When was the last time you were really hurt? How long did you take to forgive this person? In this study, we’re going to see how God responds to being wronged and spurned by a people that He set His affections towards.
(A) Covenant Design: A Conduit for God’s Glory (Exo 34:10-11)
Let’s take a look at the relationship between God and His people leading up to this passage.
How should we understand this idea of covenant? A covenant is a promise between two or more parties to perform certain actions. It is sometimes made between a King and his subjects, like in Exo 34. This was God’s covenant – dictated and promised, not negotiated (Exo 34:10a). God is the one who makes the covenant (Exo 34:27); it is therefore God-centric and not man-centric. There is also urgency and importance in the language that God uses i.e. “behold” and “observe”. This was a call to pay attention. These seem to be grand words, but they’re simultaneously a command and an invitation to God’s people to participate in this covenant.
How does this covenant in Exo 34 differ from the covenant in Exo 19? In both passages, God desires for His people to obey Him. The manner in which both were made were similar – Moses communed with God and He gave it.
But both differed on the basis of the covenant. The earlier covenant was established on the basis of what God had done in delivering Israel out of slavery in Egypt. The emphasis of the ‘new’ covenant is on what God will do (Exo 34:10b-11) in giving Israel the promised land of Canaan. The miracles and plagues that God did in Egypt mirror the marvels that God says he will do through his people (Exo 34:10b). It is about God doing for Israel what she cannot do for herself. Above all, God is to be glorified, and all who are around God’s people shall witness the awesome work and glory of God (Exo 34:10c).
God’s plan was to glorify Himself to all the nations through Israel, and through the great things that He would do among them. From Joshua and the walls of Jericho to Jesus of Nazareth and the Cross. It is through the covenant people of God through which God’s awesome work and glory are displayed for all to see.
(B) Covenant Mandate: A People Set Apart from the Nations (Exo 34:12-26)
God also provided a warning in Exo 34:12-16. Israel is not to covenant to any form or degree with any of the other nations. This was in case they fall into a trap and have their loyalties and attention divided. When this happens, they’d compromise the covenant relationship that they have with God. In their case, the example given is that of intermarriage. God is warning them against making the same mistake.
What are some modern-day examples of covenants that could trip up Christians? Some of us struggle with time. Society tells us that being busy means we’re successful. The most successful people are super busy, and as a result, we give ourselves to our work and we could covenant with it in the hope of success. We covenant with societal indicators of success, which promise us a sense of security and accomplishment. We covenant with our identities, which promise us a sense of self-worth. We covenant with our bodies, either by feasting and drinking, which promises us pleasure, or by spending hours in the gym, which promises us self-affirmation.
Nobody walks into a trap knowingly. Yet all these are our covenants with the inhabitants of this land. With society. With culture. With what our families and friends expect of us or tell us is ok. All of these things that direct our attention away from God, from relying on Him, from ascribing glory to Him, from being grateful to Him – all these things direct our attention inward at ourselves. My needs, my life, my pleasure. How often are we distracted and desirous of worldly things instead of being desirous of God?
Is it any surprise that God would be angry and jealous for His name in the face of such behavior by His people? The covenant between God and Israel is exclusive. In the context of a relationship, God is desirous of our attention and worship.
How should we rightly understand God’s jealous nature? It is certainly not envy and God is most certainly not insecure. But yet God discloses this as one of His names. His jealousy is for His own name and for His own glory. His jealousy is a righteous anger at having His mercy and favour scorned by an unfaithful people. Like a King who has taken a slave for His bride, raised her up and made her a queen, and yet have her turn away from Him to lesser things. Remember what just transpired with the golden calf. “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal” (Exo 34:17).
The curious thing is, God’s jealousy is actually of great comfort to those of us who are in Him – the jealousy of God for his name should be our great comfort and great hope.
God refers to Himself as one “whose name is Jealous” (Exo 34:14). Now this is not envy. God is also not insecure. In verses like Isa 42:8, Eze 39:25, God’s jealousy is for His own name and glory. It’s also having a righteous anger, for his mercy is being scorned by these people. God’s jealousy is a comforting thing for those who follow and obey Him. He is so jealous for His name that He will act and protect it.
The commands of the Law were given for Israel’s obedience. Not a single one was to the detriment of their well-being. They were also meant to orientate God’s people towards worship of Him in every aspect of their lives - we see this in the consecration of the firstborn (acknowledging God’s sovereignty and remembering the Passover), observing the ceremonial feasts and offering of firstfruits (remembering God’s provision), observing the sabbath (acknowledging God’s provision and resting in Him).
What is commanded in Ex 34 is less comprehensive than Ex 20-24 or all that is in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. But the point is the same as above – God’s people must be set apart from others in the areas of worship (Exo 34:14), politics (Exo 34:15a), fellowship (Exo 34:15b), and marriage (Exo 34:16).
(C) Covenant Grace: A Broken Relationship Restored through an Intermediary (Exo 34:27-28)
These commands were given to show them how to live differently. This involved unlearning years of Egyptian life and life as an Egyptian slave. Instead, they had to learn what living as God’s people would look like. They seem to require orienting their entire lives around God. Even their celebrations and feasts were to be about God. It’s God no matter where they turned – doing work, living, harvesting, when they’re happy or sad.
Israel was to be separate. They were not to live like the nations and not to engage in political pacts. They were not to marry the people of other nations. It is a comprehensive setting apart.
Thus, God commanded Moses to write down the commands in Exo 34:10-26 as confirmation of the covenant. He also rewrote the Ten Commandments on the new stone tablets to replace those which Moses had broken. God’s covenant was made and given to His people in writing.
Notice also how God chose to reestablish his covenant through a human intermediary (Exo 34:27b), Moses, whom God communed with for forty days and forty nights on Mt Sinai. This was nothing short of a miraculous communion, given that (i) Moses was sustained in God’s presence without bread nor water; and (ii) Moses’ face would physically reflect the glory of God when he descended from the mountain (next week’s study).
But, what does it mean for us today? How should we make sense of the Mosaic covenant in light of what Jesus has done? Perhaps we are like the Israelites – we know what we ought to do, but we don’t.
True to His character (c.f. Exo 34:6-7), we see God’s mercy in reconciling sinners to Himself play out in the renewal of the covenant in Exo 34, just as it played out in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. This pattern of actions is consistent throughout Scripture. The OT God and NT Jesus are one and the same. Passages like Ex 34 show us how God restores what is broken and foreshadows the forgiveness and restoration that was to come in Christ.
While the Mosaic covenant was a temporary but necessary guardian, in Jesus, who actually lived under and fulfilled the Mosaic covenant, we have God’s promise of a new and better covenant in the very Person of God Himself. This is not a covenant that is written on stones. This new covenant was established by the Father through the mediatory work of the Son and written on our hearts by the Spirit (c.f. Eze 36:26-27; Luke 22:20, also Heb 8:6, 9:15).
The covenant is God’s promise to us that He will do what He has said He will do. If it were just a command for us to live righteously, then it would require keeping on our own effort. But because it is a promise of eternal life sealed by covenant, then we can find rest and assurance in whatever Jesus has promised to do. By his perfect life, death and resurrection, He has done what we could not do for ourselves. By the giving of His Holy Spirit, he will help us do what we cannot on our own strength. Under the New Covenant, we enjoy a permanent, unbroken relationship with God.
God will restore and do what He said He will do. Do you believe It? Do you know what God’s word says? What other covenant(s) have you made, or been tempted to make with the ‘inhabitants of the land’ (i.e. our prevailing cultural/traditional/societal norms)?