enjoy God as their eternal portion. Through the tabernacle God could speak to them, lead them, and dwell among them (Exo. 29:42, 45; Lev. 1:1; Num. 1:1). Therefore, it was according to the way of His redemption and the promise of His grace that Jehovah God led and dwelt among the children of Israel.
When the children of Israel came to the foot of Mount Sinai, they had already kept the Passover, slain the lamb, put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, and eaten the meat of the lamb with the unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This is an indication that the children of Israel, having been redeemed by God, were no longer under God’s judgment.
The children of Israel had also been delivered out of Egypt by the power of God. They had crossed the Red Sea and had been rescued from the tyranny and slavery of Pharaoh. Moreover, Pharaoh and his pursuing army had been drowned and buried in the Red Sea by the mighty hand of God. Thus, the children of Israel had been delivered out of Egypt.
The children of Israel had been brought through the wilderness by God’s grace. They had received the supply of God’s grace, as signified by the tree that changed the bitter water into sweet (Exo. 15:23-25), by the twelve springs of water at Elim (Exo. 15:27), by the manna that came down from heaven (Exo. 16:14-15, 31-32, 35), by the living water that flowed out of the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6), and by the pillars of cloud and of fire (Exo. 13:21). Thus they had passed through the wilderness and arrived at Mount Sinai.
The children of Israel had kept the Passover and had been redeemed by God, they had been rescued out of Egypt by God’s power, and they had been brought through the wilderness by God’s grace. However, because of their blindness, they knew neither the grace of God nor themselves, thinking that they were able to keep God’s commands by themselves. Therefore, at Mount Sinai God made a covenant with those who did not know themselves, the fifth covenant that He made with man.
All the way to Mount Sinai the children of Israel truly enjoyed God’s redemption, His powerful deliverance, and the leading of His grace. Therefore, God called to Moses from the mountain, saying, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Exo. 19:4-6). When they heard these words of grace, they should have asked God to continue to deal with them in grace and to take care of them in everything. However, they neither knew the grace of God nor respected or trusted in the grace of God.
The children of Israel did not know the grace of God. Not only so, they did not know that they were fallen, that they were idolatrous (Ezek. 20:7-8), that they had an evil heart of unbelief (Exo. 14:10-12), and that they often murmured (Exo. 16:2-3). Because they did not know their corruption, weakness, and inability to keep Jehovah’s commands, they answered Him, saying, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do” (Exo. 19:8). Hence, God immediately changed His attitude toward them and also caused a change in the atmosphere. He told Moses that He would come in a thick cloud. He also charged the people to sanctify themselves, to wash their clothes, and to observe the boundary, not to go up into the mount, nor touch the border of it, for whoever would touch the mount would surely be put to death. On the third day in the morning, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceedingly loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled (Exo. 19:7-16). This was the result of the children of Israel’s not knowing themselves; this was also the background against which God made a covenant with them.
The basic content of this covenant is the law. God gave the law to the children of Israel as a covenant that He made with them and through which He also revealed Himself to them. In the enactment of laws there is an important principle: the kind of law a person makes expresses the kind of person that he is; a law is always a revelation of what kind of person has enacted that law. This principle applies even more appropriately to God Himself. Therefore, through the law, the children of Israel were able to know what kind of God He is. Hence, the law testifies for God and is called the testimony of God in the Old Testament (Num. 17:4; Exo. 32:15; 25:16, 22; 38:21; Psa. 19:7; 119:88).
The contents of the law are divided into three big items: commandments, statutes, and ordinances (Deut. 30:16; 1 Kings 2:3; cf. Exo. 15:25-26).
The commandments, as God’s basic commands, are the general principles of the law. There are ten commandments (Exo. 20:2-17). The first commandment is that Jehovah God is the only God and that man should have no other gods besides Him. This reveals that God is singularly one, without mixture. The second commandment is that man should not make for himself graven images nor worship or serve them. The reason for this is that Jehovah God is a jealous God, visiting the iniquity on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Him, but showing lovingkindness to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. This tells us that God is jealous, righteous, and, even more, merciful and loving. The third commandment is that man should not take the name of Jehovah God in vain. This shows that God is holy and that we should sanctify His name (Matt. 6:9). The fourth commandment is that man should remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, for the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah God. The Sabbath is a sign of God’s holiness, of His separation, indicating that God is holy, separate. The fifth commandment is that man should honor his father and mother, that his days may be long in the land which Jehovah God has given him. This shows that God as the source of love desires to bestow blessings on man. The sixth commandment says, “Thou shalt not kill”; the seventh, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”; and the eighth, “Thou shalt not steal.” These three commandments reveal that God is merciful and loving and that He is also righteous, not permitting man to inflict injury on another person’s physical body, wife, or possessions. The ninth commandment says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” This reveals that God is truthful and full of light; with Him there is no falsehood nor darkness. The tenth commandment says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.” This indicates that God is pure; man covets because he is not pure.
The Ten Commandments are divided into two groups of five. In the first group the sacred title “Jehovah thy God” is used with respect to each commandment. But with the second group, the name of Jehovah is not mentioned even once. Hence, the use of God’s name is a determining factor in reckoning the arrangement of the Ten Commandments. The fifth commandment, concerning the honoring of parents, is ranked with the first four commandments, related to God Himself. This is because when we honor our parents, we honor our source, which ultimately is God Himself. In Luke 3 the human generations are traced all the way back to Adam, and then to God. Therefore, God is the source, the origin, of the human race. In brief, the significance of the first five commandments is that we should love Jehovah God the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind; the significance of the latter five is that we should love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt. 22:36-40).
The statutes, or laws, regulations, set forth, explain in detail, and supplement the ten basic commandments. Their stress is on man’s worship and service to God and on the rituals and regulations related to man’s relationship with God. To illustrate, Exodus 20:22-26 sets forth the prohibition against making idols and the regulations regarding the building of an altar for the worship of God; Leviticus 1 through 7 explain in detail the way to present offerings to God.
“Ordinances” literally means “verdicts,” or “judgments.” Ordinances are statutes with verdicts, or judgments, and by extension, (judgmental) rules, ordinances (Exo. 21:1). These also set forth, explain in detail, and supplement the ten basic commandments. The emphasis is on the verdicts that concern the relationships between man and others and between man and God, as recorded in Exodus 21:1—23:19.
Verses 12-14 and 18-32 of chapter twenty-one set forth the sixth commandment, which says, “Thou shalt not kill”; they explain the particular commandment in detail, supplement it, and give the verdict concerning it. Verses 15 and 17 of the same chapter set forth the fifth commandment, which says, “Honor thy father and thy mother,” and give the verdict concerning it. Verses 1-6 of chapter twenty-two give a detailed explanation and the verdict concerning the eighth commandment on not stealing; verses 7-15, concerning the tenth commandment on not coveting; verses 16-17 and 19, concerning the seventh commandment on not committing adultery; 22:18 and 20 and 23:13, concerning the first and second commandments on not having other gods and not serving the images; and 23:1-3 and 6-8, concerning the ninth commandment on not bearing false witness. Verse 12 of chapter twenty-three sets forth the fourth commandment on keeping the Sabbath and gives the verdict concerning this matter.
God’s original intention was to deal with the children of Israel according to grace. However, they did not know themselves and they did not trust in God’s grace. Hence, God began to deal with them according to the law, that through the law the offense might abound (Rom. 5:20a), that is, that their offense might be made manifest, so that they might know that they were not able to keep God’s commands and thus might know their own corruption, weakness, and inability. Without the law, man does not know what sin is, but when the law is present, man knows not only what sin is but also what sins he has committed (Rom. 7:7), for by law man has the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20) and of his own corruption. Thus the law causes every mouth to be stopped that all the world may become subject to the judgment of God.
God made the covenant with the children of Israel for the purpose of guarding and shutting up God’s chosen people, as the sheepfold guards the flock (John 10:1). On a ranch, most of the time the sheep remain in the pasture, not in the fold. The fold is merely a temporary place, but the pasture is a permanent place for them to stay. It is only at night or during winter, when the green pasture is not available, that the sheep are guarded and protected in the fold. In the same manner, before Christ came, God’s chosen people were temporarily guarded and shut up under the law (Gal. 3:23) that they might be kept until Christ came.
The law also became the child-conductor of the children of Israel unto Christ (Gal. 3:24). In ancient times, a child-conductor was one who cared for a child under age and conducted him to the schoolmaster. In like manner, the law, as a custodian, a guardian, a child-conductor, was to watch over God’s chosen people before Christ came, and to escort and conduct them to Christ when He did come, that they might believe into Him and be saved by Him.
Therefore, God gave the law in order to cause the offense of the children of Israel to abound that they might know sin, to guard and shut them up, and to bring them to Christ. To illustrate, suppose an Israelite sinned. According to the law, he must be condemned and even be put to death, since the law exposed his sin and condemned him. However, by offering the trespass offering on the altar through the priests he could be forgiven. This shows that the law first exposes man and then brings man to Christ. When man is exposed and condemned by the law, he knows that he must bring to the altar the offerings, which typify Christ, that his sins may be forgiven. Therefore, the purpose of God in giving man the law is to expose and condemn man that he may be brought to Christ.
Exodus 24:4-5 says, “And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill....And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord.” God did not give the law that His people might keep it. Therefore, He did not ask them to swear that they would keep the law; rather, He told Moses to build an altar and to offer sacrifices. The altar and the sacrifices indicate that they could not keep God’s law; they needed to be redeemed, and they also needed to be terminated and replaced by the sacrifices.
The burnt offering signifies that Christ lived a life on earth that was absolutely for God, offering Himself without blemish and spot to God to fully satisfy God’s desire. The peace offering signifies that Christ shed His blood and died for man to become the peace between man and God, that God may have harmony and fellowship with man and that God and man may enjoy peace together. Originally, the law contained in this covenant was for man to keep God’s commandments that God might be satisfied and that man might have harmony with God to enjoy peace with Him. However, because man was unable to keep God’s commandments, he needed Christ to be the burnt offering and the peace offering. For this reason, when this covenant was made, Moses built an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, which typify Christ.
Exodus 24:6 says, “And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.” This blood came from the sacrifices offered on the altar. Moses also sprinkled the blood on both the book of the covenant itself and on all the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded to you” (Heb. 9:19-20; Exo. 24:8). To sprinkle the blood was to use the redeeming blood to cover the book of the covenant and those who received the book, satisfying the requirement of the book toward those who received it, so that those who received the book and violated it would not be condemned. The sprinkling of the blood also caused those who received the book to be redeemed and freed from the requirement and condemnation of the book. This indicates that at the time the covenant was made, because God knew that the children of Israel, who received the covenant, would break the words of the covenant, He prepared Christ’s redemption for them.
Before the covenant was consummated, the children of Israel, who were to receive the covenant, made a golden calf and worshipped it (Exo. 32:1-6), violating the first three commandments of the covenant. Thus, the tablets of the covenant were broken before they were delivered (Exo. 32:19). This shows that before the covenant was consummated it was broken; this also indicates man’s inability to keep the covenant. Therefore, before He delivered the tablets of the covenant, God first revealed to the people who would receive the covenant how they should draw near to God through the tabernacle and the offerings (Exo. 25—31).
After the consummation of the covenant, the children of Israel, who received the covenant, disobeyed all the commandments, statutes, and judgments of the covenant throughout their generations. Thus, they were cursed and punished by God. Therefore, God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt” (Jer. 31:31-32). The covenant being impossible because of the weakness of man (Rom. 8:3), God promised to make a new covenant with the children of Israel. Thereafter, the covenant of law which He previously made with them became the old covenant. “Now that which is becoming old and growing decrepit is near to disappearing” (Heb. 8:13).
Among the children of Israel who received the covenant, some became the just men who were made perfect by God in the Old Testament (Heb. 12:23). These just men, such as David, Samuel, and the prophets in the Old Testament, were kept and shut up by the covenant and brought to the way of God’s redemption, being accepted and blessed by God.
When God through Moses delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, the land of bondage, and brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai, He made a covenant with them, the fifth covenant that He made with man. They had kept the Passover and had been redeemed by God, they had been rescued out of Egypt by God’s power, and they had been brought through the wilderness by God’s grace. However, not knowing themselves, they thought they were able to keep God’s commands by themselves. Therefore, through Moses, God decreed the law, which was enacted according to what He is, in order to expose their offense that they might know sin, and to guard and shut them up that they might be brought to Christ. The contents of the law are divided into the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances. The commandments, as God’s basic commands, are the general principles of the law. There are ten commandments. The statutes set forth, explain in detail, and supplement the ten basic commandments; their stress is on man’s worship and service to God and on the rituals and regulations pertaining to man’s relationship with God. The ordinances, which are statutes with verdicts, or judgments, also set forth, explain in detail, and supplement the ten basic commandments; the emphasis is on the verdicts that concern the relationships between man and others and between man and God. This covenant was consummated by the offering of burnt offerings and peace offerings and by the sprinkling of the blood of sacrifices on the book of the covenant and on the people. Because God knew that they would break the words of the covenant, He prepared the sacrifices, which typify Christ, that they might be redeemed and have harmony with God to enjoy peace with Him. The result of making the covenant was that before the consummation of the covenant they worshipped the golden calf and thus broke the covenant. Moreover, after the consummation of the covenant, they disobeyed all the commandments, statutes, and judgments of the covenant throughout their generations. However, there were some just men who were perfected by God and who were kept and shut up by the covenant and were thus brought to the way of God’s redemption.
