Communion Part 3 - God's Covenant with Moses

In Communion Part 2  - Passover we looked at the covenant (contract) God established with Abraham and his descendants who over time were to become the God's covenant people known as the Children of Israel.

Now, we pick up the journey just 3 months after God had rescued the fledgling nation Israel  from grueling oppression and slavery in Egypt. Under the leadership  of Moses and Aaron the 'new' nation were in the early stages of their journey from Egypt back to their homeland; the land promised by God to Abraham and his 'seed' - the land of Canaan.

At this point in time God was in the process of setting up an additional contract with His people:

Exodus 19: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8; ''And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain [Sinai], saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob [Israel], and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare [sustained] you on eagles wings, and brought you unto myself.

Now therefore, if ye obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar [special] treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid [set] before the faces all these words which the LORD had commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people to the LORD.''

Now, with the Abrahamic covenant (see Communion Part 1 - God's Covenant with Abraham) very little was written down. 

But in the case of this additional covenant entered into between God and his chosen nation Israel (later known as 'The Law') the essentials of the contract were was not only recorded, but were also ratified through the ''blood of the covenant'':

Exodus 24: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8; ''And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments [ordinances]: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said we will we do. And  Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an alter under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 

And sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.  And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the alter.  An he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, all that the LORD hath said we will do and be obedient.

And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.''

This covenant, known as 'the Law', contained a number of elements:

• The Ten Commandments,
• God's demands for exclusive worship,
• Law concerning acts of violence and associated penalties for perpetrators of violence,
• Laws concerning responsibilities of owners,
• Law concerning restitution,
• Laws governing human relations; and
• Ordinances directing the religious life of Israel

In relation to 'ordinances directing the life of Israel' the most important day in the Hebrew calendar was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which was on the 10th day of the 7 month, Tishri (around September/October). 

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement was an annual holy day which celebrated the covering of the national sins by the offering of two goats, one killed and the other (scape goat) driven into the wilderness.

The need for this atonement of sin was required due to a number of factors:

• firstly, the universality of sin (1 Kings 8:46b  ''...for there is no man that sinneth not...'')
• second, the seriousness of sin - sin separates man from God (Isaiah 59:2  ''But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.''); and
• third, man's complete inability to deal with sin, he in not able to keep his sin hidden and cannot cleanse himself of it (Proverbs 20:9  ''Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?'')

So, it would appear that God and man are hopelessly estranged - separated by man's sin, and there is no way back from man's side.  But through  this annual holy Day of Atonement God provided a way back.

The atonement, reconciliation - call it what you will - was secured not by any value inherent in the sacrificial victim, but because sacrifice was the divinely appointed way of securing atonement. Furthermore, God required that the sacrificial victim must always be unblemished, indicating the necessity for perfection.

The annual Day of Atonement served as a reminder that the daily, weekly, and monthly  sacrifices made at the alter of burnt offering were in themselves insufficient to atone for sin.  Even at the altar of burnt offering the worshipper stood 'afar off', unable to approach the holy Presence of God, who was manifest between the cherubim in the holy of holies (also know as the 'Most Holy Place'). 

But on this one day of the year, the Day of Atonement, atoning blood was brought into the holy of holies, the divine throne-room, by the high priest as the representative of God's people.  Atonement was first made for the priests because the mediator between God and His people had to be ceremonially clean.  The sanctuary was also cleansed, for it too was ceremonially defiled by the presence and ministration of sinful men.

To prepare for the sacrifices of the day, the high priest put aside his official robes, cleansed himself and dressed in a simple white garment.  He then offered a bullock as a sin-offering for himself and the priesthood.  After filling his censer with live coals from the altar the high priest then entered the holy of holies, where he placed incense over the coals.

The incense sent forth a cloud of smoke over the mercy seat, which served as a covering for the ark of the covenant.  The high priest took some of the bullock's blood and sprinkled it on the mercy seat and on the ground in front of the ark.  In this way atonement was made for the priesthood.

Next the high priest sacrificed a he-goat as sin offering for the people. Some of the blood was taken into the holy of holies, and it was sprinkled in a manner in which the sin offering for the priests had been sprinkled.

After purifying the Holy Place and the alter of burnt offering with the mingled blood of the bullock and the goat the high priest took a second goat, laid his hands of its head and confessed over it the sins of Israel.  This goat, commonly called the scape goat, was driven into the desert, where it symbolically carried away the sins of the people.

The carcasses of the two burnt offerings (bullock and he-goat) were taken outside the city and burnt; the day concluded with additional sacrifices.

Leviticus Chapter 16 describes the detail of the rituals associated with the Day of Atonement in greater detail than my summary above.  But in this chapter God spelt out to Moses and Aaron that they, and all generations hence, must ensure the day was observed each and every year:

Leviticus 16: 29, 30 & 31;  ''And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict [humble] your souls, and do not work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:  For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.  It shall be a sabbath [Sabbath of solemn] rest unto you , and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statue for ever.''

This annual repetition of the sacrifices served as a reminder that perfect atonement had not yet been provided; (more on the perfect sacrifice in Communion Part 5 - Hebrews & Ephesians).

 

Next week Communion Part 4 - The Covenant of Grace and the Holy Spirit