Unanimously they agreed to its terms, so Moses prepared to ascend Mount Sinai to solemnize the arrangement (19:7-15). Only through obedience to G OD's covenant could Israel fill its role as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (19:5-6). Yahweh based His call to covenant commitment on His mighty acts of deliverance (19:4). At Sinai Israel was to commit itself to G OD in covenant. This is why it is so important to know the world of that day, its circumstances, its customs, and its patterns of thought as we try to better understand Scripture.ĮXOD 19:1-24:18) SINAI COVENANT (HBH) Again and again in the account of the plagues, Moses delivered G OD's message to Pharaoh: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me." AT last the moment of worship and service arrived which the exodus deliverance had made possible. The L ORD chose to reveal Himself to His people not in a vacuum but in a definite cultural setting. As they did with so many other things, the biblical writers took over patterns they already found in the world around them and redeemed ("baptized") them to the glory of G OD. The L ORD chose to make use of a common, well-known covenant approach. The covenants of Scripture were not isolated or unrelated to what was going on in the world of that day. There was probably also a sense of the binding together of the two contracting parties through the animal sacrifice and perhaps through the sprinkling of its blood on the participants of their representatives. The slaughter of an animal at the ratification of a treaty implies that the one who violated the treaty could expect a similar fate as a consequence. Moses seems to have been making use of the treaty format that was already in common use in the world of his day as he expressed the covenant relationship between the L ORD and His people. (Some suggest analyzing the entire Bible according to this pattern.) Deuteronomy is almost entirely covenantal in its form and content, as are other parts of the OT. Scholars have found similarity of approach and even of outline between the Hittite form and the book of the covenant (the covenant code) of Exodus 20-23, the entire Book of Deuteronomy, and Joshua 24. The biblical covenant form shows remarkable resemblance to the Hittite treaty form. They also contain provision for the preservation of the document (usually by deposit in the vassal's chief shrine), the witnesses to the covenant (usually the gods of both parties), the blessings and curses that will result from keeping or breaking it, a prescribed regular public reading of it, and an oath ratifying the covenant in a solemn ceremony.Įven in the case of a suzerainty treaty, which was in effect imposed by the sovereign on the vassal, the superior power also bound himself by certain obligations to his vassal. This latter type is the more important for biblical studies.īoth types of treaties contain certain clauses including a title identifying the chief partner, a historical prologue to show how past benefits from the chief partner should inspire the vassal to a grateful response, and a list of stipulations (obligations, laws). It was drawn up by the superior power and imposed on the inferior. A suzerainty treaty was between a sovereign (suzerain) and a vassal (subject). Hittite and other treaties took one of two forms: parity or suzerainty. These date from the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age (about 1400-1200 BC), in the early biblical period. The most important of these were Hittite treaties from their ancient capital of Boghazkoy (in modern Turkey). made available to Bible scholars, and studied at length. Since then numerous examples of such pacts (covenants) have been discovered. We knew almost nothing about ancient Near Eastern treaties until archaeological research began in the nineteenth century. They are especially important because they provide some background understanding of one of the most important of all biblical terms, covenant. Ancient Near Eastern treaties are important because they shed light on pacts and treaties in the OT.
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