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the covenant with Abraham, Deut. 1:8; and when the Lord threatened to destroy the people
after they had made the golden calf, Moses based his plea for them on that covenant, Ex.
32:13. He also assured them repeatedly that, whenever they repented of their sins and
returned unto Him, He would be mindful of His covenant with Abraham, Lev. 26:42; Deut. 4:31.
The two covenants are clearly represented in their unity in Ps. 105:8-10: “He hath remembered
His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant
which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a
statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant.” This unity also follows from the argument of Paul
in Gal. 3, where he stresses the fact that an unchangeable God does not arbitrarily alter the
essential nature of a covenant once confirmed; and that the law was not intended to supplant
but to serve the gracious ends of the promise, Gal. 3:15-22. If the Sinaitic covenant was indeed
a covenant of works, in which legal obedience was the way of salvation, then it certainly was a
curse for Israel, for it was imposed on a people that could not possibly obtain salvation by
works. But this covenant is represented in Scripture as a blessing bestowed upon Israel by a
loving Father, Ex. 19:5; Lev. 26:44,45; Deut. 4:8; Ps. 148:20. But though the covenant with
Abraham and the Sinaitic covenant were essentially the same, yet the covenant of Sinai had
certain characteristic features.
a. At Sinai the covenant became a truly national covenant. The civil life of Israel was linked up
with the covenant in such a way that the two could not be separated. In a large measure
Church and State became one. To be in the Church was to be in the nation, and vice versa; and
to leave the Church was to leave the nation. There was no spiritual excommunication; the ban
meant cutting off by death.
b. The Sinaitic covenant included a service that contained a positive reminder of the strict
demands of the covenant of works. The law was placed very much in the foreground, giving
prominence once more to the earlier legal element. But the covenant of Sinai was not a
renewal of the covenant of works; in it the law was made subservient to the covenant of grace.
This is indicated already in the introduction to the ten commandments, Ex. 20:2; Deut. 5:6, and
further in Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:24. It is true that at Sinai a conditional element was added to the
covenant, but it was not the salvation of the Israelite but his theocratic standing in the nation,
and the enjoyment of external blessings that was made dependent on the keeping of the law,
Deut. 28:1-14. The law served a twofold purpose in connection with the covenant of grace: (1)
to increase the consciousness of sin, Rom. 3:20; 4:15; Gal. 3:19; and (2) to be a tutor unto
Christ, Gal. 3:24.
c. The covenant with the nation of Israel included a detailed ceremonial and typical service. To
some extent this was also present in the earlier period, but in the measure in which it was