BaptistWay: Dealing with the details of covenant living

• The BaptistWay lesson for April 26 focuses on Exodus 21:1-2, 7-17, 22-27; 22:21-23:12.

To deal with the details of covenant living, we first need to know what “covenant” is. Furthermore, if we are going to deal with the details of covenant living using Exodus 20-23 as our guide, we need to know what “covenant” meant to ancient Hebrews. We will see a striking resemblance between the ancient Israelite conception of “covenant” and a current parallel in the Islamic world.

Gerhard von Rad, in Volume 1 of his Old Testament Theology, cites J. Begrich as providing great insight into the ancient Hebrew understanding of “covenant.” While in some instances, two parties may enter into a covenant, or binding agreement, on equal footing, the Sinai covenant is not that sort of agreement. Von Rad writes: “The ‘covenant’ is often an agreement imposed by a superior on an inferior. Complete freedom of action, and therefore the freedom to decide, that is, to take the oath or not, is in this case possessed only by the superior—the lesser partner is simply a recipient.”

The Sinai Covenant

The Sinai covenant is this type. In other words, the relationship between God and Israel established with the Sinai covenant is one of imposition. God imposed this agreement on Israel. As a result, Israel’s part wasn’t agreeing to the terms but was keeping the terms. The imposition is not all bad, though. Israel, in keeping the demands of the covenant, would receive superior protection and provision.

Understanding the relational nature of the Sinai covenant is important for putting into perspective the details of Exodus 20-23, what many call the Book of the Covenant (based on Exodus 24:7).

What are the details of the Sinai covenant?

As I read through Exodus 20:22-23:19 and count each law, I come up with a total of 84. I define a separate law as beginning with “if,” “but if,” “do not” or another imperative. Your list may differ, and in that respect we are not alone. Priests and rabbis throughout Israel’s history have made careers out of trying to determine an accurate list of laws. They have given so much time to the details of the law because they understand it as a covenant initiated by God with all the rights and obligations thereof.

Unfortunately, trying to number the laws has a tendency to obfuscate them. Speaking of obfuscation, something else that causes a lot of trouble is trying to determine which laws no longer apply and which laws are intended for all time. Take a moment to go back through Exodus 20:22-23:19, and make a list of those laws that are still in effect—remembering Jesus said he did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). And in completing this assignment, you may want to determine what Jesus meant by “fulfill.”

To this point, we still haven’t answered the question “What are the details of the Sinai covenant” but only have become bogged down in trying to determine to what details the question refers.

Consider the covenants with Noah and Abraham

At this point, it will be helpful to back away from the separate laws and consider the Sinai covenant is built upon the earlier Noahic (Genesis 9:1-17) and Abrahamic (Genesis 12:2-3; 15) covenants. God initiated these two covenants, blessing Noah with fruitfulness and promising Abraham countless posterity. God desired to reaffirm these covenants in giving the Sinai covenant to the Israelites, the fruit and posterity of Noah and Abraham.

It also will be helpful to look at the Book of the Covenant as a whole. Peter Enns in The NIV Application Commentary: Exodus follows J. Sprinkle in dividing the Book of the Covenant into the following sections:

A. Worship: Idols and Altars (20:22-26)

B. Social Responsibility (21:1-22:17)

C. Worship and Social Responsibility (22:18-23:19)

In dividing the Book of the Covenant into these three sections, Sprinkle and Enns wish to draw attention to the fact that the covenant begins and ends with worship. Ancient Israel’s legal structure begins and ends with an eye to the nature of Israel’s relationship with God, the initiator of the covenant. Israel is to worship God alone and make no other god to compete with, stand in front of or draw attention from God. Likewise, Sabbaths and festivals are to shape Israel’s worship of God.

Governed all aspects of life

All the laws governing society and social interaction are bounded by the laws establishing and governing worship. This means the social fabric of Israel was to be an expression of Israel’s relationship with God, who is the superior in the relationship. As such, there is no separation of church and state in the ancient Hebrew law as there is in contemporary American law. Our secular law is not defined by worship of God.

A contemporary parallel to the ancient Hebrew legal structure are those conservative Islamic societies headed by mullahs or other Muslim clerics. Regardless of what your particular views are of such societies, observe how they strive to order their societies in keeping with the Qu’ran and the hadith of Muhammad. Consider that these conservative Muslim societies view religion and law as a unified whole emanating from the will—the initiation—of Allah. In other words, Shari’ah is meant to be an expression of the Muslim’s relation to Allah. If you can begin to understand this undergirding principle of Muslim societies, you can begin to understand the nature of the Book of the Covenant in the context of ancient Israel.