Welcome Back, Israel

We saw last time the extraordinary promise made to the Mediator that in Him God would do marvelous things, exceedingly marvelous things. The Lord immediately then describes the terms of the covenant once more, in language by and large quoted from ch. 23 or from ch. 13. There is not really anything new in this passage; it is a repetition of material we've already seen. Why? Because God is reiterating the rules that would keep Israel from repeating a golden-calf style incident. The idolatrous outburst revealed what was inside His people's hearts — and clearly, God at least believes that reiterating the law is part of the solution to that problem. The law is not given outside the forgiveness and love that comes through the Mediator; but it is part of the total package. As part of renewing the covenant with Israel, then, God reiterates the law of the covenant so that His people can faithfully keep that covenant.