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The Scriptorium

God's Covenant Renewed

After 400 years, God renews His covenant with Israel.

The Heart of God: Exodus through Joshua (1)

And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24.27

Read and meditate on Exodus 1-3 and 6.1-2.
By the time this next period of revelation begins, 400 years have passed (Gen. 15.13). The focus changes as God begins to concentrate on a people rather than on just one family. His work of creating a people for Himself accelerates and expands in this new epoch, and we should expect to see His covenant take on some new dimensions in order to accommodate to the changing circumstances of God’s people. We will also see that each of the unifying threads of Scripture comes into focus in bolder and more dramatic ways, as God continues to act toward His people according the Word of promise He spoke to Abraham, and the purpose for which He created people in the beginning.

For reflection
1.  At the very beginning of this new epoch God made the point of showing the continuity of all He was about to do with all He had already done. How can you see that, for example, in Exodus 2.23-25? How did God regard the covenant He had made with Abraham? How should this instruct us in our period of living in God’s covenant?

2.  In Exodus 3, how did God make it clear to Moses and us that what He was preparing to do for His people was based on His covenant with Abraham? What are the implications of this for the promises God made to Abraham? How can you see that being renewed in God’s covenant is a work of God first of all?

3.  What Name did God give Moses for identifying Him to the people? This Name seems to derive from the Hebrew verb to be and carries the meaning of self-determined, perpetual being and existence. Why is this a fitting way to think about the God of the covenant? How would this Name have encouraged His people? What does God’s Name suggest about His glory?

4.  In Exodus 6.1-12, God is adamant about His covenant. Not only did He establish the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but He is determined to continue that same covenant with this generation of Israelites. The word remember here, and in Exodus 2.24, means something like actively attended to. What does God’s attitude toward His covenant suggest about what ours should be?

5.  Neither Israel nor Pharaoh listened to Moses on his first attempt to bring the people out of Egypt. The people had been groaning in their captivity and crying out to God for relief. Yet, when Moses came to them, they rejected him. Why (cf. Ex. 5.15-21)? Should God’s people expect opposition as they begin to pursue God’s promises? Is stretching out into a fuller realization of God’s covenant a scary proposition? Explain.

Summary
God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt unto Himself, so that He could renew His covenant with them, now as a great people and not simply a family. But captivity, be it ever so onerous, can become a kind of comfort zone against the unknown. Is it possible that God’s people today are too comfortable in a captivity of their own to begin moving in new ways toward the promises of God? Explain.

Closing Prayer
Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.
He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.
He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.

Psalm 105.22-26

T. M. Moore

Two books can help you gain a fuller understanding of the terrain we will be covering in this series. Kingdom Documentsprovides a concise overview of the primary teaching of the Old and New Testaments, and shows, through early Church creeds, how our forebears understand the primary teachings of God’s Word. (click here to order). I Will Be Your God develops more fully the idea of God’s covenant and leads us to consider the practical implications of our covenant relationship with God (click here).

Visit The Ailbe Seminary, where our course,
Introduction to Biblical Theology, offers a parallel study of our theme in this series, using brief video presentations and the workbook God’s Covenant: An Introduction. All courses at The Ailbe Seminary are available without charge.

We are happy to be able to offer each week’s Scriptorium studies in a free weekly PDF, suitable for personal or group use. You can download all the studies in this series by clicking here. Please prayerfully consider sharing with The Fellowship of Ailbe through your giving. You can contribute to The Fellowship by clicking the Contribute button at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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