MINI BIBLE STUDY -- COVENANTS

Many do not know what the Old Covenant was. Also, they do not know that this “covenant” that Israel got at Sinai WAS NOT given to their fathers. I will quote the “covenant” God made with Israel and then I will quote a “recap” of this covenant that Moses made in Deut 5:2, 3 telling us that the covenant made with Israel WAS NOT GIVEN TO THEIR FATHERS. If you look at Deut 1:8 it tells you who Israel’s fathers were and you will find out that it was Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

FIRST, COVEANANT WITH ISRAEL:

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down all these instructions, for they represent the terms of the covenant I am making with you and with Israel. Moses remained there on the mountain with the LORD forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the LORD* wrote the terms of the covenant—the Ten Commandments*—on the stone tablets.” Exodus 34:27, 28

SECOND, WHO THE COVENANT WAS “NOT” MADE WITH:

“The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Mount Sinai. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive today. Deut 5:2-3 (Starting in verse 7 Moses lists the ten commandments.)

What do we learn here?

1. The covenant God made with Israel was the 10 commandments (and instructions).
   
   
2. The covenant God made with Israel, who was alive that day, did not INCLUDE their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
   
   
3. Therefore, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob DID NOT HAVE the “covenant” made with Israel, that is, they DID NOT HAVE THE 10 COMMANDMENTS.
   

The 10 commandments or Sabbath law did not exist before Moses

1. The word "Sabbath" is not found in the book of Genesis!
2. The very first thing written on the stones tells us this! Obviously then, this law was something new. Deut 5:6 '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.
3. Fathers prior to Egypt did not keep the Sabbath: Deut 5:2-3 "The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today."
4. No one prior to the Exodus from Egypt (Ex 16) even knew about the Sabbath law: (No Sabbath mentioned for 2500 years, until Exodus 16)

Ezek 20:10-12 "So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 "And I gave them My statutes and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live. 12 "And also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. 13 "But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes, and they rejected My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live; and My Sabbaths they greatly profaned."

1. Sabbatarian’s argue that since "Sabbaths" in Ezek 20:10-12 is plural it cannot refer to the weekly Sabbath: Wrong: The weekly Sabbath is plural in: Ex 31:13,17. Both singular and plural are used for the weekly Sabbath: Lev 19:3; 23:38; Isa 56:2,4; Mt 12:5; 12:10; Acts 17:2
2. God revealed "made known" the Sabbath law at Sinai, He did not remind them.

Nehemiah 9:13-14 "You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments. You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes and laws, by the hand of Moses Your servant." This verse is bad news for Sabbatarian’s!

1. Gal 3:17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later (after Abraham)
2. First Occurrence of the word "Sabbath" - Exodus 16:22-23 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, 'This is what the Lord has said: 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning. The text in verse 23-30 indicates that this was a new experience for Israel. They were not used to keeping the Sabbath before this time.
3. The ten commandments were first given when Moses face shone: Ex 34:27-28; 2 Cor 3
4. If they had the Sabbath before Ex 16, then they just as likely had the manna before as well. Yet Sabbatarian’s freely admit that the manna was something new for them. Yet when we look at the text, the Jews were equally unfamiliar with BOTH manna and the Sabbath.