In our relationships, especially those with our parents or other adults that helped raise us, time changes how we see those relationships and how they manifest in our lives. We rely on our parents to provide for us when we are young. As we get older, our parents become our peers. If we are lucky enough, our parents’ age and begin to rely on us to fulfill some of their needs. Through time, our relationship changes, but because we are connected through our familial relationship, or as stated in another way, a covenant, we still find a loving and caring relationship.
The Hebrew people had a changing relationship with an unchanging God. The change was due to their context. When God made a covenant with Abraham, it was a covenant of blood, connecting Abraham’s lineage to obedience and following God. As the people ultimately fled to Egypt, they recontextualized their relationship with God from the context of bondage and servitude. This disoriented them from the context established with Abraham, and upon leaving Egypt, they needed to reconnect with the covenant, where we find the people as they approach Mount Sinai. This is where God delivers to Moses the law, upon which they will reconnect with the covenant through obedience.
The passage below is where we see the people of Israel reconnecting with the covenant as a response to God’s goodness and protection for the Hebrews in leaving Egypt and the deliverance from the nation through God’s care for His people.
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. 2 They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, 3 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: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 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; 6 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.” 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ex 19:1–8.
When God made a covenant with Abraham, obedience was understood. The covenant was sealed in the blood through the practice of circumcision, and God promised Abraham a future filled with descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky as long as Abraham showed obedience to God’s instruction. Abraham’s relationship with God was based on obedient living, which was credited to him as righteousness. However, his descendants, the people of Israel, had a different relationship due to their enslavement in Egypt. Further, this changed as they made their way out through God, carrying out their deliverance through the final plague and the Passover and ultimately carrying them across the Red Sea. This miraculous incident allowed the people of Israel to understand their relationship with God not only as a protector but also as a deliverer, but their time in Egypt separated them from the understanding of God’s covenant with Abraham, so they approached the Sinai Mount to reconnect with God’s covenant and allow the law to come down and lead them to obedience.
The connection made through the covenant reminds us that God carries us through many places of turmoil. The guidance of the Holy Spirit reminds us that no matter where we have been, God has been beside us and lifted us out of trouble because God is a good Father. Just like God’s people needed help out of Egypt, we often need help to escape a situation we are powerless to escape. The experiences are varied, as we have been in relationships that were toxic and abusive, or received a negative health report where the prognosis was bad, or in a financial hardship that seemed bleak, or simply unable to find employment when we were desperate; these are but a small set of examples of situations that God can guide us through and helps us out. However, they all require us to maintain the faith that the God we worship is also powerful enough to get us out of this situation. Sitting at the river’s bank, Moses knew he had nowhere else to turn and that the situation required supernatural assistance. There he raised his staff, and God took care of the rest. God wants us to make it through our problems, and He wants us to have the faith to raise our arms and ask for it.
God upholds the covenant, connects us to the covenant through relationship, and gently leads us to the covenant through the life and ultimate death of Jesus Christ. During the Last Supper, as Jesus raises the cup, He brings us all to the base of Sinai and helps us understand the covenant with fresh eyes and ears. We cannot get ourselves free from the problem of sin, and with Jesus’ blood, the covenant is fulfilled. This sacrifice does not release us from our obligation to obedience; rather, we can focus on living our lives in service to God, not having our hearts troubled by how we would return to our relationship with God through endless sacrifice. Jesus makes the covenant relationship focus on two things loving God and loving our neighbor. We connect with God’s covenant through Jesus and following these two commands.
Elpis and Shalom 