This paper was my first paper written for my Master in Ministry at Andersonville Theological Seminary on the Old Testament in the semester of 2020. It is a 2-year program. The introduction was provided by the professor as an option to use as a kickoff. I accepted it. I graduated August 26th, 2022.
Introduction
While the Jewish priests served God and the people of Israel based upon the Mosaic Covenant, which was a temporary conditional covenant, the prophets of Israel served God based upon the Palestinian Covenant, an eternal unconditional covenant that required repentance from sin in order to receive God’s blessing.
The Mosaic Covenant
God established The Mosaic Covenant after Moses delivered the people of Israeli from slavery in Egypt. After God’s divine intervention, Israel transformed through His glorious deliverance and received blessings from their enemy such as jewels of silver and gold, raiment, and gave favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. Since Israel had been under the cruel authority of the Pharaoh and had to abide by Egyptian laws, God gave the Israelites The Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai that became known as The Mosaic Covenant or The Law of Moses. It was designed infallibly to bring Israel into a Holy relationship with God and as a continuous reminder of the promises made to Abraham. Eugene H. Merrill wrote,
“to provide and his offspring with a land, worldwide fame, and the opportunity to be a tool He would use to impact the world,”.[1]
The requirements of The Law of Moses, which are the acts of obedience, mandates that one must abide by the law to receive God’s conditional blessings. It is accompanied with faith and seeking guidance from God. The Ten Commandments embodies the “meta-ethical divine command theory of ethics.”[2] During their journey, the requirements according to The Mosaic Covenant, decreed that Yahweh’s people separate themselves from the pagan nations. This separation protected them from the harshness of the world that they would encounter. This protection could only be achieved by being victorious over the enemy through God’s intervention.
The obedience and fellowship to God became the gateway to the conditional covenant to receive God’s blessings. As the Israelites journeyed towards The Promised Land, they remained as a nomadic tribe for 40-years because of their disobedience to God. God denied their entrance into The Promised Land because they continued to break the agreement that they promised God that they would follow.
Before The Ten Commandments, the Semite tribal community practiced sin offerings. Sin offerings required the offering of blood as redemption for sin and for peace by slaughtering an animal. It failed to remove the sins of rebellion that the people continued to practice against God. He made His covenant clear on Mount Sinai through the scripture in Exodus 19: 5 -6.
“‘Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people: for the earth is mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”[3]
After God sealed His promise, the people of Israel agreed to His statutes. He had given them The Ten Commandments to live by in Holy and civil order with God, within the community, and among foreigners.
The Ten Commandments, the heart of the Mosaic Covenant[4], terms were the following; paraphrasing from Exodus 20: 3-17 and Deuteronomy 5: 6-2, required the Israelites to avoid living in wickedness and being blameless.
1. I am the Lord, Your God
- Follow no other gods
- Do not take God’s name in vain
- Remember the Sabbath
- Honor your father and mother
- Shall not murder
- Shall not commit adultery
- Shall not steal
- Shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
- Shall not covet your neighbor’s house (all of their household)
The Mosaic Law defined the standard of righteousness. It exposed and identified sin. It revealed God’s holiness accompanied by the moral, civil, and ceremonial-religious laws. The divine law of God are interwoven into the natural laws of the world. Since God is the creator of nature and nations, the natural laws function in the free-will realm of right or wrong. It reaffirmed the covenant of Israel with the introduction of God’s Decalogue demanding a holy relationship. To be obedient means, to have the internal knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. In nature, people already know what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, to imitate God, the Israelite people’s lifestyle of righteousness would be considered normal. God put into law the Commandments to govern His people. By God giving them these Commandments, then God’s laws should become normal. The laws are based on obedience by following God’s laws, the people are His servants and The Mosaic Law becomes the norm. The uniqueness of the laws highlights some important terms with underlying principals according to The Bible Almanac which listed as:
- All crimes ultimately crimes against God
- Total submission to God
- National responsibility, individual responsibility
- Respect for human life, equitable penalties, personal punishment
- Universal justice [5]
The Holiness Code (Leviticus 17 – 26) and The Deuteronomic Code (Deuteronomy 12 – 26) were established to help to fulfill the law.
God, through divine intervention, gave Moses The Ten Commandments to deliver to His people, and as their prophet, he instructed them to obey the Commandments. He received strict requirements concerning the priests, sacrifice, and tabernacle. God anointed a priestly lineage from The Tribe of Levi, who was the descendant of Jacob and Leah, from The Twelve Israelite Tribes. The Levitical tribe consisted of the descendants of Kohath, Gershon, and Merari (Genesis 46: 11). Aaron, a descendant of Kohath, was the first high priest of the covenant who attained the highest degree of ceremonial purity (Exodus 30: 30). The sons of Aaron were anointed as the only priestly lineage. However, they had less ceremonially responsibilities than the high priest. They had to be sanctified and consecrated before they could be in the presence of the Lord and perform sacrifices. It was incumbent upon the priests to help the people understand the meaning of the Law by reading the and teaching the Torah and the meaning of sacrifice during the feast of Day of Atonement (Yum Kippur).
It was the responsibility of each person to obey the commandments of God and as collective tribal members, the nation could remain in Holy fellowship with God. To guard the divine law, each Levitical tribe had laborious duties that only they could perform, throughout the years until the building of the first temple (period of 1000 BC, built by King Solomon). The Kohathites transported the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle furniture while they journeyed through the wilderness and into The Promised Land. The vessel carried the glorious presence of God and the Tablets of The Ten Commandments. When it was time to set up camp, the Kohathites settled on the Southside of the tabernacle. The Merarites and Gershonites assisted the Kohathites with the care and services of the tabernacle during their temporary settlement.
The Merarites’ tribal tasks were to carry tabernacle frames, pillars, and hardware. They squatted on the Northside of the tabernacle. The Gershonites’ tribal duty was to transport the tabernacle, tents, coverings, hanging, and cords for the door, court, and gate. They squatted on the Westside of the tabernacle. Although the Kohathites descendants were assigned to be the anointed priestly lineage through the seed of Aaron, they assisted God in the physical tasking and spiritual teaching so that God could dwell with His chosen people which also required the sacrifice of the body to honor His Name (Shem, Hebrew[6]).
The Levite tribes honored God through their physical labor. The Levitical priests, Kohathites, stood between the people and God by administrating sacrifices. God defined what sacrifices He would accept and which one He would reject. He established identifying markers for acceptable animal sacrifices. In the story of Cain, his sacrificial offering was rejected. It represented rebellion, which was associated with disobedience. Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable because it was associated with obedience. God’s terms and conditions for sacrificial offerings never change. The sacrifices represented a communion that stated an agreement of fellowship with the Lord. It identifies a way of God to separate His people from the world of pagans. As with the sacrificial animals, they were separated from the imperfect animals. But the truth was, they could not separate themselves from the God of their Patriarchs. Historians stated:
“that the real antecedents of Israelites faith were to be sought rather among the nomad Patriarchs, who had practiced a form of religion centering in the god of the head of the clan (‘The God of Abraham’, ‘the God of Isaac’, ‘the God of Jacob’).”[7]
The descendants of Ishmael practiced sacrificial rituals because of their father, Abraham. However, God appointed and anointed the Levitical priests to oversee and witness the sanctification through blood and bloodless offerings to redeem and restore Israel from individual sins and national sins. This priestly anointing was promised only through the descendants of Isaacs (father of Jacob). The Levitical priesthood, identified with a special robe, originally given to Aaron as a High Priest was passed to his son, Eleazar, after his death (Numbers 20:25-28). Besides transporting and securing the vessel, the priests presided at the Day of Atonement (Yum Kippur), where they performed a sin offering by sprinkling blood from a sacrificial goat onto the mercy seat for the death penalty and releasing a goat from the camp to represent the scapegoat.
Their cultural identity, as Jewish priests, can be traced to their Aaronic roots. But, throughout Jewish history, with kings, the high priests would be removed from priestly duties because of dissatisfaction. Regardless of the replacement of the high priests, they continued to perform the ritual traditions and teachings of the Torah as they occupied the land of the Hebrew Patriarchs.
The Palestinian Covenant
The Palestinian Covenant was not mentioned in the bible because God had already promised Abraham and his descendants that they would take over the land of Canaan as known as The Promised Land that is located in Palestine. The descendants of Ham were already occupying the land, but God, in The Old Testament had made an unconditional promise to Abraham that God could only provide.
There were five-major covenants mentioned in the Pentateuch that underlies the unconditional promises. The covenants represent what God was thinking at the time for His chosen people. In Genesis 2, The Edenic Covenant tested Adam’s obedience to God as a result The Adamic Covenant was born because of his disobedience (Genesis 3: 6-24). The Adamic Covenant does not define what Adam must do to receive the blessings of the Lord, but because of this original sin, Adam had to repent and sacrifice. Because of the faith of Adam and Eve, after they had fallen from God’s grace, He restored them and provided them with clothing from animal skins (Genesis 3: 21). God further blessed them to plant fields and bear children instead of cursing them with immediate death. After a wicked rampage, the great flood occurred, which resulted in The Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9: 8-17). The promise made in The Noahic Covenant, which was the forerunner of The Abrahamic Covenant, is that the descendants of Shem, would be blessed to be the servants of God (Genesis 9: 26-27). The Mosaic Covenant required the children of Israel to abide by the laws through sacrifice and obedience. The Palestinian Covenant was the extension of The Abrahamic Covenant where God promised to bless the seed of Abraham (Genesis 15), but this particular covenant extended to the land in Palestine. After the great Exodus from physical and spiritual bondage, and after the 40-year journey to Canaan, God wrote the laws for the children of Israel to follow with the condition of obedience to receive His blessings. However, the unconditional promise was to provide a permanent settlement for the people of Israel. God blessed them with the legal rights to the land for sacrifice, worship, and fellowship with Him. The land is known as The Promised Land, a land filled with milk and honey, cradled in Canaan where their forefathers settled before the great famines (Genesis 26, 41). They had a greater purpose which was to exalt the glory of God in places that worshipped false gods.
As Israel grew into a great nation, man’s jealousy of them resulted in them being put into bondage. Their sins against God grew tirelessly. But through it all, God heard their cries and remained faithful to His unconditional covenant. The nature of the covenant focused on God’s characteristics through the law which included the Mosaic policy. When the Israelites arrived on the land, the property, and the structure were undamaged and His people were able live a fruitful life.
The blessings of God were not reliant upon obedience to the law. It was a unilateral and only He could provide it or remove the current occupants. The Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites inhabited the Palestinian land. God was not dependent on the people of Israel for Him to move on their behalf. They journeyed through life and live in faith trusting that God would provide. He sealed an oath in Deuteronomy 29:10 that the tribe of Israel and foreigners should recognize Him as their God before entering into Palestine. The Palestinian Covenant demanded that the people did not fall into paganism and idolatry as their neighbors that worshipped other deities had done. In their mind, they were reclaiming their home where the Patriarchs established a spiritual relationship with God through their faith and obedience.[8]
The Palestinian Covenant reinforced the relationship of God’s unconditional and unilateral promise to give the Israelites their rightful land. By oath, the Israelites declared that the God of Abraham would reign over them during the occupation of The Promised Land where they would be fruitful and multiple (Genesis 1: 28).
The Palestinian Covenant Prophets
The Old Testament prophets became the messengers of God. They proclaimed the word of God through prophecy. The prophets relied upon Moses because they knew that he had an encounter with God on Mount Sinai. By remembering Moses’ prophecy, the prophets became aware of ethical and social concerns as it related to Israel and foreign nations. Because of their concerns, they grieved over the nation’s rebellious behavior against God. The Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 28: 15) warrant that they would be cursed if they continued to disobey God’s commandments, statutes, and laws. They would lose the land of promise where God’s kingdom had been established for the coming of the Messiah. They prophesied fearlessly, giving warning messages of judgment, if they continued to engage in sinful activities. The prophets challenged the nations in variety of locations. Mitch Glaser wrote,
“They were detached from the Temple and never played a particular part of the established religious worship of the day.” [9]
Their purpose was to restore the nations through repentance to receive redemption and deliverance from their sins, and remind them of the promises of God.
Although the Israelites were given a message of hope, the prophets knew that it was incumbent upon the people to have a change of heart. The restoration of the heart would allow God to take the ultimate authority over the people of Israel. The prophets commanded that the Israelites have only a heart for God as it is written in the first commandment of the decalogue, instead of observing detestable superficial, ritualistic religion that is rejected by God.
The prophets gave instructions to the kings to decree national obedience to The Law of Moses. They called for national repentance for their own sins to restore holy fellowship with God. Their actions of The Mosaic Covenant would determine Israel and Judah’s fate. Either serve the Lord in The Promise Land or serve under foreign rulers in captivity. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel led in the announcement of judgment for the violation of The Mosaic Covenant. Therefore, Prophet Daniel sealed the prophecy with his vision of four beasts coming out of the sea which symbolized the three earthy kingdoms and the heavenly kingdom. They spoke in symbolic messages that required interpretation of God’s revelation. It could be the prophets’ dreams or a pagan kings’ dream, such as King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2: 22-34). According to The Essence of the Old Testament: A Survey theology on Prophet Daniel stated,
“He (God) sets up and takes down human kings, limits their authority, reveals His secrets to whomever He chooses, and determines the destiny of people and nations.” [10]
The prophets waited patiently for God. He moved the foreigners in the spirit and authorized them to bring punishment against or mercy for Israel. God created human existence as Job proclaimed in Chapter 33: 4, before The Abrahamic Covenant became known.
“The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
The warnings by Isaiah focused on the external threats against the Southern Kingdom. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin occupied the region. Because they disobeyed the moral and ethical Mosaic Law and policies, God judged the people who were supposed to be righteous with divine laws. The people were supposed to imitate God’s grace, mercy, compassion, love, and kindness – Holiness, “For the law in the true sense as the expression of the will of God…”[11]
The Prophet Isaiah foretold of the captivity of Babylon as he witnessed the fall and destruction of the Northern Kingdom by Assyria. The kingdom succeeded in not being destroyed by the Assyrian military because of repentance. Later, they failed to heed Prophet Isaiah’s new warnings. God maneuvered the enemies to show them that He was judging the Southern Kingdom and placing them into captivity. It was their punishment.
After God sent them into exile, He continued to raise prophets to bring Israelites’ hope and intercessory prayer even after they disobeyed Him, by worshipping false gods, spilling innocent blood, following pagan culture through intermarriage, and forgetting God’s law, and falling out of fellowship. Charles F. Stanley wrote,
“We bring our prayers to God on the basis of who He is not on the basis of who we are or what we have done. We stand tallest and strongest when we bot in prayer.” [12]
The Minor Prophets echoed messages of national repentance for the people to examine their hearts and their relationship with God by choosing righteousness.
In His judgment, Israel’s captivity in Assyria and Babylon remained. Persia military conquered Babylon, and as a result the Israelites were released. They repented and God showed them mercy. They returned in small numbers to Jerusalem to rebuild the land and the temple. Through the prophetic promises of God during the captivity, the Prophet Daniel remembered the promises of God in The Palestinian Covenant. It was a promised covenant that was unconditional and only God could agree to allow the Israelites to reestablish their land because of their faith and repentance.
Conclusion
The Mosaic Covenant, also known as The Ten Commandments, was the law that enumerated God’s intention and purpose for Israel. It required a blood sacrifice for the repentance of sin. A Levitical High Priest was appointed as a mediator between God and His people for Holy Communion. Since priests were divinely assigned to serve the Lord, they were required to practice holiness so that they could intercede for the Israelites through sacrifice, obeying the commandments, and teaching of the Torah.
The Palestinian Covenant was unconditional because God promised a permanent home to a tribal community. Palestine became the land of a new nation, not based on their obedience and righteousness. It was rooted in the promised covenant during The Abrahamic Covenant. Because of Abraham’s faith and obedience, the Israelites were given a claim of ownership of the land.
Each prophet had specific messages and purposes from God. The messages coincided with God’s purposes and laws as stated in The Mosaic Covenant and The Palestinian Covenant. God proclaimed judgment on the people of Israel until they repented and became restored. The restoration of Israel revealed the unconditional heart and intentions of God for His people. The Palestinian Covenant remained intact even after a history of continuous disobedience.
To satisfy God and to garner His favor, the people of Israel offered peace offerings of animal blood. This was a practice throughout Hebrew tribal history. By pleasing God with the blood offering, the people of Israel sins were forgiven. The anointed Jewish priests separated the sacrificial ritual by removing the sins of the nations and individuals. But, as they settled in The Promised Land, the prophets warned the people and required repentance because of the nation’s continuous violations of The Mosaic Law and policies. They refused to separate themselves from the pagan culture and they became subjugated to foreign nations. After God’s judgment and their repentance, Israel was restored and they were able to return to The Promised Land and receive the unconditional promise of the Patriarchs.
Works Cited
Blech, Rabbi Benjamin. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Jewish History and Culture. New York : Macmillan Publishing, 1999.
Bullinger, Ethelbert W. A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1975.
Compelling Truth. The Palestinian Covenant – What is it? 2011. https://www.compellingtruth.org/Palestinian-covenant.html (accessed December 25, 2020).
Douglas, J.D. New Bible Dictionary. Wheaton, Illionois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1962.
Glaser, Mitch. Isaiah 53 Explained. Chosen People Productions, 2010.
Hindson, Ed, and Gary Yates. The Essence of the Old Testament Survey. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2012.
Hub, Bible. 8034 Shem. 2004. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8034.htm (accessed December 25, 2020).
Merrill, Eugene H, Mark E Rooker, and Michael A Grisanti. The World and The Word. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2011.
Parry, Robin Allinson. Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study. Waynesboro: Paternoster, 2004.
Stanley, Charles. The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible. Thomas Neslon, 1995.
Tenney, Merrill C., J.I. Packer, and William White, Jr. The Bible Almanac. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1980.
[1] Eugene H. Merrill, Mark E. Rooker, and Michael A. Grisanti, The World and The Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament (B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 183
[2] Parry, Robin Allinson. Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study. (Waynesboro: Paternoster, 2004). 49
[3] Thomas Nelson, The Holy Bible, New King James Version (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1985), 53.
[4] Eugene H. Merrill, Mar E. Rooker, and Michael A. Grisanti, The World and The Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament (B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 193.
[5] J.I. Packer, Merrill C. Tenney, and William White, Jr., The Bible Almanac (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1980) 380.
[6] Bible Hub, “8034 Shem”, 2020, https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8034.htm
[7] J.D. Douglas, New Bible Dictionary Second Edition (Intervarsity Press, 1962), 1045
[8] Rabbi Benjamin Blech, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Jewish History and Culture (Macmillan Publishing, 1999) 57.
[9] Glaser, Mitch. Isaiah 53 Explained. (Chosen People Productions, 2010.) 49
[10] Hindson, Ed, and Gary Yates. The Essence of the Old Testament Survey. ( B&H Publishing Group, 2012). 363
[11] Bullinger, Ethelbert W. (A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament.(Zondervan Publishing House, 1975).
[12] Stanley, Charles. The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible. (Thomas Neslon, 1995). 1005
Prayogist: Living in Faith everyday (LiFe) 