A Net in Time

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Book Study

The Sinai Covenant

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Well, the last time we chatted about Harman’s book Learning about the Old Testament we discussed The Exodus.   Today we will look at the covenant at Sinai.

The Sinai Covenant

Mount Sinai is located in the Sinai peninsula.  The mount is traditionally seen in being smack in the triangle between the dead and red sea. 

Explanation of Sinai Covenant

Anyways, the Sinai covenant is the first time that God went from having individual covenants with people to having one with the whole nation.   God made this covenant in a manner they were familiar with (Hittite covenant style). 

God also called Israel his son (Ex.4:22-23),not only his son but his FIRST-born son. That position has authority and expectations with it. As such God expected Israel as a nation to act in a manner befitting that relationship.  They were to be holy, a treasured possession, a people who worshipped and served him. In 1 Peter 2:9 we find those expectation repeated for the Christian church.  They are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that (they) might declare the praises of him who called (them) out of darkness into his marvellous light.  

The Importance

THIS is the importance of the Sinai covenant.  Learning who God’s people are.  HIS sons!  First-born none-the-less!

But issues

God has set up this covenant and now it time to set the terms.   He meets with Israel’s representative and gives out the ten commandments.    We aren’t told how they were written down, just that they were on stone tablets. As a people chosen it was expected they would live in a particular way.   The Decalogue would help them know how to live. 

The people sinned.  Moses intervened.  The tablets were broken to show that the covenant had been broken and it was remade. 

Beyond the 10 Commandments God issued other commands to help the people retain their differences from the nations around them.  How they dressed, ate, and worshipped needed to show their uniqueness. 

He also showed his uniqueness by dwelling among them in the “tent of meeting”.   God lived in a tent just as they did…foreshadowing how Christ would dwell among people…becoming man himself.    

He taught all the important elements of worship

  • Sacrifice is a part of worship
  • meeting together in a place of his choosing
  • The need for a humble and contrite heart
  • and the symbolism of the goat, sheep and bull blood.  It didn’t remove sin, it was just a sign of God’s action and encouragement to look forward to the completion that would come.
The Sinai Covenant

My Reflection

You know I haven’t really thought about how the covenants of the Old Testament showed us things in the New.  Like I have understood the concept up until this point but never truly stopped to THINK on it.  

Like God dwelling with his people.  The tent of meeting being a foreshadowing of Christ.   I just never connected those ideas. It’s a powerful one if you really stop to think on it. 

I also have to ponder on.. how do I show my uniqueness to the world around me?  How do other people see my faith?  Or don’t they?  I don’t always know.  I’m often tired, and I like to do things my own way, and I don’t know if that shows Christ’s love.  Doubt is something I live with.

Sometimes I think it might be easier to live like the old-order Mennonites.  Having my unique dress and standoffishness from the world show my faith, but I don’t truly think that’s the answer. Is my relationship with the Lord readily apparent?  

I love that verse in Peter eh?   When I die.. I want a GOOD sermon preached on that text.  It’s the verse that reminds me of who I am in Christ.  Chosen, wanted, desired, with a PURPOSE…to glorify God.  I just … I don’t know.   Struggle with the execution I suppose.  Or at least thinking I execute at all in the showing of God’s glory.  

The Exodus

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In the time leading up to the Exodus, God remembered his covenant with Noah, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham.  This led the way to the birth of Moses. A man, born into a people enslaved in Egypt.  Pulled out of that, pulled away from his Jewishness, and yet he intervened into the life of a Jewish slave and his life fell apart. 

The Exodus

Moses, a well-educated man, took off.  Afraid of the repercussions from his actions.  He met a gal and worked for his father-in-law. 40 years passed.

God came to him.

Moses learned three important details

  1. God was holy.
  2. God was a covenantal God.  God is the same God who made covenants with forefathers. 
  3. This covenantal God has the special name. Jehovah. YHWH. LORD. This name is indicative of a gracious, loving God who works to redeem his covenantal people. 
  4. Moses would be his messenger, the one through whom he would deliver his people from slavery. 
  5. God would display his power against the Egyptians.  This would be God’s work, not the work of Moses.  God’s alone. 

This information was pivotal to Moses as he was prepared to lead the exodus.

The Exodus

And so God acted.  Moses, his chosen instrument. The Exodus took place with God doing much in the lives of his people.  His grace was shown clearly to his people. The Passover meal became a part of their lives.  The Israelites saw miraculous signs and wonders accomplished by their God.  YHWH God worked in their lives. 

There is much more in this chapter, but this is what I picked out as easiest to share. 

Thinking on what I read

God’s grace was poured out on his people.  He remembered his agreements that he made with Noah and Abraham. So when they called out to him in their distress, he remembered and then acted.

He made it clear to Moses that he would use him as his chosen instrument that it was not Moses who would be saving the people, but God and God alone. 

I wonder how often we forget that.  It is not us who lead people to God.   It is not us who clearly presents God to people.  It is YHWH God himself.  The Lord God himself who works through us to present himself to the people around us.  Do we remember that?  I don’t know about you, but it something I often forget.  I’m to be a vessel for God.  Just like Moses needed to learn and act as God told him to.  

Others in this series

Covenant with Noah

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We have talked about covenant of creation, and God’s covenants.  Today we talk about the covenant with Noah.  Sin had kept increasing in the world, to the point of murder.  People were still calling upon the name of the Lord, so the worship of God was still happening.   But more and more, as the generations passed, people were doing their own thing and boasting about their sinfulness. 

Then there is Noah.  We are told that he is a righteous man, in Genesis 6:9 “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”  He had that kind of relationship with God, a close personal relationship where it can be said that he walked with God.

covenant with Noah

God comes to Noah, tells him his plan.  Gives Noah a commission.  Build me a boat, a big boat.   And Noah, being the man that he was, a faithful righteous man, accepted that commission and stood by it.  Nay-sayers, mockers and all, he kept his word to the Lord and built it. 

This commission was a covenant between Noah and God.  God made his promises…he would save the animals of the world and Noah and his whole family. Noah in response, would build the ark, working to complete it before it was needed. 

At the end of the flood, God remembered the people, opened up the ark and let them out.  Noah offered a sacrifice “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.“

God promises not to do this again because… man’s heart is evil from his youth.   You know something, I KNOW the story of Noah but this verse is a revelation to me tonight.  God destroyed the people because of their evil hearts, but it didn’t work you know?  Man’s heart continues to be evil so God knows another way must be found to turn men’s hearts away from evil.   He knows it, so using a flood to enact judgement isn’t the answer. 

In Genesis 9 we learn the following from God

  • Man is made in God’s image and therefore is precious.
  • Mankind is to procreate, to fill the earth.
  • God won’t destroy mankind like this again. In fact he built in ways for them to be fed and sustained.

Then we get the rainbow, a highly recognizable promise from God.  We see it and remember God’s promise.  God sees it and remembers his covenant with us. 

covenant with Noah

The Covenant of Creation

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Have you ever noticed that the Bible starts with a bang? God comes out of nowhere and makes everything. He speaks and things happen! It is simply amazing what the Lord God puts into place. This Covenant of Creation is how the bible begins.

God looked upon the world and said “it was good”. Did you know that it doesn’t mean good as opposed to bad. But Good as in a job well done, a job that meets the purpose for which it was intended. The work of God making creation resulted in a world with all it’s inhabitants that meant the purpose for which he intended it to.

Covenant of Creation

The Creation of Man

God created the world in a specific order. The end result, the culmination of his creation, was man. Man and woman, made in the likeness of God, remarkably different than the rest of creation. The only part of God’s creation meant to be in relationship with God.

Man, created in God’s likeness, given authority over the rest of creation. Able to name everything, Able to care for everything… in a manner that God would want them to care for it. Everything was good, working just the way it was intended. Adam and Eve tending the garden, minding the animals, and talking with God.

Trouble

Then trouble happened. A tempter shows up. God’s design allowed for this. God wasn’t surprised.

Satan had bad designs in mind. He wants to be first in the lives of God’s imagebearers. He starts with Eve, and then used Eve to reel in Adam. The consequences were immediate.

Consequences

Consequences happened all round. Adam and Eve lost their happy relationship with God. Not only that they were kicked out of the garden for their own good, but still kicked out. Relationship between each other was fractured as well. Work became harder, and child-birth more difficult.

Satan himself was cursed. He would now meet with degradation crawling on his belly.

These negative consequences, the judgement of God, didn’t change the positives though. Even in his judgement God left room for hope. He clothed them, helped them and promised to crush the head of the serpent (Satan).

The whole of the Old Testament in built upon the opening chapters. God’s relationship with man broken and a promise of a Serpent defeated. We can’t skim over them. We need to see God’s purpose and the on-going nature of what he created. It’s an integral part of the Old Testament.

God’s Covenants

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An aside before I start reading this chapter. I know that covenants are looked at different by the various branches of Protestant denominations. I find myself holding my breath wondering what approach Allan Harman will take in Learning about the Old Testament. Let’s dig in shall we? 🙂

God's Covenants

Covenant in the Old Testament, or testament in the New Testament often signify the same thing. In the Old Testament covenant refers to relationship between two people, a relationship of a formal nature. It also refers to the relationship between God and mankind. Many times these covenants made have a ceremony attached to them, where God promises something and the people also promise something in return.

A covenant, or treatise, between nations or between people was a very common one in biblical times. They had a particular formula to them and God replicated this formula quite often when he dealt with his people. When God did this, he helped his people more easily grasp the significance of their relationship with him.

In the New Testament we see a less formulated covenantal process. We see more of God stooping down to help the helpless. Of God making a promise to help people who can’t help themselves. Here we see him fulfilling old covenants and then making a new covenant (or testament).

The old points to the new

So we see how the Old Testament covenants always point their way to the new covenant made in the New Testament.

Part of me wants to spell out everything Harman writes in this chapter, but to do so gives YOU no incentive to go out and get this helpful book for yourselves. I was delighted to see how Harman connected the Old and New Testaments so well. He pointed out several situations which showed how the Old Testament covenants point to the new covenant God made. Harmon also showed how the New Testament linked the old and the new together. It is very interesting reading and pondering on.

But it’s important to understand that the Old Testament people well understood the concept of a covenant, of the promises made between a king and his people, between one nation and another, and what obligations a covenant wrought upon both parties. As we read the Old Testament we need to remember how it points to the New, and how covenants impacted the lives of the people in it.

Background of the Old Testament

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Our next chapter in Learning about the Old Testament takes us on a search through the background of the Old Testament.

Background of the Old Testament

The Old Testament was written in the Near East. The lands of Egypt, Palestine and Israel. I was about to say and section of Greece, Crete etc…but realized that was during New Testament times! Good catch eh?

Anyways, because it took place in the Near East means that it took place among a particular cultural setting as well. Understanding the culture and place helps us to put words and situations into context.

Background of the Old Testament

Palestine strategically important

Palestine is the English version of the word ‘Philistia’. This area was situation on the Mediterranean coast in the Near East. It was a strategically good position. It covered the trade routes between Egypt and Assyria. Unlike many of the other countries around it, this was a land the bible tells us that was “flowing with milk and honey”. It had easy access to sea, ample sources of water and more.

This land was originally called Canaan. This was a land that was divided into five geographic areas.

  • rich coastal plain
  • upland area stretching from hills of Galilee south to Judean hills
  • Jordan Valley
  • Hills of Transjordania
  • Negev

Understanding the geography helps us to understand why people moved the way they did and why cities were set up where they were (strategic defense).

Archaeology Helps

Current archaeologists are helping us understand the people of Palestine better. They can’t tell us everything, they give us clues regarding people movements and lifestyle, but there are huge gaps in our understanding.

First off because archaeology can’t excavate all of Palestine! Imagine if it could eh? Everything would be dug up with no place for people to live. Or even if they tried only to dig up the important places… people still live there a lot of the time. Plus archaeology can only provide us with an educated guess. They can’t tell us with complete certainty everything we might want to know.

BUT archaeology often validates (that might not be quite the right word) what the Bible tells us. Showing us the historical accuracy contained within the pages of God’s glory. As Allan Harman tells us “The biblical faith rests on the historical basis of the bible.”

Background of the Old Testament

Approaching the Old Testament

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I just finished going through The Faith-Shaped Life and was looking for another book to study every week. My eye fell upon “Learning out the Old Testament” by Allan Harman. It’s a book that my hubby received while at The Banner of Truth pastor’s conference that he attended yearly. An excellent conference that churches should send their pastor’s too!

Anyways, with 19 chapters it shouldn’t take me as long to get through as the Faith-Shaped life did, hopefully we’ll learn alot together eh?

Approaching the Old Testament

Pivotal Details

Harman starts off this first chapter reminding us some pivotal details

  • The Old Testament is just not an old manuscript. It is the very word of God written down for us.
  • As such we need to approach it obediently with reverence and devotion
  • There are 39 books in the Old Testament that we should be intimately familiar with.
  • It has been translated many times since it was written in Hebrew. Different versions from the original king james serve people in a variety of languages and times.
  • We need to keep in mind the “distinction between translation and interpretation” (p.3) It is an ancient document and care needs to be taken by teachers and preachers to convey it’s message to modern audiences.
  • The Old Testament is part of a unified bible. Together with the New Testament it provides the whole written revelation of God.
  • The New Testament helps us to understand the Old. Giving the end game so to speak. Shows us what the Old Testament was leading up too.
  • The Old Testament gives depth to the New. Understanding the flow of history, helps to understand the framework of the New Testament authors.

I haven’t spoken to everything Harman wrote, after all.. you should go get it yourself. I love how he points out the the more we learn about God, the more we engage in bible study, the more we should want others to know God. Isn’t that the way it should be?

Using scripture to talk about scripture so that in the end, we just want more people to know this magnificent God who put it all together.