The Covenant journey from Exodus to Numbers in Old Testament

The covenant is the central motif in Jewish identity and consciousness, representing the unique relationship between the Jews and God. Although there are several instances during which the Jewish people engage in covenant with God, the most significant and momentous is the covenant God forms with Moses, who in turn communicates God's will to the Jewish people. As Boadt (1984) points out, the covenant is also significant from literary and historical perspectives because "all of biblical history may be called a theology of the covenant," (p. 174). The covenant represents a bilateral relationship and form of communication, a sort of mutually beneficial agreement in which both God and the Jewish people agree to specific behaviors that are expressions of mutual trust, love, and loyalty. Essentially, the covenant is a binding contract between God and the Jews, which outlines the parameters of the relationship and what is expected of both parties.

The central covenant in Exodus is by no means the first one God makes with a group of people but this covenant is nevertheless unique because of the way it solidifies the Jewish community and continues to do so thousands of years after it was forged. Coming on the heels of tremendous turmoil, the Exodus covenant helps the Jewish people to renew and recharge their faith. Unlike previous covenants extant in the ancient Near East, the Exodus covenant is apodictic and indisputable, far more binding and serious in nature than any other of its kind. The covenant is not only religious or spiritual in nature, but it is also political with direct social and economic impact on the people. With the covenant, the people are empowered and united under a common rubric. The Sinai covenant also differs from Hittite and other ancient Near Eastern covenants in its ability to permeate common law and not simply remain within the province of priests. The Pentateuch becomes law under the new covenant, solidifying Jewish cultural and political identity.

Preaching to Christians about the covenant outlined in Exodus can be tricky, but essentially entails contextualization. Far from being negative, the original Sinai covenant singularly expresses God's commitment to upholding His end of the bargain. Moreover, the covenant in Exodus shows how human beings can come to accept boundaries and rules as being beneficial for spiritual, social, and political development. The covenant is not simply about an economic exchange, for there is a spiritual component to it. Many aspects of the covenant remain outmoded and would be extremely anachronistic, and yet can be adapted to fit the constraints of the contemporary Christian world. Drawing from the Exodus story, a Christian preacher can show how God continually refreshes and revitalizes the relationship between Him and humanity. A covenant may be binding and apodictic, but it is also inevitably flexible. The covenant establishes new social norms, and also allows for new social norms to arise in order to strengthen the bonds between the spiritual and the mundane worlds.

Fulfilling the covenant does not require absolute obedience to the detailed words and laws. Instead, preachers need to distill the covenant to its essence, teaching Christians about the main purposes of a covenant and how a new covenant can be formed each and every day. Obeying God's will does not require mindless ascription to outdated laws but rather, an honest self-appraisal and willingness to do God's bidding. Audiences firmly grounded in the modern world but who need a stronger spiritual connection with God can learn a lot from studying the Hebrew Bible and its codified expressions of religious law. Placing the covenant into historical and cultural context shows that it is not the content of the covenant that matters, as much as the spirit of the agreement itself. Christians understand that Jesus negotiated a new contract, or a new covenant with God and will fully expect to heed the new covenant while also recognizing that it stemmed from these root traditions in the ancient Near East.

References

Boadt, L. (1984). Reading the Old Testament. New York: The Missionary Society.