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Worked out consistently in everyday life, the law code in Exodus would truly mark Israel as a unique people
with a unique God. By not adopting the practices of other nations, they were to be a witness to the
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greatness of YHWH and thus part of the blessing to the nations intended by YHWH. The law was an
expression of God’s love for the nation of Israel based on his gracious deliverance of them from slavery in
Egypt. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery (20:2). It was also
to be an attractive lifestyle alternative that would call to other people.
We return to the basic spiritual question of the Old Covenant. Can we obey? Can we be good enough to
earn God’s favor? We know the outcome of history. Israel failed. All this fear of God could not change their
hearts. The threat of death or another form of judgment is never enough to change one human heart. The
problem is driven home later by Moses, “Circumcise your hearts (Deut. 10:16),” and echoed by Jeremiah
(4:4). God is holy, special. His people must be the same. If they are not, they will be destroyed.
As we stand in the crowd at Mount Sinai and feel those drops of animal blood strike us, and as we call out
our enthusiastic obedience, we may have a memory of other spiritual lessons. We may have heard our
parents or someone from the previous generation tell us about our ancestor Abraham. Didn’t God promise
that a Messiah would come through Abraham? Wasn’t that Messiah supposed to be very special to God?
Your memory may even dredge up lessons about Adam and Eve and one descendant who would destroy
Satan. All of these memories might even mix with your own experience of eating a lamb and sprinkling its
blood on your doorposts. You or a sibling lived while so many were dying in Egypt. Perhaps your faith was in
that old promise given to Abraham some 430 years ago. Perhaps you understood the grace of a coming
Messiah and distinguished the difference between your faith and your words of obedience.
61 Vogt, 29f.
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