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THE FIRST OR
OLD COVENANT FROM SINAI INCLUDED THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, AND
ENJOINED THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH
We now come to the Sabbath as
instituted in the Ten Commandment law given on Sinai.
With this law the Sabbath either stands or falls. A
covenant was made with the children of Israel "from
Sinai, which gendereth to bondage" (Gal. 4:24). Paul
terms it the "first covenant" (Heb. 8:7); the
"old" covenant (vs. 13). The question,
then, to be settled is, What constituted the old or
first covenant which came from Sinai? The Bible
answer is clear. "And Moses rose up early in the
morning, and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the Lord
had commanded him, and took in his hand the two
tables of stone." "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" (Exod. 34:4, 28). "The Lord
our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord
made not this covenant with our fathers, but with
us.... The Lord talked with you face to face in the
mount out of the midst of the fire, . . . saying, . . . [1]
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [2] Thou shalt
not make thee any graven image: . . . thou shalt not bow
down thyself unto them, nor serve them.... [3] Thou
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. ...
[4] Keep the Sabbath Day.... The seventh day is the
Sabbath.... [5] Honor thy father and thy mother. . .
. [6] Thou shalt not kill. [7] Neither shalt thou commit
adultery. [8] Neither shalt thou steal. [9] Neither shalt
thou bear false witness.... [10] Neither shalt thou
covet.... These words spake the Lord unto all your
assembly in the mount: . . . and he added no more. And he
wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto
me" (Deut. 5:2-22).
"And he declared unto you his
covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even Ten
Commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of
stone" (Deut. 4:13).
"when I was going up into the
mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of
the covenant which the Lord made with you" (Deut.
9:9). "The Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even
the tables of the covenant." (vs. 11).
"The ark, wherein is the
covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when
he brought them out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings
8:21). "There was nothing in the ark save the two
tables of stone" (1 Kings 8:9), "the tables of
the covenant" (Heb. 9:4).
Comments could not make these texts
prove more clearly that the ten commandments were the
covenant from Sinai. Eight clear texts declare that that
"covenant" was "the Ten Commandments."
I shall next prove that the
breaking of any of the Ten Commandments was called
breaking the covenant.
"They have forsaken the
covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made
with them when he brought them forth out of the land of
Egypt: for they went and served other gods, and worshipped
them" (Deut. 29:25, 26). "This people will rise
up, and go a whoring after the gods of strangers . . . and
will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made
with them" (Deut. 31:16).
"And it came to pass, when the
judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted
themselves more than their fathers, in following other
gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; . . . this
people hath transgressed my covenant" (Judges 2:19,
20).
"Ye have transgressed the
covenant of the Lord your God, . . . and have gone and
served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them"
(Josh. 23:16). Also read 1 Kings 11:9-11; Jer. 11:10;
22:9.
Here we have seven texts which
declare that by the children of Israel's breaking the
first commandments of the Decalogue they
"broke," "forsook," and
"transgressed" God's covenant. This proves
beyond question that the Decalogue was the first covenant;
for "the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them,
saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves
to them, nor serve them" (2 Kings 17:35).
Again in 2 Kings 17:15, 16, we read
that they made "molten images" and worshipped
them, and by so doing rejected "his covenant that he
made with their fathers." So by breaking the second
commandment of the Decalog they rejected his covenant.
"Lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord . . . and
make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything"
(Deut. 4:23).
On account of Israel's stealing and
coveting, thus breaking the eighth and tenth commandments
of the Decalogue, God said, "Israel hath sinned, and
they have also transgressed my covenant" (Josh.
7:10-12, 21). By breaking the sixth commandment Israel
forsook the covenant. (2 Kings 19:9, 10)
Surely the twenty foregoing texts
are sufficient to prove that the "Ten
Commandments" were the first covenant, the one from
Sinai. It must be a desperate case that will cause people
to reject these plain statements of the Bible, and look
elsewhere for that covenant.
"Therefore it is fixed and
settled by all the above quotations, and the concurrence
of all other scriptures, that the Sinai covenant embraced
the 'ten words' of the stone tables. Now, the law for the
seventh day Sabbath is found in this covenant, written on
stone. Therefore every time the Word of God declares that
the covenant delivered on Sinai is abolished it asserts
the abrogation of the seventh day Sabbath. And because of
the strong array of New Testament scriptures which
positively assert the abrogation of that Ten Commandment
covenant made on Sinai, the Adventists have diligently
sought out some new device to deny that the Decalog is the
covenant which God made with Israel at that time, and to
find something else to which they can apply the covenant.
"But let us examine their new
invention. Avoiding the definition that God give us no
less than twenty times, of the covenant that he made on
Sinai, they appeal to the dictionary and find this
definition: 'Covenant. A mutual agreement of two or more
persons or parties, in writing and under seal,' etc. Then
confining the covenant made on Sinai within this single
definition, they look for something that answers .thereto,
or rather they search for something else besides the Ten
Commandments to which they may apply those scriptures that
declare the abrogation of the old covenant. So in their
literature and preaching they light upon Exod. 19:5-8.
'Here,' say they, 'is an agreement between God and the
people; and this promise on the part of Israel to do all
that God had spoken, is the covenant made on Sinai.'
"An argument is drawn from the
fifth verse, which reads thus: 'Now therefore, if ye will
obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall
be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.' The word
'covenant' occurring in the context of the people's
promise to obey all that God had spoken, is used to prove
that that agreement alone constituted the covenant. U.
Smith asserts in a little work that this agreement, and
nothing else, was the old covenant, and that nothing else
was abolished by the bringing in of the new order under
Christ Jesus.
"1. The Word does not assert
that the promise of the people to obey God, alone
constitutes the covenant made on Sinai. But it is
repeatedly declared that the ten words written in the
stone tables were included in the covenant made with
Israel at that time and place.
"2. If the response on the
part of Israel to obey what God had spoken, only was the
covenant; and if nothing else, as U. Smith affirms, was
abolished in Christ, then the ceremonial laws, and the
penalty of death for the violation of the Sabbath, and the
other judgments written in the book of the law, are all
yet in force.
"3. If that agreement on the
part of the people of God to obey him was the covenant,
and nothing else, and if that only was done away in
Christ, then it follows that in Christ Jesus we cease to
be under covenant obligations to obey God."
"The word 'covenant' in Exodus
and Deuteronomy referring to the law of God given on Sinai
is from berith Hebrew, and the same thing in
the New Testament is from the Greek word diatheke.
It is translated 'testament' thirteen times. And in the
following instances, where rendered 'covenant,' in the
margin it is more correctly translated 'testament'; Rom. 9
:4; Gal. 3 :15; 4:24; Heb. 8:6;12:24; 13:20. It is seen
that in Heb. 9:16 the word is used in the sense of a will,
such as men make for the disposition of their property,
etc.... In Heb. 9:15 the same word is used with reference
to both the old and the new testament. If, therefore,
diatheke simply means a mutual agreement, then the twenty
seven books we have been in the habit of calling the New
Testament are not the 'new testament.' "
"But let us look at their
position again. A covenant is a mutual agreement between
two or more parties; therefore the Ten Commandments are
not the covenant made on Sinai, because they are not such
an agreement. Again, say they, 'The new covenant written
in the heart are the Ten Commandments formerly written in
stone.' But the same word, diatheke, occurs in Heb. 9:15
in speaking of both the old testament and the new.
Therefore, if the 'old diatheke' cannot be the Ten
Commandments because the word means a 'mutual contract,'
then, for the same reason, the 'new diatheke' cannot be
the Ten Commandments. Thus their scheme to overthrow the
fact that the old covenant includes the ten stone written
words overthrows their own position that the Decalogue is
the new covenant.
"Let us now see what the real
Scriptural meaning of the word 'covenant' or 'testament'
is. 'Testament. 1. A solemn, authentic instrument in
writing, by which a person declares his will as to the
disposal of his estate and effects after death. 2. One of
the two general divisions of the canonical books of the
sacred Scriptures; as, the Old Testament; the New
Testament.' These are the only definitions given in
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
" 'Diatheke, any disposition,
arrangement, institution, or dispensation: hence a
testament, will (Heb. 9:15).— Greenfield
" 'Diatheke, a disposition,
arrangement. A testament, a will. The Abrahamic covenant.
The Mosaic covenant, entered into at Mount Sinai, with
sacrifices and the blood of victims (see Exod. 24:3-12;
Deut. 5:2). The new covenant, the Gospel
Dispensation.'—Robinson's Lexicon.
" Thus, the covenant of Sinai
was conditioned by the observance of the Ten Commandments
(Exod. 34:27, 28; Lev. 26:15), which are therefore called
"Jehovah's covenant" (Deut. 4:13), a name which
was extended to all the books of Moses, if not to the
whole body of Jewish canonical Scriptures (2 Cor. 3:13,
14). This last mentioned covenant, which was renewed at
different periods, is one of the two principal covenants
between God and man. They are distinguished as old and new
(Jer. 31:31-34; Heb, 8:8-13; 10:16).'—Smith and Barnum's
Dictionary
"Thus, we see by Scriptural
use and standard authorities that the word rendered
'covenant' signifies a 'will,' a 'dispensation,' etc., and
the Ten Commandment covenant is cited as an example. The
word is properly used to designate the two general
divisions of the Bible. The Decalog, properly speaking, is
the old covenant, but as the last authority has truthfully
observed, the old testament is also used in an extended
sense, as including all the books of Moses, or the entire
body of the Sinaitic law.
"We have now proved that the
very word 'covenant' in its Scriptural meaning is in
perfect accord with the statements of the Almighty when
'he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you
to perform, even the Ten Commandments; and he wrote them
on two tables of stone' (Deut. 4:13). But once more, the
Adventist teachers will cry, 'A covenant is an agreement
with some one, but such is not the Decalogue.' Here is
God's answer by Moses: 'When I was gone up into the mount
to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the
covenant which the Lord made with you' (Deut. 9:9)."
Every effort to exclude the
Decalogue from the Sinaitic covenant is squarely against
the Bible. But let us examine closer. The Decalog did
enter into, and become a part of, an agreement between the
Lord and Israel. The Decalog was the basis of the whole
arrangement at Sinai. There. fore, by way of eminence, it
alone was frequently called "the covenant."
We open at Exod. 19 and read:
"In the third month, when the children of Israel were
gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came
they into the wilderness of Sinai" (vs. 1). Moses was
mediator between the Lord and the children of Israel (see
vs. 3). Moses came down and delivered to Israel God's
terms. "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice
indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar
treasure unto me above all people" (vss. 5, 7). The
people answered, "All that the Lord hath spoken we
will do" (vs. 8). Here was an agreement between God
and Israel. They agreed to obey his covenant, and he
agreed to bless them.
Next they prepared to hear his
voice, to hear the covenant ( vss. 9-25 ) . Then chapter
20 begins with God speaking aloud to Israel, and the very
first thing heard are the Ten Commandments, extending to
verse 17. He then follows the Ten Commandments with
various precepts through Moses, to the end of chapter 23.
"Moses came and told the people all the words of the
Lord." "And all the people answered with one
voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said
will we do" (chap. 24:3). Then "Moses wrote all
the words of the Lord" in a book, verse 4, and that
book was called "the book of the covenant" (vs.
7).
"And he took the book of the
covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they
said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be
obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on
the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant
which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these
words" (Exod. 24:7, 8).
That closed the covenant. It
embraced all included in the record from Exod. 19:1 to
Exod. 24:8, for this is the covenant in detail written
out. It was a testament, disposition, arrangement; and an
agreement between God and the Israelites. But is the
Decalogue included in it? Adventists might as well deny
that the sun shines. It is written out in full in the
covenant (Exod. 20:1-17); and the seventh day Sabbath is
in its very heart (vss. 8-11). We are sure that this was
the first or old covenant. Paul quotes Exod. 24:7, 8, and
says it was "the first covenant" (see Heb. 9:18
20). That settles it.
The Decalog was such a prominent
part of the Covenant that the stones on which it was
written were called "the tables of the covenant"
(Deut. 9:9), the book which it was written was called
"the book of the covenant" (Exod. 24:7); and the
ark in which it was deposit was called "the ark of
the covenant" (Deut. 31:26).
All Saturday keepers rest their
claims for the observance of that day upon the Decalog.
But the Decalogue was a prominent part of the
"old" or Sinaitic coven With that covenant the
seventh day Sabbath stands falls, for there is no possible
chance for the law teachers to take their Sabbath out of
the first covenant, made Sinai. The enjoining of the
observance of that day in the very heart of that covenant.
If the code is force, the seventh day is in force, for
that is the specified in it; but if that enactment of
Jehovah's superseded by the new testament, in this
dispensation then the seventh day is abolished.
Uriah Smith (leading Adventist)
says in his book entitled Two Covenants, page 5, "If
the Ten Commandments constituted the old covenant, then
they are fore gone." The Bible declares in so many
words that " words of the covenant, the Ten
Commandments," is very covenant God made with Israel
"when he brought them out of the land of Egypt"
( Exod. 34: 28; 1 Kings 8:9, 21). Then the Ten
Commandments constituted, were included in the old
covenant, and "are forever gone.
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