Because Moses interceded on behalf of The Israelites, that God not be blasphemed in the eyes of the nations.
First, thank you for this response and the question at the end. A discussion about scriptures is why I came here in the first place. Thank You.
Yes, Moses interceded on their behalf? So did God take Moses life to pay for their transgression? He had already given them HIS definition of sin, the consequences of rejecting them (Being cut off) on Mt. Sinai.
In the case of "Transgressions" or as it is also known, "SIN", what did God do to cleanse them? What did God set in place for the atonement of sins that Abraham didn't have?
If a man sins, what Did God tell them, through Moses, to Do? Did God say "If a man sins he shall Love the Lord his God with all his might," and his sins are forgiven? Did God say, "if a man sins he shall love his neighbor as himself", and his sins are forgiven?
No. God created a Priesthood Covenant, and gave it specifically to the Tribe of Levi, on Israel's behalf, who God Himself separated from the other 11 tribes of Israel. This Priesthood was given for the exclusive purpose of administering God's Instructions, and for performing sacrificial "works" for the atonement of sins, until the prophesied "Lamb of God" should come.
From Moses to Jesus, there was no other way, by law, for sins to be atoned for.
How can I, or what would be the reason, for me to omit this Biblical Truth from a discussion about the Covenant that the Christ promised to change in Jer. 31? Given that the promised new covenant dealt with only 2 things. #1. How God's Laws are administered. #2. How the sins of God's People are forgiven.
God already foretold the future Judgement of the nations.
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Yes, God foretold the judgments of the nations. What does that have to do with God's Covenant with Levi to provide for the justification of His People who had sinned?
Law increased as it was always by God's judgement on the nations that the land was to be possessed.
Because God is the Judge of all the earth as Abraham knew him. The God of all Men.
Ge 18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
How did God judge between the righteous and the wicked? Why was Noah and Abraham considered just, while the nations of the world were not? And what does this have to do with the Priesthood Law God set up with Levi on Israel's behalf, to atone for their sins? A Law that neither Noah nor Abraham had.
the earthly inheritance under the Sinai covenant did not need to be changed. It was already full in Abraham.
Ga 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Jas 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Yes, it is written Abraham believed God. So lets look at what happened then.
Gen. 12:
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
So Abraham believed God. But the men of Sodom didn't believe God.
Gen. 13:
13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
I'm not sure the point you are trying to make here?
I think you are missing somethings.
Ro 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Ro 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
The fourth generation was given the task of inheritance by God's judgement on the nations being dispossessed for their fullness of sin.
If this be true, and it is because Paul taught it so,,, what was going on with Sodom And Gomorrah? If it was not an imputation of sin by the law then what was it based upon? Read about that, and see what you might see.
Well, let me ask you a question here then. If sin is defined by God as Transgression of His Law, then how can sin be in the world before the Law?
Gen. 13:
13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
Paul can't be talking about God's Laws, Statutes, Judgments and Commandments Abraham obeyed and Sodom disobeyed which defined sin.
So what "LAW" is Paul talking about here? What LAW was "ADDED" because of Transgressions of God's Law, the very definition of sin? The Bible says Abraham had God's Laws, Statutes and Commandments that Abraham obeyed and taught his children? But what "LAW" didn't he have? Did He have the Levitical Priesthood God gave the Levites on Mt. Sinai? Was his sin atoned for by a Levite Priest taking the blood of a lamb into the sanctuary which was taken down and put back up on his journey to the promised land?
Because you have been taught to reject even the existence of the Covenant God made with Levi, to the point you will not even acknowledge it, you are not understanding what Paul, who is hard to understand in the first place, is saying here. He is fighting against religious men who do not believe the prophesied "SEED" has come. As a result, they are still following their version of the Levitical Priesthood sacrificial "works of the law"" for justification and/or atonement of sins that God "ADDED" because of transgressions of those Laws.
For the Law Paul is talking about "
worketh Wrath". And rightly so. A man sins against God, this man is then required to go find an unblemished sacrifice, take it exclusively to a Levite Priest, which is then killed and it's blood, while it is still warm, is sprinkled on an alter inside a veil at the mercy seat of a worldly sanctuary that moved with them. In this way a man was justified, by "works of the law". there was no other way until the promised New covenant came in which God atones for the sins of His People Himself.
But Abraham was justified "apart from the Law" of justification. He was cleansed apart from the Levitical Priesthood sacrificial "Works" God gave to Levi by Covenant on mt. Sinai.
Rom. 4:
12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. ("Because Abraham obeyed My Commandments, My Statutes, My Laws")
13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, (If only those Jews who were cleansed of their sins by the "Works" of a Levite Priest are heirs)
faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
This is confirmed in Galatians.
Gal. 3:
17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
18 For if the inheritance be of the law, (If only those people who are cleansed by the Levitical Priesthood can enter heaven)
it is no more of promise: (but of works Abraham didn't have) but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
It is a mistake, in my view, to reject the existence of any of God's Words, especially the Covenant God made with Levi on Mt. Sinai for the atonement of sins. It causes religious men to conclude that it was God's Laws that led men astray as some on this very forum preach. And not what the Scriptures teach, that it was the Shepherds God placed over them that led them astray. Like Jesus, we are born into religions that transgress God's Commandments by their man made doctrines and traditions. It was a tough pill for the religious men of Jesus and Paul's time to swallow, and it is a tough pill for religious men to swallow in our time as well.
In closing just a few scriptures which highlight the reason for the New Covenant.
Jer. 50:
6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
Matt. 15:
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Mal. 2:
4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. (Ex. 32, look it up)
7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
Heb. 8:
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, (Levite Priests who broke the Covenant God made with them) he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: