The Sinai Covenant Oath of Allegiance
24: 1-3
The Sinai Covenant Oath of Allegiance DIG: What happened to Nadab and Abihu when they disobeyed (Second Kings 10:2)? Do you think either Moses or God expected the people to meet all their covenant duties? Why or why not? How does 24:3 prove there is no Oral Law?
REFLECT: What kinds of promises have you made to God? Have you found it difficult to keep these promises? Why or why not?
When compared with Suzerainty Treaties, the Torah would have an oath of allegiance. This oath was eventually restated once the people were in the Land after forty years of wilderness wanderings (Joshua 24:16-18, 21, 24). God directed Moses and the people how they were to approach Him on Mount Sinai. Before this Moses had placed before Isra’el the conditions of their covenant with God; this being completed, Moses, Aaron and his sons, and the seventy elders who represented the people, were to stand at a distance and prepare to obtain a glimpse of the Sh’khinah glory. Alone, Moses then ascended to the top of the mountain. Moses fasted alone, and like the high priests after him, he entered into the Sh’khinah glory alone.
Then God said to Moses, His mediator: Come up to ADONAI, you, Aaron and his two oldest sons Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Isra’el. You are to worship at a distance, but Moses alone is to approach ADONAI. The others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him (24:1-2). How different things are under the Torah than under the New Covenant. Under the Torah the Israelites had to worship at a distance, but in Christ you, who once were far away, have been brought near through the shedding of Messiah’s blood (Ephesians 2:13).
When Moses went and told the people everything that YHVH had said in Chapter 20 and the commandments in Chapters 21 through 23. Words mean something in the Bible. When God says that He gives us eternal life (John 10:28), He means eternal. And when the Bible says that Moshe told the people everything that YHVH had said, it means EVERYTHING. Judaism teaches that ADONAI gave additional commandments orally to Moses (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ei – The Oral Law), which they consider of even greater authority than the Torah. But Exodus 24:3 disproves the existence of an oral tradition because it says that Moses wrote down EVERYTHING that YHVH had said. And everything means everything!
The people responded with one voice saying: Everything ADONAI has said we will do (24:3). With this oath of allegiance, they agreed to obey the Torah. It was the second time they had done so. They were so self-confident, that it bordered on arrogance. They promised to obey everything God had said that they should do even before they knew what would be expected of them! One wonders how they could be so deceived. One wonders how we can be so deceived. If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (First John 1:8). If you say you have no sin you won’t be deceiving your friends or your neighbors, you will be deceiving yourself. And in case you missed it, John repeats again: If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word is not in us (First John 1:10). But God is no liar. It is best not to boast in our goodness like the children of Isra’el did, because as you will see, they did not keep their word.457
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