78 The Renewed Covenant was in the Torah

The Renewed Covenant was in Torah all along.

Very few people today realize that the Renewed Covenant was in the Torah all along and because of this oversight, they do not understand the writings of Rav Shaul. Few people are aware that there are in fact two Mosaic Covenants given in Torah. We all know that the first covenant officiated by Moses was made at Mount Sinai. But where was the second or Renewed Covenant made?

The second covenant officiated by Moses was made with the children of the nation of Israel who died during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, as punishment for their unbelief (or a lack of faith) to enter the Promised Land, forty years later. The second covenant was made at Mount Nebo in the land of Moab, and is recorded in Deuteronomy, before the death of Moses. We read accordingly from Deuteronomy 1: 1 – 3, ‘These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab, (2) It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. (3) And it came about in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that YHVH had commanded him to give to them.’ We read further from Deuteronomy 29: 1 ‘These are the words of the covenant which YHVH commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.’ It is important to notice that the covenant made at Moab was made besides the one made at Horeb.

As recorded in Deuteronomy 30: 1, 2 & 8 the covenant made at Mount Nebo focused on repentance, as follows: “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where YHVH your Elohim has banished you, (2) and you return to YHVH your Elohim and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons. (8) And you shall again obey YHVH, and observe all His commandments which I command you today.” The rewards for repenting and returning to YHVH included a promise of the re-gathering of Israel from among the nations, as we read from verses 3 & 4 of Deuteronomy 30, in this way: “Then YHVH your Elohim will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where YHVH your Elohim has scattered you. (4) If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there YHVH your Elohim will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.” In addition YHVH promised to circumcise their hearts and give them life (verse 6, 15 & 19). However, this covenant also included obedience to Elohim’s Torah, as recorded in verse 10, in this way: ‘If you obey YHVH your Elohim to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to YHVH your Elohim with all your heart and soul.’

Jeremiah spoke about the first covenant in Jeremiah 11 where he relates Elohim’s instruction to him in verses 2 - 4, saying: “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; (3) and say to them, ‘Thus says YHVH, the Elohim of Israel, “Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant (4) which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your Elohim,’”’ Jeremiah was speaking about the curse mentioned in Deuteronomy 27: 26, that was upon those who fail to obey the covenant given at Mount Sinai. Later Jeremiah prophesied that this curse would come upon the house of Judah in the form of seventy years of captivity, saying in Jeremiah 25: 8, 9, 11 & 12: “Therefore thus says YHVH of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, (9) behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares YHVH, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them a horror, and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. (11) And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (12) Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares YHVH, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.’” Continuing in Jeremiah 26: 6 & 7, Jeremiah said: “Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth. (7) And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of YHVH.” Even so Jeremiah also prophesied to the house of Judah that they will return to their land after 70 years, saying in Jeremiah 29: 10, ‘For thus says YHVH, “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.”’

True to Jeremiah’s prophecy, the house of Judah returned to the Promised Land 70 years after their captivity by king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. In Jeremiah 30 YHVH tells the prophet that He will again restore the fortunes of the house of Judah and the house of Israel, but He also tells Jeremiah about the distress that will come upon Jacob in the last days, but promises to save them from it in verses 6 – 7. Continuing in verse 8 & 9, we read: ‘And it shall come about on that day,’ declares YHVH of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck, and will tear off their bonds; and strangers shall no longer make them their slaves. (9) But they shall serve YHVH their Elohim, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.’ Chapter 31 is all about the restoration of both houses of Israel to the Promised Land when YHVH will make a new (marriage) covenant with both houses in verses 31 – 33, in this way: “Behold, days are coming,” declares YHVH, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, (32) not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt (notice this is talking about the original Israelites who came out of Egypt, not their children who were born in the wilderness), My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares YHVH. (33) But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares YHVH, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.” The house of Judah remained faithful to the Father after their 70 years in captivity in Babylon, but the house of Israel lost their language, culture, and faith in the one true Elohim. The Jews have been keeping the oracles of Elohim since the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Because we are only now being called through Elohim’s gracious choice, we need to turn to our Jewish Brothers for such things as the timing of the Sabbaths (weekly and annual), Koshering of meat and the Hebrew language.

When comparing the covenant made in Moab with the new covenant spoken about in Jeremiah 31, we notice that the one at Moab was besides the one that YHVH made with the children of Israel at Horeb. The one in Jeremiah 31 reads: ‘not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.’ Continuing with the covenant made at Moab, we read from Deuteronomy 30: 2, 6, ‘And you return to YHVH your Elohim and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons. (6) Moreover YHVH your Elohim will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love YHVH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.’ This in turn agrees with the first part of Jeremiah 31: 33 and the second part of Jeremiah 32: 40, in this way: ‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares YHVH, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it.” (32: 40) ‘And I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.’ The wording in Deuteronomy 29: 13, ‘In order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your Elohim, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’ agrees with that in the last part of Jeremiah 31: 33, as follows: ‘And I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.’ Back in Deuteronomy 30: 3 & 4, we read: “Then YHVH your Elohim will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where YHVH your Elohim has scattered you. (4) If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there YHVH your Elohim will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.” This agrees with Jeremiah 32: 37, in this way: “Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety.”

We see from these comparisons that the covenant made at Moab is the same as the New (or Renewed) Covenant spoken about in Jeremiah 31. This tells us that the covenant made at Mount Sinai was essentially superseded by the one made at Moab. We also see that the New Covenant spoken about in Jeremiah 31, will be different from the one made with ancient Israel at Mount Sinai. The question is: will it be different from the one made at Moab. One of the sages of Israel (Ramban: Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman) sees the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant made at Moab as taking place in the days of the Messiah. That is when mankind will return to the way they were before Adam’s fall. We read accordingly from Romans 5: 14 – 19, as follows: ‘Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (15) But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of Elohim and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Yahshua Messiah, abound to the many. (16) And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. (17) For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Yahshua Messiah. (18) So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. (19) For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.’ Ramban identifies the covenant made at Moab with the Renewed Covenant.

It is important to note that even though we are commanded in Deuteronomy to obey amongst other the Ten Commandments (Chapter 5), the kosher food laws (in Chapter 14), the Feast Days of Elohim (Chapter 16), to listen to the Levites in office (Chapter 17) and a prophet from among our countrymen like Moses, namely Yahshua Messiah (Chapter 18), there is no mention made of the sacrificial laws. Here in the second covenant we see why our Jewish Brothers keep the Passover in the evening of the 15th of Aviv[1] (even though the original Passover was kept during the evening of the 14th of Aviv) and rightly so. Since, by so doing they sacrificed their lambs, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon of the 14th of Abib, the exact time when Messiah died on the cross, as the Lamb of Elohim, who takes away the sins of the world. Even so, we as Nazarene Israelites keep the Passover as a memorial of Messiah’s death, according to first Corinthians 11: 23 – 25, where Rav Shaul wrote: ‘For I received from the Master that which I also delivered to you, that the Master Yahshua in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; (24) and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (25) In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This is the cup of the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”’ Now armed with this understanding let’s compare what we have discussed so far with Rav Shaul’s discussion about the New Covenant in the books of Romans and Hebrews. Commencing in Romans 2: 27 – 29 Rav Shaul differentiates those ‘with the circumcision of the heart by the spirit’ with those who were circumcised ‘in the flesh’ (by the letter only). We’ve seen that ‘the circumcision of the heart’ is a part of the covenant made at Moab, as witnessed in Deuteronomy 30: 6, as follows: “Moreover YHVH your Elohim will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love YHVH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.’. Rav Shaul is contrasting this with the covenant made at Mount Sinai, which is ‘in the flesh’ and ‘by the letter’ (only). In Romans 10: 4 - 8 he contrasts the ‘righteousness which is based on Torah’ (verse 5) which he typifies by quoting from Leviticus 18: 5 with the ‘righteousness that is by faith’ (verses 6 – 8), which he again typifies by quoting from the covenant at Moab in Deuteronomy 30: 11 – 14, as follows: “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. (12) It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ (13) Nor is it beyond the sea, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ (14) But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.”

We read accordingly from Romans 10: 6 – 8, ‘But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Messiah down), (7) or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Messiah up from the dead).” (8) But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART” –that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.’ Rav Shaul continues by saying that this same covenant is ‘the word of faith which we are preaching.’ So we see that Rav Shaul identifies the covenant made at Moab, with the New Covenant of Messiah, by which we are saved, saying in verses 9 – 13, ‘That if you confess with your mouth Yahshua as Master, and believe in your heart that Elohim raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; (10) for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (11) For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” (12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Master is Master of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; (13) for “WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF YHVH WILL BE SAVED.”’ With Abraham the blood covenant was established for all generations. At Mount Sinai it was expanded to make sure all Israel walked in the blood covenant even when seeing Elohim’s visible manifestation and was renewed again before entering the Promised Land when it was passed on to the children of those who died in the wilderness. Yahshua is busy writing this same renewed covenant into the heart of those lost sheep of the house of Israel being called out of the churches of the world, but will only complete doing so when He returns one day in the near future to marry His bride consisting of both houses of Israel once again.

According to Deuteronomy 30: 10 – 15 the covenant renewal is now up to us. It means that Torah is not in heaven where we cannot obtain it, nor is it beyond the sea where we need to find it to observe it. No, it is established and available to each one of us in the book of Deuteronomy meaning ‘words’. All we from the house of Israel have to do, is to access it and return to Elohim in repentance, as Hosea wrote in Hosea 14: 1 & 2, saying: ‘Return, O Israel, to YHVH your Elohim, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. (2) Take words (the Renewed Covenant given in Deuteronomy transliterated in Hebrew as ‘Devarim’ meaning ‘words’) with you and return to YHVH. Say to Him, ‘Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.’ Deuteronomy 30: 12 & 13 is in essence saying that there can be no new revelation outside of Torah and the exposition of Torah by Yahshua (in Matthew 5, 6 & 7) as He and Moses taught it on earth! Deuteronomy 30: 14 teaches that the words of the covenant are in our minds and hearts because it is established and we as believers should not search for new revelations outside the boundaries of Torah. That is real repentance – repenting from things we swallowed as truth, taught by the church, including perceptions of others based on unreliable literature and emotions that are not established with Torah that is being renewed by the living Torah, Yahshua. Torah was not meant to stay or be searched for in the heavens, or to be followed by those removed from a normal earthly existence. It was given to human beings who live right here on earth. The Torah does not demand that believers act in an unnatural manner, to live as abstainers in isolation in order to sanctify themselves whilst living within this world. The Torah is designed to make our lives pleasant and to bring health and happiness into our lives. Indeed the Torah is a Torah of life for those who live on the face of the earth and those who find it here need not go to heaven to obtain it. Because Torah was not meant to stay in heaven in order to be consistent, YHVH had to send His word to earth, because Torah revelation and the covenant renewal are for us who live on earth. Therefore the man who wants covenant renewal will live and do Torah as Yahshua did. Since Torah abides with us on earth, there is no need to pull Yahshua down from heaven again, or up from Sheol again, since the Torah and the Spirit to perform Torah remains in us, the Temple of Elohim on earth (as Rav Shaul explained in Romans 10: 5 – 10). As we walk in this manner we will discover that the written and living Torah never contradicted each other and thus their revelations are written anew within our hearts and minds daily, to be completed when Messiah returns.

The book of Hebrews has a number of references to the two covenants. In Hebrews 8: 1 & 2 the Author (whom many Bible scholars believe to be Rav Shaul) begins by saying: ‘Now the main point in what has been said (in Hebrews 7 regarding the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, where the administration of how Israel used to deal with sin, has been changed in that when Messiah became the sacrifice for sin, once for all, and the Sacrificial Law that came 430 years after Abraham {as per Galatians 3: 17 – 19} has been revoked) is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, (2) a minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Master pitched, not man.” Continuing in verses 6 & 7 we read: “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. (7) For if that first covenant (the one made at Mount Sinai) had been faultless, there would not have been no occasion sought for a second (the one made at Moab).” In verse 8 Rav Shaul tells us that the fault with the first covenant was with the people who did not enter the Promised Land because of unbelief {also discussed in Hebrews 3: 19}). Next he quotes from Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34 in verse 8 to the first part of verse 11 of Hebrews 8 and compares ‘the first covenant’ with ‘the second’ in Hebrews 8: 6, 7, 13; 9: 1, 15; 10: 9, pointing out that the first covenant differed from the second. Whilst the first covenant had been ratified by the blood of bulls, the second was ultimately ratified by the blood of Yahshua our Messiah. The Torah was not ‘changed’ by the second covenant made at Moab, but it was renewed with better promises. It therefore seems that the ‘second’ covenant of Hebrews is the covenant made at Moab. It was not made with the Israelites, who failed to enter the Promised Land because of disbelief, but it was made with their children, and even though it still contained curses, it also contained blessings. The truth that the ‘second’ covenant of Hebrews is the covenant made at Moab is further reinforced by the fact that Rav Shaul draws a direct relationship in Hebrews 3: 7 – 4: 10 between the ‘rest’ we hope to enter into, and the entry of the children of those who died in the wilderness, into the Promised Land at the end of the forty years after making the second covenant at Moab.

Talking about the re-gathering of the house of Israel Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 3: 13 – 16, saying: ‘Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against YHVH your Elohim and have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares YHVH. (14) Return, O faithless sons,’ declares YHVH; ‘For I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’ (15) “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. (16) And it shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares YHVH, “they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of YHVH.’ And it shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor shall it be made again.’ Why did Jeremiah write this about the Ark of the Covenant? We find the answer in 2 Maccabees 2: 1 – 8, as follows: ‘We find in the archives that the prophet Jeremiah, when he had given the deportees the order to take the fire, as we have described, in giving them the Law warned the deportees never to forget (YHVH)’s precepts, nor to let their thoughts be tempted by the sight of gold and silver statutes or the finery adorning them. Among other similar admonitions he urged them not to let the Law depart from their hearts. The document also described how the prophet, warned by an oracle, gave orders for the tabernacle and the ark to go with him when he set out for the mountain which Moses had climbed to survey Elohim’s heritage. On his arrival Jeremiah found a cave-dwelling, into which he brought the tabernacle, the ark and the altar of incense, afterwards blocking up the entrance. Some of his companions came up to mark out the way, but were unable to find it. When Jeremiah learned this, he reproached them: ‘The place is to remain unknown’ he said ‘until Elohim gathers his people together again and shows them his mercy. Then YHVH will bring these things once more to light, and the glory of YHVH will be seen, and so will the cloud, as it was revealed in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the Holy Place might be gloriously hallowed.’ Yes the Ark of the Covenant is not as some suggested in recent years, under the place where Messiah was crucified – no it is in fact somewhere in Mount Nebo in Moab, where Moses climbed up to survey the promised Land before his death, and will definitely not be found until Messiah’s return, when the New Covenant will be fully inaugurated. Even so, this is a reference to Jeremiah and the new covenant, which places the Torah in our hearts. Everything will end where it began - we will ultimately enter the New Covenant Kingdom of Elohim (the Promised Land) right here at Mount Nebo in Moab.

In conclusion we understand that there were in fact two separate covenants that YHVH made through Moses with Israel. Both Ramban and Rav Shaul tell us that the covenant made at Moab is distinguished from the ‘curse’ of the first covenant. They both agree that the New Covenant is tied to the work of Messiah and involves a change of a believer’s heart and inner desires to obey Torah. This covenant has been offered to Israel collectively upon entering the Land of Israel (as per Deuteronomy 29 & 30); and at the coming (or rather the return) of Messiah (as per Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34). We read accordingly from Deuteronomy 29: 14 & 15, “Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, (15) but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of YHVH our Elohim and with those who are not with us here today.” Whilst Israel may not collectively enter this covenant until Messiah returns, we who are called from the religions of the world, may become citizens of the Kingdom of Elohim not yet established, as Rav Kepha explained in Acts 2: 39, saying: “For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as YHVH our Elohim shall call to Himself.” We are presently living in this world as ambassadors of Messiah (and His kingdom to come), as witnessed in 2 Corinthians 5: 20, in this way: ‘Therefore, we are ambassadors for Messiah, as though Elohim were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Messiah, be reconciled to Elohim.” So we see that the Renewed Covenant was in Torah all along and YHVH our Elohim is giving those of us called to enter into this same Renewed Covenant, by being immersed into the saving Name of Yahshua, thereby being circumcised in the heart, so that we may become one with our Jewish Brothers at Messiah’s return. It is after we have been reconciled with Elohim through immersion, that He will starts writing His Torah into our hearts and minds, and we begin to serve Him, because we love Him. Baruch HaShem YHVH!

[1] According to Deuteronomy 16: 1, we are commanded to: ‘Observe the month of Abib (Aviv) and celebrate the Passover to YHVH your Elohim, for in the month of Abib YHVH your Elohim brought you out of Egypt by night.’ Yes, the ancient Israelites left Egypt on the 15th of Abib, the evening after the original Passover on the 14th of Abib.