Covenant in the Old Testament: Mosaic Covenant

The “Mosaic Covenant” is the covenant that God made with the people of Israel, represented by Moses. It is also referred to as the Sinaitic Covenant because it was made on Mount Sinai. The covenant consists of a number of rules and commandments that God gave to the people, including the Ten Commandments. The covenant creates a special relationship between God and the Israelites: God is now the God of Israel and the Israelites are now God’s people.

God leads Israel out of Egypt and through the desert. When the people arrive at Mount Sinai, God reveals himself to Moses. Through Moses he makes his laws and commandments known to the people. The Israelites declare unanimously that they will keep all of God’s commandments (Exodus 19; Exodus 24:1-3).

The covenant is sealed in Exodus 24 through two rituals:

The obligation that the covenant places on the Israelites is that they have to keep to God’s rules from now on. The Israelites now belong to God, which is why they must live as God’s people. In the first place, this applies to their relationship with God himself: Israel must only serve God and no other gods (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 6:4-5). In the second place, this relates to how the Israelites behave towards each other: social justice must be of prime importance; the poor, strangers and the oppressed must be protected (Exodus 22:21).

Israel’s existence depends on her faithfulness to the covenant. According to Deuteronomy 28, obeying God’s commandments leads to blessings, disobedience causes you to be cursed.

According to some biblical scholars, the Mosaic covenant bears some resemblance to the Hittite treaties from the late Bronze Age (see Covenant). The Mosaic covenant, like these treaties, includes:

These common characteristics could indicate that the Mosaic Covenant contained some very old elements, which were probably edited and expanded by later biblical authors and editors.