They (The 10 commandments) were never dedicated with blood.
The old covenant given in Exodus is clearly distinguished from the Adamic, the Abrahamic, or any other covenant brought to view in the Bible.
We go back therefore to the history of Israel to the very first transaction we find taking place between God and the Israelites after they left Egypt, which answers to the definition of the word covenant. This must be the old covenant, unless some good reason can be shown why it is not.
we find only one, formal and mutual agreement between God and themselves, based upon mutual promises in the experience of that people. The record of it commences in Ex 19:3 “And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
The briefest glance at this language shows it to be a formal proposition on the part of the Lord to the Israelites. Moses was the minister through whom the negotiation was carried on. Go down, said God to Moses, and make to the people this proposition: If you will obey my voice, and keep my covenant, I will secure you in the possession of certain special blessings above all people. With this instruction Moses went down to the people, and God waited for their answer.
verses 7,8. “And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.”
Such was the response of the people. They said, “We agree to the terms; we will enter into the arrangement.” We now have the two parties before us, and the mutual, voluntary action on the part of each. This is the first transaction of the kind recorded between God and that people. It answers most strictly to the meaning of the word covenant. Therefore we say that this has the primary claim to be considered the old covenant of which Jeremiah prophesied and Paul discoursed.
Just a side note.... Exo 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
The covenant was being made and part of "the covenant" was to keep God's covenant. "My Covenant" .
The 10 commandments had not been given at this point. ... If God's covenant is the ten commandments then they existed before the old covenant was made and if it is not the ten commandments we can stop right here, and the arguement is final, (they are not part of the old covenant).
God was asking them to keep the ten commandments (His covenant), which i can show.... but not now. God was about to give these commandments to them in writting but they already existed because they accept to obey them before God has written them on stone.
When the people agreed to obey God’s voice, verses 5, 8, they had not heard his voice, and didn't know what conditions it might impose. The first time they agree...
But on the third day after this, the Lord came down in fearful majesty, and with a voice that shook the solid earth and declared the ten commandments. Here for the first time the people heard God’s voice which they were to obey. Then the Lord took Moses into a private interview with himself and gave him some instruction which the people were to follow in civil and religious matters, under this arrangement. This instruction is found in the latter part of Exodus 20, and 21, 22, and 23 the civil and ceremonial laws given to Israel.
In chapter 24 Moses appeared before the people a second time, and rehearsed in their hearing all the words which the Lord had communicated to him. And here the people, after having heard for themselves God’s voice, and being told all that he had said to Moses. Now they understood all the conditions; They agree the second time... Exodus 24:3:
It would seem that this was all-sufficient. But the Lord moved very carefully in the matter, so that the people might have no opportunity to plead in after years that they did not know what they were doing in entering into this covenant with him. So he caused Moses to write out in a book all the words He had told him, that all points might be again carefully considered, and then to read it all over to the people. Verse 7: “And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people.” Here they had opportunity for the third time to reconsider the matter and change their decision if they so desired. The 3rd time they agree.
Moses then took blood which had been offered for the purpose, verses 5, 6, and sprinkled it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.” Verse 8. Here the covenant was closed up, sealed and ratified, by the shedding of blood.
Hebrews 9:17-20: “For a testament is of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no force at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.”
Paul here plainly states that the first covenant was dedicated with blood, the words testament and covenant meaning the same thing, being from the same original word. And to what scene does Paul refer? To the very one recorded in Exodus 24:8,
Now to settle the fact, that this covenant was not the ten commandments, we have only to remark that neither Moses nor the people had a copy of the ten commandments of any kind in their hands at that time. This will appear from the further record of Exodus 24. In verse 12, we read, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law and commandments which I have written, that thou mayest teach them.” The idea that God had already caused Moses to write out a copy of these commandments, and that he had begun to teach them by having spoken them and read them in the ears of the people, verses 3 and 4, is utterly inconsistent with this statement, that God was about to put into his hands a law containing commandments that he had written, in order that Moses might teach them. But before Moses was called up to receive this law of ten commandments which God had written, the first covenant had been made, closed up, finished, and ratified by the shedding of blood.
The first covenant was dedicated with blood. But when that dedication took place, the ten commandments, in visible form, had not been put into the possession of the people; they had no copy of them; hence they were not dedicated with blood. Therefore, the ten commandments were not the old covenant.
