| THE COVENANT |
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| cases. Each case has climbed up from lower courts through an ardous, expensive process and now only one decision remains. Whatever the Supreme Court decides will rule as the law of the land. The Supreme Court bases its decision on one final authority: the Constitution. If the nine members judge a law "constitutional," the law will stand. If not, it will be overturned. For Israel, the covenant became their Constitution. Details of the law came out in three mian places: here at Sinai (Exodus and Leviticus), during the wilderness wanderings (Numbers), and on the plains of Moab (Deuteronomy). The complete legal code, far longer than the U. S. Constitution, extended from the grand sweep of national policy to petty disputes of living together. God was shaping an entire culture for a group of homeless pilgrims. In all, 613 separate commands ordered their political, social, and spiritual lives. Other nations were haunted by the unpredictability of their gods. Who could tell what would anger or please them? But because of the covenant, Israelites knew exactly what God required and where they stood before him. They had a basis for trust and secutiry as a nation. Birth Certificate This piece of paper, with its smudged baby footprint and fancy script, sits in a file drawer 99 percent of the time. But when you need it, you really need it. It can prove that a young-looking person deserves a driver's license or that an older person qualifies for Social Security payments. It establishes your rights as a U.S. citizen. A birth certificate is valuable indeed. For Israel, the covenant established its birth as a nation. God said he had chosen the Jews as a treasured possession (19:5-6). He wanted a nation unlike any other, a model society |
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