1God spoke all these words, saying, 2“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3“You shall have no other gods before me.
4“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7“You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.
8“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9You shall labor six days, and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; 11for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.
12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
13“You shall not murder.
14“You shall not commit adultery.
15“You shall not steal.
16“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
18All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance. 19They said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die.”
20Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won’t sin.” 21The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
22Yahweh said to Moses, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23You shall most certainly not make gods of silver or gods of gold for yourselves to be alongside me. 24You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you. 25If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it. 26You shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed to it.’
The Mosaic Covenant followed the form of the fourteenth/thirteenth century B.C. Hittite International Treaties. This is not unexpected since Moses was educated as a prince of Egypt, so he would have been taught the matters of the military, law, and international diplomacy, among other subjects. With information on the Hittite treaty form and reading Exodus 19-25, we may understand better several elements within these chapters, as well as the remainder of the books of Moses.
In the words of Professor Kenneth Kitchen, an ancient Near Eastern historian and Egyptologist:
"Sometimes some elements are omitted, but the order of them is almost invariable, whenever the original texts are sufficiently well preserved to be analyzed. This is, therefore, a stable form in the period concerned." Ancient Orient and Old Testament, p. 93.
Let us examine the breakdown of the international treaty along with the Mosaic account:
1. The Date: "third month after the children of Israel had gone out of Egypt, on that same day when they came into the wilderness of Sinai." (Exod 19:1-2)
2. Geographical Setting and Activity of the King (the Suzerain): "the wilderness of Sinai . . . before the mountain." (Exod 19:1 -2)
3. Mediator of the Covenant (title, activity, and message of the Suzerain) (Exod 19:4-25)
a. The Mediator: Moses and his activity (Exod 19:3)
b. The message of the Suzerain: Israel will be His people if they pay attention to His words, and keep His covenant (Exod 19:4-25)
(1) God's intent to make the covenant (Exod 19:4-6)
(2) Israel's response to God's words: "All that Yahweh has spoken we will do." (Exod 19:7-8)
(3) Moses repeats to the people of Israel the response of Yahweh and His instructions on how to prepare for the reception of the covenant (Exod 19:9-15)
(4) The reception of the covenant (Exod 19:16-25)
The covenant is first given in Exodus 20-31, and then broken in Exodus 32-33, but immediately renewed in Exodus 34 (compare Deuteronomy and Joshua 24).
1. The Preamble: The purpose of the Preamble is to identify the Suzerain (the great King), who is the creator of the covenant that gives it to the vassals. The focus is on the majesty and power of the king (Exod 20:1; Deut 1:1-5; Josh 24:1-2a).
2. The Historical Prologue: The Historical Prologue rehearses the past relationship between the Suzerain and the vassal, recounting the benevolent deeds the great King has already performed on the vassal’s behalf. By grounding the covenant in this history of grace, it calls the vassal to obey out of gratitude rather than mere obligation. In the Mosaic covenant this appears in the reminder, “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exod 20:2; Deut 1:6-3:29; Josh 24:2b-13).
I have relied on the class notes of Professor Ralph Alexander, Western Seminary, 1973-1974; Kenneth A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament, pp. 90-102; Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King; George E. Mendenhall, "Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East," Biblical Archaeologist, 17:2-3 (1951); and Cleon L. Rogers, "The Covenant with Moses and Its Historical Setting," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 14:3 (Summer, 1971), pp. 141-155.