Examining The Scripture XXXI: Hammering A Point Home

Exodus: Chapter 29 is a covenant renewal after the covenant has been ratified. The previous chapter 28 has just delivered the blessing/cursing portion of the Suzerain/Vassal Covenant. God then renews it with a new generation not about to wander the wilderness but with a generation about to enter the Promised Land. We are reminded here and we will see later in the Old Testament that it only takes a single generation to lapse into the same exact bad judgment. We can see it then and we see it today. God knows this and forces/emphasizes that Israel should remember and obey, remember and obey, ad nauseum. Obviously to no avail as we see by Jesus’ comments about a mother hen gathering her chicks

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Luke 13:34-35

We also see Israel’s failure in Paul’s lament for Israel in Romans 9-11.

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Romans 9:30-33

Repetition, repetition, repetition like the pounding of a hammer all throughout the ages and the Old Testament to drive the point home and Israel just didn’t get it. Some people(s) are just incredibly thick-headed and stiff-necked (all of us). Often times God even shows people where their shortcomings are and where they will fail and because of willful ignorance or denial, we ignore Him. We either think we know better or are just plain sinful and stupid, I’m not sure which. So through Israel’s failure the chance is then offered to the Gentiles to be grafted into The Vine.

After the covenant renewal Israel is subsequently warned (again) against turning away from God and the judgment and punishment that will ensue if they do. Then they have the blessing restored to them. After a stern or harsh rebuke, like a loving father, God coddles and “fusses” over His children and lets them know He loves them. No one knows true love and how to love His children better than our Father does.