"The Old Covenant"

When Jacob and his sons moved into Egypt, they were an extended family, but their descendants left Egypt as a large body of populous tribes.  (Exodus 1:5-7; 12:37, 38) Before Jehovah brought them to Canaan, he led them southward to the foot of a mountain named Horeb (or, Sinai) In Arabia.  There, he made a covenant  with them.  This came to be called "the old covenant" in relation to "the new covenant." (2 Corinthians 3:14) By means of the old covenant, Jehovah administered in an illustrative way the fulfillment of his covenant with Abraham.

Jehovah explained to Israel the terms of this covenant:  "If you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and  a holy  nation." (Exodus 19:5,6)   Jehovah has promised that Abraham's seed would (1) become a great nation, (2) be given victory over their enemies, (3) inherit the land of Canaan, and (4) be a channel for blessings in the nations.  Now he  revealed that they themselves could inherit  these blessings as his special people, Israel, "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation," If they would obey his commands.  Did the Israelites  agree to enter into this covenant?  they answered as one person:  "All that Jehovah has spoken we are willing to do." -Exodus 19:8. 

Hence, Jehovah organized the Israelites into a nation.  He gave them laws regulating worship and civil life.  He also provided a tabernacle (later, a temple in Jerusalem)  and a priesthood to render sacred service in the tabernacle. Keeping the covenant meant obeying Jehovah's laws and, especially, worshiping only him.  The first of the Ten Commandments that were the nucleus of those laws was:  "I am  Jehovah your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.  You must not have any other gods against my face." -Exodus 20:2, 3.

Next time: Blessings Through the Law Covenant

From the Watchtower magazine, 1998