Breaking All The Rules
“Let YHWH judge between me and you.” Genesis 16:5
Judge – “What consumes the word of covenant.” How can this imagery be true of the Hebrew word shaphat (Shin-Pey-Tau)? This word picture must be wrong. Isn’t judging about restoration? Didn’t we just learn that mishpat (from shaphat) is intended to bring reconciliation? Stop. Think about this. Think deeply. In what way does the action of judging consume a covenant?
When I make a covenant, I obligate myself to behave in ways prescribed by the agreement. In other words, I promise to do something. As long as I maintain my obligation, there is no need for a judgment. The covenant remains undisturbed. But what happens when I do not keep my promise? Now there is a need for judgment. The very fact that judgment surfaces in a covenant relationship means that the covenant has been or could be broken. Therefore, judgment itself consumes what the covenant established. This is exactly what Sarah implies in her statement. “You, Abraham, have broken faith with me. You have acted against our agreement. Now God will judge between us.”
But what about God’s covenant with His people. Since God made the covenant with Himself, there is never any possibility that the Abrahamic covenant will be broken. Judgment will never be executed against the parties of that covenant. But this is not the only covenant God made. On Sinai, God made a covenant with His people. It is a covenant between two parties – one party is God, the other is the people of Israel. All the people swear to uphold their part of the agreement by being obedient to God’s instructions. The Mosaic covenant is a covenant about blessings and curses. It is a covenant about the purpose of God’s people on earth, not the presence of God’s people on earth. That purpose is to act in such a way that His people become a nation of priests. And that requires obedience.
When God’s people are not obedient, they fail to uphold their part of the Mosaic covenant. Their failure does not jeopardize the covenant with Abraham. It can’t. Only God is party to the Abrahamic covenant. Judgment comes on the basis of the failure to uphold the Mosaic covenant. That judgment acknowledges the breaking of the covenant for the purpose of restoring it. The Abrahamic covenant never needs to be restored because it cannot be broken, but the covenant of blessings and curses is often broken and often needs restoration. Therefore, the judgment that consumes the word of the covenant is the means by which the covenant of purpose is renewed.
You and I are members of both covenants. Our father is Abraham because we have been adopted through Yeshua HaMashiach. But we are also part of the Kingdom that God established at Sinai. Therefore, we are governed by the rules of the King. Paul reminds us that our previous disobedience has been turned aside so that we may enter into the covenant of purpose without hesitation. The gracious God who saved us now brings us obedience through His Spirit. What a day for celebration. Judgment has been fulfilled – twice!
Topical Index: shaphat, mishpat, judge, judgment, Genesis 16:5, covenant
