Old Covenant; Dispensations in the Old Testament

Exodus chapter nineteen gives us the theological center of the Old Testament. The important thing about the Pentateuch is that if we do not understand some of the dynamics that are going on in these first five books then we can’t understand fully what is going on in the rest of the Old Testament.

Exodus 19:5 ^NASB “‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; [6] and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’…” That is the essence of why God has called Israel out as a specific people. They are to function as a priest nation in relation to all of the other nations. We have said that in order to have a nation there has to be three things: a people, a body of law or regulations for governing those people, and there has to be a land.

It seems that the nation Israel as a nation is the representative of what goes on in the individual believer’s life, a picture of what transpires in the life of a believer. They are elected in Abraham, the are redeemed at the exodus, then after redemption they are given a body of law, a code of conduct for how they will behave in the midst of the world. The whole picture of the conquest of Canaan is a picture of the believer’s life as he pursues possession the inheritance that God has already given. What we learn from the suzerain-vassal treaty form helps us to understand that covenant is the very essence of what is going on in the entire Pentateuch. God is establishing His contractual relationship with Israel. Moses was writing to second millennium Jews. When they read this they would not need to be taught about this, it would be so evident that this was a covenant. Over and again this idea of a contract with God would just be glaring at them so that they could not miss this fact.

We need to look back at the Sabbath law. Exodus 20:8 ^NASB “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” The Sabbath was the sign, the symbol of the Mosaic covenant. Every covenant has a symbol. The Noahic covenant had a symbol, and that is the rainbow. It is a sign that this covenant is still in effect. The sign of a covenant is like a wedding ring. When we enter into marriage we enter into a contractual relationship with our spouse. The sign of those vows is the wedding ring. If there is a divorce then the wedding ring is taken off and the marriage is no longer in effect. When we come to the New Testament it teaches that Christ is the end of the Mosaic law. It was a temporary covenant and it was not made for all time; that is why we have a new covenant. When the old covenant is annulled and taken away the sign of the old covenant was taken away, and the sign of the old covenant was the Sabbath. The Sabbath was set aside in the ceremonial law of the Jews for the purpose of corporate worship. It was a sign of grace and of faith-rest, trusting in God to provide for them. Instead of working they would rest and trust the Lord.

Exodus 20:12 ^NASB “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.” This teaches the concept of respect for parents. This never ends. This is the idea that parents are to be honored, and just as parents are to take care of their children and provide for their financial needs and to give them a start in life, then in return when the children become adults and the parents reach an elderly age part of honoring them is to help take care of them during that time and not leave them destitute on the street. Furthermore, a godly or wise parent, according to Proverbs, lays up an inheritance for his children.

There are always questions raised in the Old Testament about polygamy. In Exodus 20:14 we have the command, ^NASB “You shall not commit adultery.” The interesting thing there is that the word is adultery, it is not fornication. We cannot go to the Ten Commandments for a prohibition of pre-marital sex (we can in other passages) or a prohibition of polygamy. In fact, later on in the Mosaic law the interesting thing is that God regulates polygamy so that the second wife is guaranteed her conjugal rights and her children are guaranteed inheritance. That shows that in the eyes of God that polygamous marriage is legal and therefore sanctified. The prohibition against adultery was never understood to be a prohibition against polygamy.

So the stipulation section of the suzerain-vassal treaty form is expressed here. There is a general requirement for the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17, and then specific requirements in the book of the covenant, Exodus 22-23:13, and that is covered under case law.

The second thing that we have looked at is the ceremonial law. The Mosaic law can be divided into three sections: introduction (Ten Commandments), the civil law, and the ceremonial law. The ceremonial law deals with the priesthood, the sacrificial system, the construction of the tabernacle and the worship system. When we come to the end of the Mosaic law we see in Exodus 24 there is a provision for reading the covenant, and then there are witnesses. In Exodus the witnesses are all the tribes, representing the nation, and the altar of God on the other hand, representing God. Then there is a detail of blessings and cursings.

What does in the Mosaic covenant after giving Israel all of these stipulations is to outline the fact that He as the suzerain, the great King of the nation, is establishing the nation as a theocracy. The chief executive in Israel was God. It was God who was ruling the nation and it was God who was the commander-in-chief of the army. We will see when God prepares to give them the land that all of this constitution is to prepare the nation so that they have a governmental procedure and a code of conduct once they go into the land. God is the one who will be leading the armies, showing that God is the one who gives victory, that the battle is the Lord’s. That is the principle in this entire section. By analogy, just as it is God who is the one who gives the nation victory over here enemies as she goes into the land so it is God through the power of the Holy Spirit—the filling of the Holy Spirit and walking by the Holy Spirit—that gives us the victory over the enemies in the Christian life—the world, the flesh and the devil. The point made in that analogy is that it is to be done God’s way and not man’s way.

As part of the contract God says, If you obey me there are going to be certain blessings, certain things that I will do for you. If you disobey me, on the other hand, there are ways in which I will discipline the nation. Leviticus 26:1, 2 ^NASB “You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a {sacred} pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God. You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the LORD.” These two verses outline the basic commands, really the first two of the Ten Commandments. In other words, God outlaws all idolatry, any worship of any god other than Himself, because He is the foundation for He is the foundation for the entire judicial system in the nation. He is the King and He demands absolute allegiance. Verse 2 brings in the ceremonial law.

The blessings: Leviticus 26:3 ^NASB “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, [4] then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.” This brings in the conditional element to the Mosaic covenant. The other covenants are called unconditional and are permanent covenants with everlasting qualities. The Mosaic covenant is called conditional because its fulfillment is really determined by the obedience or disobedience of the nation. This is also why it is a temporary covenant and will be replaced by the New Covenant, which is permanent. The interesting thing is that the spiritual dynamic of the old covenant is human obedience. And it is a failure. The Jews end up unable to fulfill it and go into idolatry time and time again, and the point of this historically is that God is demonstrating that man on his own can do nothing to live up to the qualifications, expectations and demands of a holy and righteous God. That is why it is replaced by a new covenant when God says: “I will place my Spirit within you and my law within your heart. In other words, God says, You can’t do it on your own; I will do everything for you; I have to do everything in salvation and I have to do everything in the spiritual life.” That is why the spiritual life of the church age is totally predicated on walking by means of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in our life. That is why the spiritual life of the church age is not to be confused with morality.

Leviticus 26:5 ^NASB “Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.” Notice that security is not dependent upon the government. The ultimate issues in life are not economic or material, they are spiritual. How a nation operates spiritually determines everything else. [6] “I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making {you} tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.” Notice how (if they are obedient) God is going to change the dynamics of that country. [7] “But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; [8] five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. [9] So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you.” In other words, God is going to continue to maintain His covenant promises. [10] “You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new. [11] Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you…” We have to take this literally. This is a prophecy of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. This never happened because they rejected the Messiah. That brings in all of the cursings that begin in verse 14 and it is only through the new covenant that is established at the cross that God will eventually restore the nation to the land and make His dwelling with them and His throne in Jerusalem. These promises are going to be brought over into the new covenant and ultimately fulfill them.

That brings us to verse 14 which is the introduction to the five cycles of discipline. What we must understand here is that chapter twenty-six and Deuteronomy twenty-eight is part of a covenant document. This is part of a one-piece contract between God and Israel—only Israel, not any other nation. There is no other nation in history that God has entered into a covenant with.

The cycles of discipline: The first is a loss of health and includes the decline of agricultural prosperity, national terror and death in combat, and the loss of personal freedom through negative volition to Bible doctrine. It is clear that these trends do take place because of the spiritual conditions in other nations, but not at the rigid level they do with Israel.

Leviticus 26:14 ^NASB “But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments,[15] if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances [negative volition] so as not to carry out all My commandments, {and} so break My covenant, [16] I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever [disease in the land] that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away [emotional distress, depression]; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. [17] I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you”—they will have leaders within the government that are operating on policies that are basically tyrannical.

The second cycle of discipline increases economic problems—recession and depression and increased personal and individual divine discipline for continued negative volition in spite of the initial warning of the first cycle of discipline. Leviticus 26:18 ^NASB “If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. [9] I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze.” There is no rain, the ground hardens and doesn’t produce crops. [10] “Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.”

The third cycle of discipline includes violence, a breakdown of law and order and the disintegration of their cities. Leviticus 26:21 ^NASB “If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. [22] I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted.” If we look at the David and Goliath episode, David had been out with the sheep and he had to deal with the wild beasts. Why? The nation was under discipline at that time. They had been under the oppression of the Philistines for about eighty years at that time.

The fourth cycle: Lev 26:23 ^NASB “And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, [24] then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins. [25] I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands. [26] When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts, so that you will eat and not be satisfied.” So there is tremendous economic depression and famine in the land as a result of the fourth cycle of discipline.

The fifth cycle is the destruction of the nation when the people are actually removed out of the nation Israel. There will only be a return if there is a return to positive volition and a desire to obey God. Leviticus 26:27-46.

But there is always grace with judgment. God never simply judges, he also provides a redemptive solution. Leviticus 26:40 ^NASB “If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me—[41] I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, [42] then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land.” The point is that God made unconditional promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Abrahamic covenant, and he will not forget them. They will be restored to the land and they will literally be returned to the land. That happened in 536 BC and it has started again now.

These are the blessings and the curses and it is the outworking of these that forms the structure for everything that happens in Israel’s history through the remainder of the Scripture.

Eventually the Israelites come to Kadesh-barnea. This was the edge of the land that God has promised them and they send spies into the land. Now they completely misunderstand the order. Moses gives them an order in Numbers chapter thirteen, and he says they are going to go into the land to see how God is going to deliver it to them. He doesn’t say to go into the land to find out if God is going to give it to them. We have to pay attention to what God says to us. It is not if, it is how. When the spies came back into the land that said it couldn’t be done, for three reasons: there were fortified cities and they didn’t have the armaments to tear down the walls; there were giants in the land, and they didn’t believe they could defeat them; the people were “like grasshoppers,” so many they would be overwhelmed by their numbers. Only two of the spies were faithful: Joshua and Caleb. So God judged the nation, they were under discipline, and He said they would not enter into land. This is comparable to the carnal believer who does not trust God. The land doesn’t represent heaven; the land represents inheritance. Inheritance has to do with rewards, not redemption. The issue is: are we going to reap the benefits or rewards of that redemption. God has already given them, it is already there, but obedience is the key to enjoying them. So the exodus generation represents believers who are in rebellion against God and refuse to grow and develop capacity in their life to enjoy that freedom, so they go out under divine discipline and everyone over the age of twenty is going to die before the nation can go into the land. For the next forty years they spend most of their time burying people.