“At that time Adonai said to me, ‘Cut yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, come up to me on the mountain, and make yourself an ark of wood. I will inscribe on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you are to put them in the ark.’”-Deuteronomy 10:1-2
The covenant God had established on the top of Mount Sinai has just been terminated.
This was signified by Moses smashing to pieces the two stone tablets containing the 10 Commandments.
Again, understand this was the customary way a covenant was rendered null and void in those days.
From the Israelites’ perspective, this was a major disaster of gargantuan proportions.
Their very existence depended on this covenant that they had just entered into with their God…
…AND NOW IT HAD JUST BEEN CANCELLED.
What to do?!
Fortunately, Moses came to the rescue as a saving mediator between the people and God.
If it had not been for this intercession, we might very well be reading quite a different Bible today.
Because of Moses, God agreed to reestablish the covenant.
And that is what verse 1 of chapter 10 tells us exactly what happened.
The Lord instructed Moses to cut two new tablets of stone to replace the broken ones and to bring those new and blank tablets back up the mountain so the covenant could be restored.
There’s something very important you need to understand here.
The first covenant that God entered into with Abraham was never NEVER in danger of being cancelled.
Why can I say that with such confidence?
Because that covenant was NOT conditional.
It wasn’t dependent on Abraham fulfilling a certain set of terms or conditions.
Recall when that covenant was made, it was ONLY the Lord (symbolized by the flaming torch) who passed between the two parts of the severed animal carcass.
“After the sun had set and there was thick darkness, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared, which passed between these animal parts. That day Adonai made a covenant with Avram: “I have given this land to your descendants — from the Vadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River —”-Genesis 15:17-18
This was an unconditional promise from God to Abraham, a promise that was later passed on to Isaac and then Jacob and…
…there was NOTHING mankind nor Israel nor anybody could ever do to somehow cause this Abrahamic covenant to be cancelled.
Here’s what you’ve got to understand and this is something a lot of people just don’t get.
The Mosaic Covenant created at Sinai was NOT…
…and I repeat…
…it was NOT…
…a replacement…
…of the Abrahamic Covenant!!!
Got it?
The Mosaic Covenant was created to bring about the Abrahamic Covenant.
It was a vehicle for the Abrahamic Covenant.
Remember, the Lord said He is going to drive the Canaanites out of Canaan and replace them them with His People Israel…
…in order to fulfill the unbreakable promise He made to Abraham so many years ago.
Finally, notice that verse 1 tells us that the Lord commanded Moses to “Cut yourself two stone tablets like the first ones“.
This means that this renewed covenant was to be EXACTLY THE SAME as the covenant that just moments earlier got terminated.
Now tuck that thought away in your back pocket because this point is soooooooooooo critical when it comes to understanding the relationship between the so-called “old” covenant and the New Covenant.
Talk to you all later.
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