This is the covenant God establishes with the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai after he leads them out of Egyptian slavery. With it, God supplies the Law that is meant to govern and shape the people of Israel in the Promised Land.
The Mosaic Covenant was a unique and important document. With the covenant, God established the Law that was intended to guide the people of Israel in the Promised Land. The Mosaic Covenant outlines both blessings and curses in the Old Testament.
Mosaic Laws are the laws given by God to the Israelites through Moses which can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible. Mosaic Law begins with The Ten Commandments and includes rules regarding religious observances outlined in the Pentateuch, which are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
The Mosaic Covenant In The Bible
In fulfilling the promise to Abraham, that fulfillment comes as it turns out in stages. We didn’t know when the promise is first given to Abraham that this is the way it’s going to work out, that in fact, God reveals his salvation progressively through history over time. And the first major stage of the fulfillment of that is the calling of Abraham’s descendants, now the nation of Israel, out of Egypt, out of slavery, and bringing them into the promised land.
The beginnings of the fulfillment of those promises to Abraham, that he would be the father of a great nation of many nations, and that there would be a place of rest for them. On the way from Egypt to the promised land, God takes them to Mount Sinai and there God enters into a covenant, now not with an individual, but with an entire nation. Basically says to Israel, “You will be my people and I will be your God. I have saved you, not because of anything you did, but sheerly out of my grace and love and my promise to Abraham.”
What Is The Sign of The Mosaic Covenant
In establishing the covenant now with Israel, what we call the Mosaic covenant, once again, the terms of the relationship are set. This time the terms are different, with Abraham the terms were quite gracious and unilateral, Abraham simply had to believe. Now God says having saved you, I want you to live like my people. I want you to live in such a way that people can tell that you are my people and that you will bring glory to my name. And so in a summary fashion, he lays out the 10 commandments. Those are the terms of the covenant. And then as the rest of the book of Exodus goes on, those 10 summary terms are expanded actually in a lot of detail. And at the end of the book of Exodus, and we see it happen then in the book of Deuteronomy when they finally are on the edge of going into the promised land, it said that the people will need to declare the promises and the curses of the covenant.
If they obey, if they keep their side of this relationship, they will be able to remain in the land. If they disobey, God will cause the land to spew them out, just like it did the inhabitants that they were going to drive out. This means that while the Mosaic covenant is clearly part of God’s administration of grace, it’s the first step in the fulfillment of Abraham’s covenant, it does work somewhat differently. This is a law covenant. Israel must do certain things, not to be saved, but to stay in the land. If they keep the covenant, they receive the blessings. If they break the covenant, they will experience the curses of the covenant. Later on in the Old Testament, that’s exactly what we’ll see happen, sadly Israel will have broken the covenant and will experience God’s judgment in the form of exile. And part of what happens in the Mosaic covenant is we are taught then that we cannot obey God on our own. We cannot keep our side of the bargain. We are going to need someone to obey for us, and that someone is going to be Jesus Christ.
The Ten Commandments – Exodus 20
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Why Is The Mosaic Covenant Important Today
The Mosaic Covenant is an agreement that was made between God and the Israelites. It was named after Moses, the man whom God had chosen to lead Israel and to whom the first Ten Commandments of the Law were given. The Mosaic Covenant is still important today because it taught Abraham’s descendants how they could atone for their sins and reconcile with God. The commandments given by God to Moses are still followed by the Jewish community today. The covenant between God and Jews is the basis for the idea of the Jews as the chosen people and continues to be an important part of the Jewish religion today. The Mosaic Covenant also reminds us of God’s holiness and righteousness. It teaches us that we are called to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). The Mosaic Covenant also points us to Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the Law and made a new covenant with His blood. In conclusion, the Mosaic Covenant is important today because it teaches us about God’s nature, His holiness, and His plan for salvation through Jesus Christ.
The Mosaic Covenant was a conditional covenant made between God and the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai seen in the chapters of Exodus 19-24. It is also called the Sinai Covenant but is more often referenced as the Mosaic Covenant because Moses was God’s chosen leader of Israel at that time.
“On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” ~ Exodus 19:1-6
The Mosaic Covenant is also known as the Old Covenant in scripture (2 Corinthians 3:14, Hebrews 8:6) and was replaced by the New Covenant in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:6, Hebrews 8:8).
“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.” ~ Hebrews 8:6-9
