Thank you, honorthesabbath, for that clear explanation of the biblical covenants. I hadn't looked at it in quite that detail before.
In regards to the 2. Agreement type of covenant, I've had discussions with people who did not seem to know the Old Covenant (specifically Moses ceremonial law) was an agreement made between God and the children of Israel. If I may expand on the verse you cited:
Exodus 9:
3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 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: 6 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. 7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8 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.
When one looks up the definition of the word "covenant" we find the following:
1 : a usually formal, solemn, and binding agreement
2 : a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action
When we read the above account from Exodus 9 what we find is this series of events;
1) Moses goes up the mountain where God then outlines the provisions of the potencial agreement (verses 3-6),
2) Moses then comes down the mountain and presents those written words to the elders (verse 7),
3) the elders agree to it (also verse 7), then
4) Moses returns up the mountain with the people's answer (verse 8).
Clearly, this matches the #2 dictionary definition very nicely. This is where the Old Covenant was established, here in Exodus 9, and it is exceedingly clear that it was an agreement between God and the children of Israel. Now, one thing I want to point out for it is an ever important detail in this text; is there any talk of "commandments" as being part of this agreement? No. In fact, the Decalogue wasn't even written by the finger of God until Exodus 32! As such, they could never be part of the agreement - they stand alone.
When the Old Covenant gave way to the New Covenant this could not have affected the Decalogue for it wasn't even part of that first agreement/covenant. As honorthsabbath made clear in her post, they constitute a commanded covenant and thus an agreement with man on them was/is not a prerequisite.
Christ is our Savior, but He is also our Lord - those attributes cannot be seperated from one another. However, most seem to want a Savior but not a Lord. To them I have to answer, sorry, it just doesn't work that way.
