Not so fast - any law in the OT had no meaning with its associated covenant and a covenant has no meaning with its associated law. See appendix below.
Now, the trick with OT laws is to find which covenant they were part of. In many cases this is rather uncomplicated.
Now, the NT quotes many laws from the OT moral laws (which were part of the Moral covenant or Israelite covenant) such as:
- Eph 6:2, 3 quotes Deut 5:16,
- Ex 20:12; James 2:11 Ex 20:13; Rom 13:9 Ex 20:13-15, 17; Rom 7:7 Ex 20:17; Acts 23:5 quotes Ex 22:28;
- Heb 9:20 quotes Ex 24:8;
- 1 Peter 1:16 quotes Lev 19:2;
- Matt 22:39, James 2:8, Gal 5:14 quotes Lev 19:18;
- 2 Tim 2:19 quotes Num 16:5;
- Matt 19:18, 19 quotes Deut 5:16-20;
- Mark 12:32 quotes Deut 6:4;
- 2 Cor 13:1 quotes Deut 19:15;
- Matt 5:31, 19:7 quotes Deut 24:1;
- 1 Cor 9:9 quotes Deut 25:4;
- Rom 12:19 quotes Deut 32:35;
- Heb 10:30 quotes Deut 32:35, 36;
- Acts 15:29 quotes food sacrificed, no blood, no strangled animal meat, no fornication
This is further evidence that the moral law is still in force.
Now, the laws about priestly underwear and regulations about sacrifices quoted in Ex 28 & 29 were part of the Levitical covenant which cannot be kept even if one wanted to do so for three reasons:
- no temple or sanctuary exists
- no levitical priests exist
- (most importantly) Jesus came to fulfil this covenant is now our High Priest
This last point cannot be over-emphasized - Jesus is the fulfilment of the Levitical covenant and serves at the true tabernacle in heaven (Heb 8:1, 2, 9:24, etc, see also Heb 4:14-16, 5:10, 7:23-28, 8:1, 2, 9:1-28, 10:1-18). Jesus did this in several ways as well such as:
- Jesus was the fulfilment of what the sanctuary/temple typified, John 2:19-21, Heb 9:1-28, 10:1-18
- Jesus represented the foundation of the temple as well, 1 Peter 2:4-8 (Compare Isa 28:16, Ps 118:22)
- Jesus’ body was represented by the curtain in the temple, Heb 10:20.
- Jesus was the bread of life, John 6:35, 41, 48 (compare Ex 25:23-30, Lev 24:8).
- Jesus was the light of life, John 8:12, 9:5 (compare the lampstand Ex 25:31-39, Lev 24:3, 4, Isa 53:11, Ps 56:13, etc)
- Jesus provides the water of life, John 4:13, 14 (Compare the laver Ex 30:17-21. See also 1 Cor 6:11)
- Jesus is the promised seed of the woman Gal 3:16 (compare Gen 3:15, and the Abrahamic Covenant)
- Jesus was the Passover Lamb and thus the promised Messiah, John 1:29, 1 Cor 5:7, 1 Peter 1:19 (compare Ex 12:1-14).
- Jesus is the High Priest of the New Covenant in fulfilment of the Levitical covenant, Heb 4:14-16, 5:10, 7:23-28, because He was “pure, blameless, set apart” exactly as the Levites were. See also Heb 9:15, 12:24.
- Jesus provided the blood of the new covenant of which the communion ceremony was to be a memorial, Matt 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, 1 Cor 11:25, Heb 13:20, 1 Peter 1:19 (compare Ex 24:5, 8).
- Jesus was the anti-type of the “red heifer” (Num 19:1-10) and its associated ashes that “purify our consciences from works of death”, Heb 9:13, 14.
APPENDIX - OT Covenants
Noahide Covenant: Gen 8:20 – 9:17.
The Noahide Covenant is an eternal covenant (Gen 9:16) and is actually a covenant with all living creatures and all mankind. It consisted of:
- This covenant was initiated in order to ensure continuity of seasons without interruption, Gen 8:21, 22.
- God promises never to curse the ground again, Gen 8:21.
- God promises never to destroy humans and animals by flood again, Gen 8:21, 9:11.
- God promises that seasons would never be stopped again, Gen 8:22.
- God commands humans to multiply and increase on the earth, Gen 9:2, 7.
- God commands humans to take charge of the earth and maintain it responsibly, Gen 9:2, 3; see also Gen 1:28, 29.
- God commands humans not to eat blood, Gen 9:4.
- God commands humans not to commit murder else an accounting will be required. Murder destroys the image of God in mankind, Gen 9:5, 6.
- The rainbow is given as a token/sign (Heb: “oth”, Gen 9:12, 13, 17) of God’s promise to save mankind.
- The covenant was initiated and solemnized by animal sacrifice, Gen 8:20.
Note that in this statement of God’s covenant of grace, it is universal and applying to all mankind and all animals (Gen 9:8-10, 16, 17), despite the recognition that mankind is evil (Gen 8:21). Further, the prohibition against murder and eating blood are specifically prohibited to prevent God’s image in mankind being marred. One of the unusual aspects of this covenant is the animals – God promises something to animals!
Abrahamic Covenant: Gen 13:14-17, 15:1-17, 17:1-27, 18:9-15, 22:15-18
The Abrahamic Covenant is stated in three places, Gen 15 & 17, are 13 years apart (and repeated in Gen 12:1-3, 13:14-17, 18:9-15, 22:15-18 without using the word “covenant” nor formal sacrifices) and was an eternal covenant, Gen 13:15, 17:9, 13, 19. The covenant consisted of the following:
Gen 15
- God promises Abram a biological son
- God promises Abram uncountable descendants
- God promises Abram’s descendants the land of Canaan, “from the wadi of Egypt to the great river Euphrates”.
- God promises to return Abram’s descendants to Canaan after Egyptian slavery of 400 years
- God promises to punish the Egyptians
- God promises great possessions to Abram’s descendants when they leave Egypt
- The covenant was initiated and signified by a ceremony (significant to the culture of Abraham) of cutting several animals in half and God passing between the halves, and (and so solemnly promising) to keep the provisions of the covenant.
This ceremony of cutting sacrificed animals in half is a direct allusion of the word “berith” (= “covenant”), meaning, “to cut”. That this covenant was a covenant of grace is confirmed by Gen 15:6, “Abram believed the LORD and he credited it to him as righteousness”. (See also Rom 4:3, 22, Gal 3:6, James 2:23.)
Gen 17, 18:9-15
- God promises a biological son by Sarah, viz. Isaac
- God promises to greatly increase Abram’s numbers
- God promises Abram that he would be the father of many nations
- God promises Abraham the land of Canaan
- God promises that Ishmael would also be fruitful
- Abraham and his descendants must promise to be faithful to God
- The covenant is signified by the token/sign (Heb: “oth”, Gen 17:10, 11, 13, Rom 4:11) of circumcision (= circular cut), Acts 7:8, and a change of name from Abram to Abraham.
It is immediately clear that this covenant is a re-statement, with only slight variations, of the covenant in Gen 15, and was an eternal covenant, Gen 17:7, 13.
Israelite Covenant: Exodus 19-24, and expanded in parts of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – often called, “The Old Covenant”, or, “Moral Covenant”, or, sometimes incorrectly called, “The Mosaic Covenant”.
In Ex 19 Moses is instructed in the Covenant directly by God. Moses then conveys the content of the covenant to the people which is recorded in Ex 20:1-17 as the 10 Commandments, and then explained and amplified in Ex 20:22-23:33. The people answered, three times, “whatever the Lord has said we will do”, Ex 19:8, 24:3, 7, thus creating the Israelite covenant. [Later they rejected the Covenant and a New Covenant had to be instituted with Christians with the same content.] This Covenant was open to all people from its inception and was voluntary.
This Israelite Covenant consisted of the following:
- God promises to “save” Israel from Egyptian slavery and deliver them to the Promised Land as stated in the preamble to the 10 commandments, Ex 20:1, 2, 23:23, Deut 5:6. This was to fulfil God’s earlier promise to Abraham and others to give the Promised Land to Abraham’s descendants, Ex 2:24, 6:4, 5, forever, 1 Chron 16:15, Ps 105:8, 111:9.
- God promises to protect His people by sending a protecting angel, Ex 23:19, 20, and establish their borders, Ex 23:31.
- The benefits/promises of the covenant are also clearly set out in Lev 26:1-13, Deut 28:1-14 (blessings for obedience), and, Lev 26:14-39, Deut 28:15-68 (curses for disobedience). [Note that the curses for disobedience are specifically listed in Lev 26 as plague (V14-17), famine (V18-20), wild animals (V21, 22), sword/war (V23-26). Subsequently, these curses for disobedience are simply listed as “sword, famine and plague” in many places such as 1 Chron 21:12, 2 Chron 20:9, Jer 21:9, 24:10, 27:13, 29:18, 42:22, Eze 5:12, 17, 7:15, 12:16, etc, etc. The same is repeated in the first four seals of Rev 6.]
- The purpose the Covenant (Ex 20:1-17) is stated clearly in Ex 19:5, 6 – to make the Israelites God’s peculiar treasure, his special people, distinguished by the way they conducted themselves. Ps 50:16-18, 74:20, 78:36, 37.
This purpose of the covenant was stated in other ways as, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, … ” Ex 6:7. This is stated repeatedly: Lev 26:9-12, Deut 29:9-13, 2 Sam 7:24, 1 Chron 11:2, Ps 50:7, 95:7, 100:3, Isa 40:1, Jer 7:23, 11:1-4, 24:7, 30:9, 22, 31:1, 33, 32:38-40, Eze 11:20, 34:30, 31, 36:26-28, 37:23, 24, Hos 1:9, 4:6, Joel 2:26, 27, Zech 8:8. It is significant that the first of the 10 Commandments is a decree to have only ONE God, the LORD, Ex 20:3, Deut, 5:7, 6:4-6.
- The requirements of the Israelite covenant are the 10 Commandments as recorded on the tablets of stone and amplified in Ex 20:22-23:33, the book of Deuteronomy and elsewhere such as Lev 17-19, 26.
- The visible symbols of the Israelite Covenant solemnity and importance included: an altar of 12 stones (Ex 24:4), a sacrifice (Ex 24:5), sprinkled blood of the covenant (Ex 24:8). The blood of the covenant was used dramatically when painted on the door posts in Egypt at the first Passover (Ex 12).
- The tokens/signs of the covenant (Heb: “oth”) appear to have been the law of the 10 Commandments themselves (Deut 6:8, 11:18), and especially the Sabbath (Ex 31:13, 16, 17, Isa 56:4, 6, Exe 20:12, 20, see “Sabbath”); the blood of the covenant from the Passover Lamb is also used as a sign in Ex 12:13; the famous “Ark of the Covenant” containing the 10 Commandments on tablets of stone (Ex 16:34, 24:12, 25:16, 21, 31:18, 32:15, 19, 34:1, 4, 28, 40:20, Deut 4:13, 9-11, etc). [Note: This did not include circumcision as this was a sign of the Abrahamic covenant to which the Israelites fell heirs.]
- Lev 26:44, 45, Ps 105:8, 111:5, 9, Jer 31:35-37, 32, 40, 33:25 declare the Israelite covenant immutable, irrevocable and eternal. See also Heb 13:20, 1 Chron 16:15, 17, Jer 50:5, Ps 105:8, Eze 37:26.
- The giving of the written 10 commandments at Sinai was NOT novel – they had always existed showing that God had always had a people made distinct by the keeping of the moral law.
Levitical Covenant: – Lev 1-9, 16, 21-27 , Num 3, 4, 8, 18, 25:10-13, Deut 33:8-11, Neh 13:29, Mal 2:4-8. This is an eternal covenant (Num 25:12, 13, Ps 106:30, Jer 33:18, 21, 22) of salt, Num 18:19.
The Levitical covenant is stated in Num 3:11-13, 25:12 where God takes the Levites (especially the line of Phineas as High Priest) instead of the all the firstborn of each family, thus changing the (informal) priesthood from the firstborn of each family to the (formal) priesthood of tribe of Levi. Several Bible writers refer to this Levitical Covenant including:
- Neh 13:29 – “the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites”
- Jer 33:18, 21 – “covenant with the Levitical priests.”
- Mal 2:4-8 – “the covenant with Levi”
- Num 25:10-13 – the eternal covenant of priesthood was also a covenant of peace and a covenant of “salt” (Num 18:19), ie, very solemn and eternal.
- Isa 54:10 & Eze 34:25 also describes the covenant of peace with the Levites
From other Bible passages we can see what the Levitical covenant was.
- The purpose of the Levitical covenant was to teach and inculcate the plan of salvation (Deut 33:9, 10, Heb 9:8, 9, 11-14, 10:1-3, Col 2:16, 17). That is, it symbolically taught about salvation by grace through the coming Messiah via His substitutionary death in the place of the sinner. Thus, the sacrifices, Levites, priests and High Priest became a type of Jesus in various ways.
- A promise by God to set them apart, ie, make them “holy” (Num 3:12, 13), to be a substitute for the first born in Israel, and to have the primary responsibility for caring for the sanctuary, its ritual services and sacrifices, maintaining and transporting its equipment. Ex 32:25-29. In this way, they became the priests of Israel. All these regulations were contained in Lev 1-9, 16, 21-27.
- Thus, the Levites enjoyed a “blessed” (and privileged) status. Ex 32:29, Mal 2:5.
- The book of Leviticus (and Num 1 & 18) sets out the responsibilities of the Levites in operating the ceremonial rites and sanctuary services and caring for the sanctuary equipment. See also Num 1:53, 18:2, Deut 10:8, 31:9, 25, Josh 3:3, 2 Sam 15:24, 1 Chron 15:26.
- The token/sign (Heb: “oth”) of the Levitical covenant appears to have been the unleavened bread at the annual festival (Ex 13:6, 9, 16, Lev 24:8).
Davidic (or Regal, or Royal) Covenant: 2 Sam 7, 23:5, 1 Kings 6:11, 12, 8:25, 1 Chron 17:11-14, 2 Chron 6:14-16, 7:17, 18, 13:5, Ps 89:4, 29, 34, 39, 132:11, 12, Jer 33:17, 21, Eze 37:15-28. This is an eternal covenant; 2 Sam 23:5, 1 Kings 9:5, 2 Chron 13:5, Eze 37:25, 26, Jer 33:17, 21 or salt, 2 Chron 13:5.
The provisions of the Davidic Covenant were as follows.
- God promised to make David, a shepherd king over Israel. 2 Sam 7:9, 1 Kings 8:25, 2 Chron 21:7.
- God promised to defeat all David’s enemies and give him peace on all sides, 2 Sam 7:9
- David’s name would be great, 2 Sam 7:9-11
- God promised there would always be a blood descendant of David on his throne, by an eternal “covenant of salt” (ie very solemn), 2 Chron 13:5, forever, 2 Sam 7:13, 15, 16, Eze 37:26, (2 Sam 23:5).
- God promised that the descendant of David would have God as his Father and he would be His son, 2 Sam 7:14.
- David’s son, Solomon, was the person to build the temple, 2 Sam 7:12, 13.
- David and his descendants must remain faithful to God and keep all that is written in the Book of the Law (Deuteronomy), Deut 17:18, 31:26.
Note that the Davidic Covenant was distinct from the Israelite and Levitical Covenants – David became a type of the eternal reign of Messiah to come.
While David and his successors were earthly kings, they were to recognise that the real king of Israel was God. 1 Sam 8:7, 8, 24:6, 2 Sam 19:21, 1 Chron 28:5, 29:23, 2 Chron 9:8, 13:8, Ps 5:2, 44:4. See also 1 Sam 12:14.
Permanence??
- The Old Israelite Covenant is eternal (1 Chron 16:17, Jer 50:5, Ps 105:8, 111:5, 9)
- The Levitical Covenant is eternal (Lev 24:8, Num 25:10-13, Ps 106:30, Jer 33:18, 21, 22). However, Jesus, as Messiah and High Priest, came to fulfil this Covenant and is now the eternal high Priest of the Christian community.
- The Davidic Covenant is eternal (2 Sam 23:5, 1 Kings 9:5, 2 Chron 13:5, Eze 37:25, 26, Jer 33:17, 21). However, Jesus, as Messiah, came to fulfil this and now the permanent King of the Christian community.
- The Abrahamic Covenant is eternal (Gen 13:15, 17:9, 13, 19)
- The Noahide Covenant is eternal (Gen 9:16)
