The covenant that God made in Exodus 34, including the 10 commandments, was made ONLY with the Jewish nation. It was not a covenant with the gentiles. When Moses is speaking in
Deuteronomy 4:13, who was he talking to? He said, “ He declared to YOU His covenant…” who is the YOU to whom God declared the covenant? He was talking to the Nation of Jews. He address “Israel” in the first verse of chapter 4, “Oh ISRAEL listen…” and in chapter 5, “ Moses called all ISRAEL and said to THEM, ‘Hear oh ISRAEL the statutes and judgements which I speak in your hearing today…”. Then notice what he says in verse 2;
“THE LORD OUR GOD MADE A COVENANT WITH US ( Israel) IN HOREB. THE LORD DID NOT MAKE THIS COVENANT WITH OUR FATHERS, BUT WITH US, THOSE WHO ARE HERE TODAY, ALL OF US WHO ARE ALIVE.”
I agree that the 10 commandments are part of that covenant that He made with the Jews. There is abundant evidence of that. What most people do not understand is that He only made it with the Jewish nation and not all people everywhere. The Jews were God’s chosen people. If God made this covenant with ALL nations of people , then how does that make them “special”, chosen? They would be no different than any one else. Deuteronomy 4:5-6, Moses makes the argument that it is this very covenant that God makes with them that will cause all of the OTHER nations to say, “Surely this nation is a wise and understanding people.” The Jews were the only ones who had God’s covenant. It was between them and God.
You might wonder why this is significant. It’s significant because gentiles were never part of this covenant. It was not their covenant. It did not govern them. Some of God’s laws concerning morality have been present since the beginning of time. Murder, stealing abd other laws of morality were in place and taught by godly men long before Exodus 20. So some gentiles practiced morality—not because of the 10 commandments but because it was a universal law. From the beginning.
An Old Testament story in 1 Samuel 4-6 illustrates the fact that the laws of the covenant did not apply to the gentiles ( unless they were proselytes.). The Philistines ( gentiles) had captured the Ark of God. God had commanded the Jews to not only not touch the ark but it had to be carried in such a way that no one ever touched it. It also was covered with a cloth; they were not to look into it. That was God’s law to the Jews. It was part of the covenant made in Mount Horeb. But the Philistines not only touched it and carried it from one city to another, and finally setting it on a cart, they also put offerings in it ( beside the chest) and they were not killed for touching it. That law was not given to them. It was a law for the Jews. When the ark got back to Israel, the people looked into the ark and God struck 50,000 of them dead—because they were told not to look into it or touch it. The Philistines were plagued when they had the ark because it was God’s ark—it did not belong to them and they had taken it, but He did not strike them dead for touching it. Why? The covenant that God made in Horeb with the nation of Israel was only for the Jews. It did not apply to the gentiles.
When Jesus came He brought that “New” covenant that Jeremiah 31:31 spoke of. In fact Hebrews 8 tells us very plainly that the New Testament is that “New” covenant that Jeremiah prophesied would come. He even quotes the exact prophecy of Jeremiah. Hebrews 7 says that God “CHANGED THE LAW.” The purpose of tge new law of Christ was to UNITE all people—not divide them. The old covenant given to the Jews divided Jews and gentiles. The new covenant “unites them, for we are all under the same law now—the law of Jesus Christ. Jesus says there is neither Jew nor Greek..,we are all one in Christ.
And the 10 commandments? All but one of them is incorporated into the new covenant. They are not written down in a list, but they are all in there except fir one—remember the 7 th day to keep it holy. That was strictly for the Jews. The new covenant has a new day to keep; it’s the day that our lord was raised from the dead, the day His Church began— the first day of the week. Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Revelation 1.
