I have heard it say that Israel, when the giving of the law was presented, should have said, "no" to the law. Is this what you believe? If so, where in scripture is this supported?
Yes!
Here is why I believe that from scripture.
The context of Exodus 19 is when God first brought out the nation of Israel out of Egypt.
Exodus 19:1-2
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. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
In the bible, when it came to Israel, the desert/wilderness is the place where testing of faith is done:
Matthew 4:1
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
The Lord, who is a type of the Nation of Israel, was led by God the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted/tested/tried. Tried for what? To see if He would remember the Word of God to Him—i.e., "It is written."
That is why God led Israel to the wilderness desert at that time as well. He took them out of Egypt, not based on the Law, but based on a promise that He already made with them, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—the Abrahamic Covenant!
It’s important to note: before Exodus 19, there is no mention of this ‘performance-based acceptance system’ of dealing with Israel by God!!! Why? Because he never desired to do that!!!
Genesis 12:1-16
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Genesis 15:13-16
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Genesis 17:7-11
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
Notice in all these verses, the sole reason for God's deliverance of Israel is based upon His promise to their father Abe. And as long as that nation circumcised themselves, they would be part of God's covenant promise.
Note: the Law is not the issue here!
Look at them coming out of Egypt:
Exodus 2:23-25
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
Notice again that God brought them out, not based on the Law, but on that Abrahamic, circumcision covenant!
Remember what Exodus said when God first met with Moses to send him back to Egypt to deliver the people...
Exodus 3:13-15
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
Notice that again, the issue is that Abrahamic covenant promise. His name I AM, or Jehovah, literally means “He that keeps His covenant” or “the covenant-keeping God.” That's how Israel knows Him—that’s His name to them!
That's the whole reason that God was going to kill Moses in Exodus 4...
Exodus 4:24-26
And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.
God was so serious about this issue of the circumcision covenant that He was about to kill Moses over it.
So how does this all relate to Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 5?
Well when God leads them into the desert/wilderness, He does it on purpose in order to test them and to show them what is in their hearts! That is, that they would not believe Him!
When He sent Moses down to them, it was not to gather information for Himself, it was for them to think about how He would deal with them! Will they be humble and know that, save for the simplicity of the Abrahamic covenant, they would perish before God? Or would they, in the pride of their hearts actually believe that they could keep all that the Lord God would command them in the law?
Exodus 19:3-8
And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel. Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 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: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
Notice how this is written: verses 5 and 6 is GOD'S test! He put a condition on His unconditional covenant of blessing! Yet in verse 4 He reminds them that up to this point, they did nothing to deliver themselves—He did it all! This was the pattern for them!
When Moses came down with God's performance-based acceptance system of "if/then," the leaders of that nation should have said unto God/Moses "Wait a minute! That's not what you promised our fathers!!!"
But they did not, they agreed to be under this performance-based acceptance system—because they actually thought they could perform!!! But, God knew better.
He then comes to them, not like He did with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but, rather, in His terrible form!
Even after seeing the dark smoke and thunder and the terrible appearance of God (this is not how God dealt with their fathers), and after receiving all that impossible-to-keep Law, they should have said "WHOA, that is NOT how You said that You will deal with us"!
But once the blood of that covenant was shed, it was done!
Exodus 24:8
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.
Hebrews 9:19
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
All God ever required of them according to the Abrahamic Covenant was to circumcise their foreskins (and we'll see later that to do that was a type of them circumcising their hearts). Had they kept their part of that Abrahamic Covenant, they would get the blessing! That is all God required of them at that time before He ever gave them the Law!
The Nation of Israel was to understand (through the mighty signs and wonders done by God on their behalf in Egypt and at the Red Sea) that He did His part, and they must do their part...circumcision!
But God saw their hearts—that they thought they were good enough on their own to please him—so he added his perfect righteous standard of the Law to condemn them!
God could have supernaturally translated the entire nation right out of Egypt and into Canaan easily, but instead He led them into the wilderness to test them so that they could see that they were sinners. (They forgot the reason that they were His Chosen—thinking that they were more special than other nations, instead of understanding that they had favor with God because of God's faithfulness to Abraham's faith!)
Exodus 3:18
And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Notice how God told Moses that it would be a three-day journey into the wilderness (type of the resurrection) and that after that testing, He actually did plan to take them right on into Canaan (had they passed the test).
Israel had to sacrifice their unbelief, as it were out there. God would prove [test] them! But they will fail the test.
So in Exodus 19, before the law was given, God desired the Hebrews to not just say that they would obey Him, but mean it! But if they believed Him, they would have circumcised themselves and asked God to deal with them on the basis of the Abrahamic covenant and not the Law!
Hopefully this
helps!
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