Exodus 34:10-28 - Covenant Words of the Commandments

Exodus 34:10-28

The Covenant Renewed (Exodus 23:14–19; Deuteronomy 7:1–6; 16:1–17)

10 And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. 13 But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.

17 “You shall make no molded gods for yourselves.

18 “The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.

19 “All that open the womb are Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep. 20 But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.

“And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.

21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

22 “And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.

23 “Three times in the year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the LORD God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.

25 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, nor shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until morning.

26 “The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

27 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Moses was given these covenant words before he was given the second set of the tablets written by God’s hand in stone to present to God’s people.  These words reiterated all that the LORD had already spoken as recorded in Exodus 20:2-17 and Exodus 23:14-19 covering the Ten Commandments and other promises and warnings of what to do to drive out the ungodly and worshipping God alone.  This awesome covenant agreement made by God could only be broken by continuing unfaithfulness of His people who were to worship God alone and keep away from lifeless idols that showed a lack of trust and devotion to the one true God.  We who are now under the New Covenant contract made by Jesus Christ who sealed it with His blood can no longer break it by our unfaithfulness since the added promise is given that nothing or no one can break His seal of promise or take us (John 10:28-29, Ephesians 1:13-14) out of His hands of grace.  We are still called to follow the moral laws of the Lord especially in not going after idolatry and immorality since grace (Romans 6:1-3, 4, 8:1-2) still demands obedience, but not to earn or keep our salvation promised and kept for the final day (John 17:6, 1 Peter 1:5) by Christ according to His unbreakable promise of the covenant.  We are to rest in Christ as our sabbath and celebrate the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism to participate in His cleansing and suffering as we are in Christ now and not striving to earn acc with God any longer; we now are driven by the laws written on our hearts to be God-pleasers, offering the best of all we have and are to Him in thankfulness as is to be expected.  Yes, we have these covenant words of the commandments here now written on our hearts as a reminder of the mind of God and His will for us to live holy and acceptable (Romans 12:1, 1 Peter 2:5) before His face each day until the final day of His return to being us before His face (Job 19:25-27, Psalm 17:15, Revelation 22:4) at last!