Hebrews Chapter Nine, The Provisional Covenant

 

Hebrews 9:18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. [19] For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and the people, [20] saying,  “This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.” [21] Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. [22] And according to the law almost all things are purified wit blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

 

The first covenant was the Sinaitic covenant, made between Yahweh and the people of Israel, after He led them out of Egypt and judged their gods. The record states it as such: “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions,” Genesis 15: 12-14.

As far back as Abram, before he bore a son—either Ishmael or Isaac—God foretold the fortunes of the people He would take out from the nations. Their wandering in Canaan, apart from the peoples settled there, coupled with their slavery in Egypt, would mark them as a unique people group. God would permit their affliction in Egypt while matters in Canaan continued to decline. One reason for this timing was certainly providential. God told Abram, “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete,” Genesis 15:16. The Canaanites, represented by the Amorites in this verse, had not yet become so wicked that God was willing to expunge them. But the time was coming, and God knew it, so He would preserve His chosen people in Egypt; the Egyptians found shepherding odious and would not co-mingle with them for it, Genesis 43:32, 46:34.

 

The fourth generation God mentions seems to be the descent beginning with the men who entered Egypt at Pharaoh’s behest for Joseph’s sake. Abram begot Isaac. Isaac begot Jacob, who begot the twelve patriarchs, of whom Levi is chiefly important for the context. Levi begot Kohath, who in turn begot Amram. Amram begot Aaron (the elder brother) and Moses. If you begin with Levi, who sojourned into Egypt with his brothers, the fourth generation leads to Moses, who, of course, would be chosen of God to lead His people back out of Egypt, since the iniquity of the Amorites was apparently now complete. See Exodus 6:16-20.

 

More importantly, the remainder of Genesis chapter 15 is extremely crucial in understanding first the Abrahamic covenant, and also the Sinaitic. There are large contrasts between the two. Abraham prepared the calf (among other animals) to walk between and take an oath: an ancient tradition to demonstrate solidarity between parties when affirming a matter, Genesis 15:10, see also Jeremiah 34:18. Genesis 15:17 relates that Abram watched God walk between the parts of the calf without him. God took an oath, promising to Abram that to his seed, his physical descendants through Isaac, Jacob, and the 12 patriarchs, He would give Canaan as a permanent possession. There was nothing in the nomenclature that indicated an “if you, then I” clause, such as is found in Leviticus chapter 26. Abram bore witness while God swore an oath. Canaan, later to become Israel, belonged to those who are Jews by descent from Abraham.

 

Moving to chapter 17, verses 7-11, we find an addition seemingly made during another conversation between the Lord and Abraham. The provision of circumcision was implemented for the Jewish man as a sign (or symbol) of the covenant between God and Abraham’s seed, Genesis 17:11. Circumcision was a Jewish sign, denoting such a person as a physical descendant of the patriarch Abraham, and by birthright an inheritor of those promises. What were those promises? “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites,” Genesis 15:18-21.

 

The covenant symbol of circumcision was an important aspect of proto-Judaism. So much so that God warned that any individual who did not obey the injunction would be cut off from his people, Genesis 17:14. In Moses’ time, he might have died at God’s hand, had his wife Zipporah not obeyed the ancient commandment and circumcised their son, Exodus 4:24-26. Like water baptism in the Christian church, circumcision did not save; but failure to obey could cost a man his life, as in Moses’ case. Note that this entire history thus far recorded hasn’t even reached Mount Sinai yet, and the agreement made between the people and the Lord.

 

At last the provisional covenant, typified with the “if you, then I” clause, was established after Israel’s departure from Egypt. Yahweh said, “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; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” Exodus 19:5, 6, NASB. The Lord offered terms of agreement upon which they would enter into covenant with Him, and become, as He stated, His possession. The congregation of Israel answered, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” Exodus 19:8, NASB. What followed was the giving of the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments, and numerous additional commandments; as well as the designs for the tabernacle through which Israel would offer sacrifice to God.

 

Twice more after hearing the various commandments God issued from the mount, the congregation exclaimed in unison, “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do! All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” Exodus 24:3, 7, NASB. The covenant was ratified with blood. After the initial agreement, after the reading of the Law, and after a secondary, voluntary acceptance of the terms, Moses sprinkled the blood of animals upon them. In the new covenant, made within and between the members of the Godhead (see Hebrews 9:14), the blood of Christ was used to ratify the covenant: a covenant that was not between men and God, but one made between God the Son and God the Father, else it would have failed, Hebrews 8:8.