I came across this in my Bible reading today:
Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?
– Judges 2:1-2
The exodus from Egypt is often reference in the Old Testament as a testament to God’s great faithfulness for his people. It’s a refrain before the giving of the Ten Commandments, to make clear to the people: obey the Lord because he is the Savior, not so you can earn your salvation. The Lord loves to save, and has saved a people and will continue to grow that people. In fact, notice this in our text here: I will never break my covenant with you. A covenant is a promise, and God has always promised to be the God of Israel, sustaining them, giving them all they need. His promises are never broken and yet ours are continually broken to him: we are sinners, after all. God’s people have not obeyed the voice of the Lord.
But take a look at Genesis 15 when you can. God makes a promise to Abraham there, and they perform a covenant ceremony, common in the ancient world. Animals are killed and the bodies are made into two lines – the two parties in the agreement are then to walk between the lines of animals together, symbolizing that if either party were to break the covenant, this fate of death they would suffer as well. They would be like the animals. But there is a great catch here in Genesis 15: Abraham is actually asleep for the ceremony. It’s in his dream – and he doesn’t walk through, it’s a flaming pillar of fire and a smoking pot. That pillar of fire will be how God represents himself when he’s leading Israel out of Egypt – it is Father and Son, walking through that line together – God will keep his promise, but Abraham will not be able to do so. So God himself will take the punishment of the broken covenant – he will suffer the fate of the beasts on Abraham’s behalf. It’s a beautiful portrait of the gospel way back in the beginning of the Bible.