Long after Abraham, God used Moses to make a covenant with one branch of Abraham’s descendants, Israel. Today, many who are not Israelites assume that covenant is for them. But, as with all Bible study, we should look more closely at the words themselves.
[On Mount Sinai] the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel….” And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 34:27-28)
Repeatedly, God emphasized His unique relationship with His “treasured possession,” the Israelites (Exodus 19:4-5; 29:45; 31:12-13; Leviticus 16:34; Deuteronomy 7:6 cf. Romans 9:4). Moses’ covenant and its laws were for them, not others (Ephesians 2:12). “He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know His rules” (Psalm 147:19-20).
You shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine. (Leviticus 20:26)
Circumcision—cutting away the foreskin of the male organ— was “a sign of the covenant” between God and Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 17:9-14). It carried over into the covenant given through Moses (Leviticus 12:1-3). Sabbaths— holy days of rest—were “a sign between Me [God] and you [people of Israel]
throughout your generations” (Exodus 31:13). Similar purposes were served by the priesthood (Numbers 8:18-19), the tabernacle or temple (Exodus 29:42- 45), the food laws (Leviticus 11:1-45), and more. Such special rules made Israel “holy”—set apart for God. If the Law of Moses applied to all nations, it could not serve its purpose that “separated [Israel] from the peoples” (Leviticus 20:24-26 cf. Nehemiah 2:20; 13:3). Without this separation, Israel would have lost its identity as the nation through whom the Messiah would be born.