The Covenant in the Time of Moses
Covenant Theology 101 (#8)
Covenant Breakers and the Covenant Keeper.
Imagine a man born in slavery. He’s spent his life under the whip—working, obeying, fearing. One night, the master’s house collapses in a storm, and the slaves are told they’re free. The man walks out of Egypt’s dust, heart pounding, unsure what freedom means. Weeks later, the same voice that rescued him speaks again—not to enslave, but to teach him how to live as a child.
That’s the story of Israel—the story of grace.
Psalm 136 recounts it with twenty-six refrains: “his steadfast love endures forever!” The “God of gods” who created “the heavens” (vv. 2, 5) is the same “Lord of lords” who “struck down the firstborn of Egypt…brought Israel out…divided the Red Sea in two…made Israel pass through…led his people through the wilderness...” (vv. 3, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16). Every act from creation to redemption declares his covenant love.
We’ve seen the covenant differently administered in the time of Adam, Noah, and Abraham. What makes the covenant in the time of Moses difficult is that it’s in a form that feels legal (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics; Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology). One writer said there’s no point of theology that has led to more confusion than the Mosaic covenant (Anthony Burgess, Vindiciae Legis: or, a Vindication of the Morall Law and the Covenants). Yet, like the substance of the covenants before, it flows from grace and foreshadows Messiah to come.
Continuing Covenant Theology 101, we explore the covenant in the time of Moses.
Remembering Abraham (Ex. 1–3)
The Mosaic covenant begins with the Lord remembering Abraham.
After Joseph’s death, the Lord blessed Israel to be “fruitful” and to “increase[…] greatly” (1:7) in Egypt. A new Pharaoh enslaved them (1:8–14), but “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied” (1:12). When Pharaoh turned to infanticide (1:15–22), God again acted: “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied” (1:20). At last, “the people of Israel groaned…and cried out for help.” In response, “God heard…remembered…saw…and… knew.” He “remembered his covenant with Abraham” (2:23–25) and sprung to action.
The covenant of grace made with Abraham was the root of this redemption. God proved that his “steadfast love” or covenant faithfulness, endures forever.
Redeeming Wretches (Ex. 12–15:21)
Through nine plagues God humbled Egypt’s gods (12:12). Then came the final blow: the death of the firstborn. To illustrate redemption, each household killed a lamb and marked its blood on the doorposts. “When I see the blood,” God said, “I will pass over you” (12:13). Judgment fell on Egypt, but mercy covered Israel.
That night, after 430 years Egypt, Israel left—just as God had promised Abraham (Ex. 12:40). They crossed the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army drowned. Then Moses led them in song: “You have led in your steadfast love the people who you have redeemed” (Ex. 12:13). “Steadfast love”—God makes and keeps covenants! God didn’t choose Israel because they were mighty, but because he loved them. The Exodus was not reward but rescue.
Feasting in the Wilderness (Ex. 15:22–17:7)
Fresh freedom exposed their unfaithful hearts. Yet the Lord didn’t abandon them—he was administering the covenant of grace.
Just three days after the Red Sea experience, they grumbled about bitter water (15:24). God sweetened it and gave twelve springs (15:27). They “grumbled” again about lacking bread and meat (16:2–3). The Lord rained bread and meat from heaven. They thirsted again, “quarrelling” with Moses (17:2) and “grumbled” (17:3). The Lord told Moses to strike a rock; water gushed out—but Moses hit it twice in anger and defiance (Num. 20). Israel and their leader sinned, yet God provided again and again. The wilderness became a banquet of grace!
Freedom wasn’t earned—it was received. Grace doesn’t quit when we grumble—it keeps providing until gratitude grows.
Michelangelo’s Moses (ca. 1513–15), San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome
Delivering the Law (Ex. 19–23)
Then came Mount Sinai—smoke and fire, thunder and lightning, with fear (Ex. 19). Then the law.
Things look different from the previous covenant. Francis Turretin helpfully distinguished the covenant of grace in its internal and external senses. The covenant of grace operated internally with sinners, but externally it was in “a rigid legal economy” (Institutes of Elenctic Theology; Witsius, The Economy of the Covenants). The laws that speak of personal obedience like Adam’s (“do this and live”) were accidental (Institutes of Elenctic Theology).
Before God gave a single command, he declared, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (20:2). Grace then gratitude; gospel then law. He redeemed them from Egypt “because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers” (Deut. 7:8). God didn’t say, “Obey me and I will save you,” but “I have saved you; now live as my people.” Again, Bavinck helpfully says,
The law of Moses…is not antithetical to grace but subservient to it…the covenant of grace took the law into its service…that it might arouse the consciousness of sin, increase the felt need for salvation, and reinforce the expectation of an even richer revelation of God’s grace…the law…was not a covenant of works in disguise” (Reformed Dogmatics).
As Witsius said, “The law of the covenant of works was repeated, not the covenant of works itself. The covenant of works cannot be entered into with sinners, God did not require perfect obedience, and God did not put them under the curse they would have deserved” (The Economy of the Covenants). The law was not a new covenant of works. It was the same covenant of grace in a strict legal form to reveal sin and point to Christ: “The law was our tutor” (Gal. 3:24)—directing hearts to a Covenant Keeper.
Communing with God (Ex. 25–40)
Finally, God taught his people how to dwell with him. The tabernacle, priesthood, and sacrifices were not signs of his distance but his presence. The God who thundered from Sinai came down to dwell among his people. Every piece of furniture, sacrifice, and priest pointed forward to Christ—the true tabernacle where God meets sinners in mercy.
Covenant Breakers and the Covenant Keeper
The rescued slave learned slowly. Even after freedom, he longed for Egypt, forgetting the whip was gone. So it was with Israel—and so it is with us, covenant breakers. We forget grace. We grumble in the wilderness. We doubt the God who split the sea. Yet his steadfast love endures forever.
The covenant in Moses’ time shows us a God who rescues before he requires, provides before he commands, and dwells with covenant breakers through the blood of the Covenant Keeper. Jesus is the true Moses who delivers us from slavery, feeds us in the wilderness, and writes God’s law not on tablets of stone but on our hearts.
When you feel like that freed slave—uncertain, ungrateful, or afraid—remember this: the same God who redeemed Israel still says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out.” His steadfast love endures forever.