Exodus: Unity of Law and Grace

The Covenant Renewed II

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: The Covenant Renewed II

Genre: Lessons with Q & A

Track: 118

Dictation Name: RR171BL118

Location/Venue:

Year: Early 70’s

Let us worship God. Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jesus said Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Let us pray.

Our Father, we give thanks unto thee that thou hast called us to be thy people, and given us a hunger and thirst after righteousness, after justice. Make us ever zealous in thy service, faithful to thy word, obedient to thy Spirit, and in all things grateful for thy so-great salvation. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Our scripture is Exodus 34:18-28. Our subject for the second time: The Covenant Renewed. The Covenant Renewed. Exodus 34:18-28. “The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.”

In verse 28, we are told that again Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights, and the conditions of the first covenant are reproduced with some additional commandments given to him. God’s supernatural sustenance keeps Moses from both hunger and thirst. In verse 18, the commandment calls for the observance annually of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The golden calf had been celebrated with a feast. The people had needed no requirements to indulge themselves. God’s feast has to be mandatory because man is determined that his own will be done, not God’s. Perhaps if God had required that all men over thirty years of age must eat food, men would go on a hunger strike. Men are that perverse when it comes to God’s law. The festival is God’s requirement. We must rejoice before the Lord.

Men, however, prefer to rejoice apart from God and in defiance of Him. The people had given themselves to false worship. Now as the covenant is renewed, these laws stress true worship. The covenant in its essence means obedience to God’s law. God gives man His law as an act of grace. To obey God is basic to true worship.

In verses 19-20, God declares that all the firstborn are His property. The firstling male of cattle and sheep belong to God. The firstborn males of asses are to be redeemed or killed, and the firstborn males of women are to be redeemed, purchased back. This is a very clear reminder of the death of Egypt’s firstborn. Israel had been called God’s firstborn, and the Lord made provision for Israel’s redemption and Israel is not allowed to forget this. In seeking independence from God, they are seeking death. The meaning, of course, of the redemption of the firstborn and giving the firstborn to God means that the firstborn represents the totality, and in giving the firstborn to God they are giving all. In giving the firstfruits of harvest, they are thereby saying that all is to be used under Him, and the same is true of the tithe.

Now, in verse 21, the observance of the Sabbath is required. Even in planting and in harvest time they are to rest, and it is important to remember that the central aspect of the Sabbath is rest. Worship cannot be made central as the modern church has done however important it is. When we rest in the Lord, we trust in His government of our world, and of our lives. We glorify God in worship and open ourselves to His royal world, but rest precedes worship.

Now it is important to realize that in the Old Testament, until the development of the synagogue system which was instructional and from whence the church is derived. The church is the Christian synagogue. All the males were to appear before the Lord three times at the sanctuary. The males, not everyone. Not the women nor the children, and God says that when they do, neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. Now this is a remarkable fact. It is a promise of God’s providential protection and care in such a time. Moreover, consider this fact: If the males only were to go three times a year to the sanctuary in Jerusalem, during the rest of the year, those males had a priestly duty at home. In other words, it wasn’t up to a priest or a pastor to do the teaching. The head of the household had to do it week in and week out. The family was basic, and although Israel did go to the synagogue system, and God blessed that pattern and made it the pattern of the church, this does not absolve the men of this teaching responsibility. When we realize the survival of Israel over the centuries, we realize that the Jews have survived because of this headship of the male, of the father, and now that it is disappearing, their culture is in a radical state of decay.

In verse 22, we are told that vintage and harvest feasts are to be observed. The Feast of Weeks is also called Pentecost. The first fruits of the wheat harvest and the feast of ingathering are also referred to here. Pentecost came fifty days after the commencement of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was a celebration of peace with God. It was a time of thanksgiving. Of course, all the festivals were a time of thanksgiving, but especially this particular festival. The Feast of Pentecost.

The three festivals when all males had to appear at the sanctuary were the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest when the firstfruits were presented, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year. If Israel would be faithful to the Lord, God says He would give them peace at such times and protect their families and possessions in their absence. This is a remarkable promise. Scripture makes clear that peace, prosperity, and security are closely tied to faithfulness, and this needs to be stressed over and over again. “Except the Lord keep the house,” the Psalmist tells us, “they labor in vain that keep it.”

Except for sacrifices of thanksgiving, only unleavened bread could be offered. The first fruits verse 26 tells us, had to be offered at the sanctuary. Although these gifts went to the priest and to the Levite, some of whom might live very close to the giver, they had to go through the sanctuary normally to stress the centrality of God and His covenant law, that they were giving essentially to God and at His commandment.

Then finally we are told in the series of laws that a kid could not be boiled in its mother’s milk. There are various implications to this and we’ve considered this at other times. But in this context, the stress in on faithfulness to God’s covenant as against the man-centered practices of their time. God’s order has to be maintained. Whereas paganism had no compunction about killing a bird and its young, God’s law worked against the kind of obliterating killing and insensitivity. In every area of life, in other words, God’s order must be maintained.

The Ten Commandments were again written, verse 28 tells us, on tables of stone. These laws stressed, in this particular chapter, the renewal of the covenant, do speak of their recent apostasy. They have that apostasy in mind and so certain things are stressed. They also make clear that God’s law is to be proclaimed to all the people. In Antiquity as now, all non-biblical laws are arbitrary and manmade. They represent the will of a ruler. They represent an oligarchy, a majority or a minority, an imposition on all others. They have no roots in man’s being. They have no foundation in God’s order, so man’s laws are easily disobeyed. But God’s law is basic to all creation, because “all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made,” as John 1:3 tells us. This is the inescapable law of man’s being. He is God’s creation, and as St. Augustine observed after reflecting on the disasters of his life apart from god: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.”

Fallen man seeks to be his own god, and therefore, he is in total revolt against God’s law, but his revolt is futility because it places him at war with God and with himself, because he has been created by God, everything in him witnesses against himself and in favor of God. Men may suppress this knowledge in their evil and injustice. As Paul says in Romans 1:18, “This knowledge is inescapable and cannot be hid.” In Romans 1:20, Paul says, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead, so they are without excuse.”

A police detective told me that this was one of the most important texts in the Bible for him because it was what made police work for him easy. He said a thief will do everything to leave a calling card behind. Sometimes he will even leave a letter addressed to him. So he said if you are really, you have the time to follow up on the leads, crimes are, for the most part, readily soluble. Our problem today is that there are too many to follow up on.

Erol J. Brock observed, and I quote, “We cannot understand salvation without understanding the law of God.” Because men have the obligation to be righteous or just, they are never released from the obligation to obey God’s law. “Of necessity,” as Brock said, “where there is government there is law.” So the question is whose government? Whose law? God’s or man’s? In the law, Brock added, “God has revealed His will. Man must decide who shall be God.” We must remember that the golden calf was given God’s name by Israel. Man always tries to mark his idolatries and his apostasies with noble terms and purposes. He always has a good excuse for sinning. We see the absurdity of this in the golden calf episode, but we see it less readily in our time and in ourselves. Now this is a central reason for the unpopularity of the Bible with many, many people. Most religions and philosophies present us with seemingly noble sentiments and premises, all of which are often pretentious. The Bible is very personal and direct and this men do not like. One of the best things Mark Twain ever said that it was not the passage in the Bible that he did not understand that bothered him, but the ones he understood.

I read recently of a titled Englishman in the last century who asked his rector about heaven, stating he assumed that in heaven there would be a maintenance of appropriate rank and station. What the rector answered, the account did not tell me, but the Bible is very clear. Our Lord says more than once, “But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” Let us pray.

Our Father, we thank thee for thy word. We thank thee that faithfulness, obedience gives us such great promises, that thy protecting hand is upon us, that before and after we are surrounded by thy mercies. Give us grace to walk day by day, in faith and obedience, ever confident that because thy word is truth, and we are thy people, the blessings thou hast promised are inescapable. Bless us in thy service. In Christ’s name, amen. Are there any questions now about our lesson? You know when a child refused to release their offering money they have at least learned the value of money. Yes?

[Audience] Heard it said that the Protestant Reformation emphasized the Priesthood of all believers, based on verse 23. Would it be more accurate to say scripture teaches the priesthood of male heads of household?

[Rushdoony] The Priesthood of all believers is stressed in all of scripture, Old and New Testaments, that has reference to our approach to God. A woman does not have to pray through her husband, ask her husband to pray for her. The priesthood of all believers means that all of us have direct access to God. In the social context, what this means is that, in the family, the male has a responsibility. The husband and father, a teaching function. The maintenance of an order. So, there is a difference between the two. We are told by Paul that in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Gentile, Greek nor barbarian. All have equal access to God. But that doesn’t eliminate the social order. On the human level, there are authorities. It doesn’t mean, that say, in a university classroom, the student takes the position of equality with a professor, or that the child is on an equal basis with father and mother. The social order is maintained. In the context of that social order, all the men have a greater responsibility and therefore, a greater culpability. Yes?

[Audience] You stated that God’s law must always supersede man’s later, but in previous sermons you stated that we’re also obligated to observe civil law. When civil law conflicts with God’s law, what does one do?

[Rushdoony] Well, the very existence of civil law means there is a conflict with God’s law. What the Puritans did in New England was to work towards the establishment of God’s law as the law of society, and John Elliot succeeded in establishing praying villages of Indians, as they were called, where the Indians governed themselves completely in terms of God’s law, and they functioned and prospered. All that was destroyed and they were scattered by Charles II as soon as he came to the throne. As a matter of fact, Charles II ordered that every copy of John Elliot’s book, The Christian Commonwealth, which was simply biblical law applied to the running of society, be burned by the public hangman. Two copies escaped. One of these days, I hope, when we have the funds, to reprint John Elliot’s The Christian Commonwealth. Very important work. In other words, what Charles II was saying, “My law takes precedence over God’s law, and God’s law must not be published or advocated.” So, the existence of civil law today as we have it is increasingly a manmade law, departs from God’s law. It is a violation at point after point of God’s law. We cannot be in total rebellion against the state, because scripture forbids that. Our duty, therefore, is to reclaim one area of life after another for Christ, not through revolution but regeneration. Now, the point at which we must obey God rather than the state, rather than man, is where the state seeks to usurp the powers of Christ’s kingdom, to control the church, to destroy the life of the church, to render the church no more than an agency of state, and of course, this is the current move in this country. That’s why we have the trials and the battles in legislatures, against attempts to control Christian churches, schools, homeschools, and families. At that point, we have a duty to resist. Otherwise, we would be in total war, and not revolution but regeneration must be our methodology. Yes?

[Audience] You said that rest precedes worship on the Sabbath. . .

[Rushdoony] Could you speak up?

[Audience] Yes. Rest precedes worship on the Sabbath. Do you have any idea what that rest was like on the pre . . .

[Rushdoony] The essence of the rest that must mark the Lord’s Day is that, well, I think young William Borden, of the Borden family, who was converted as a student at Yale and then went as a missionary to Egypt and then died there, what he wrote in his Bible after his conversion was that, it was a prayer that he be given grace by God to take hands off his life and commit it to God. So, if we spend the Lord’s Day doing nothing but we’re planning our week, or our future, that’s working. We’re saying we cannot leave our future in God’s hands, so the essence of rest is to leave our lives in God’s hands. When we can do that on the Lord’s Day, we can do it day by day all week, even as we’re working, and the whole point of the worship is to teach us that rest. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Audience] Mark Twain, on the nature of heaven again, he said that in heaven, people who were unable for various reason to realize their potential on earth would be given that status in heaven, so the greatest military genius in heaven was a man who had spent his life on earth as a tailor, and Napoleon was way down in the ranks.

[Rushdoony] His account is a delightful bit of humor, and his account also of Adam in the Garden of Eden when he suddenly discovers Eve is hilarious fun if you haven’t read it, it’s worth reading. Any other questions or comments? Well, if not, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we thank thee for thy mercies and blessings, and for the certainty of thy word. We thank thee that thy word leaves us without excuse, for our hearts are full of excuses. That because of thy word, we know that this is the way and we must walk therein. Give us grace so to walk, to thank thee for thy mercies, thy grace, and thy patience with us. And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.

End of tape.