The English word Covenant is not one that is used much, and so, the term Old Covenant can be a bit confusing.  Looking at the Hebrew word for “covenant” certainly helps.  The Hebrew word translated covenant is beriyth.  It means an agreement or a deal, such a business deal.  A Covenant, like a business deal, can be broken down into four aspects or parts. 

1. the parties,
2. the condition,
3. God’s promise, and
4. God’s sign. 

To see examples of covenants in the Bible which clearly show these four aspects, see “What are the four Aspects of a Covenant?”.

The Old Covenant, just like the other covenants in the Bible can be broken down into these four aspects.  Let’s examine the Old Covenant with these four aspects in mind: the parties involved, the condition, God’s promise, and a sign.

Exo 19:3  And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:
Exo 19:4  ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
Exo 19:5  ‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
Exo 19:6  ‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Exo 19:7  So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him.
Exo 19:8  Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.

The Parties of the Covenant are God and the children of Israel.

The Condition was the children of Israel had to obey God.  The details of the condition are set out in Exodus chapters 20 – 23.  These chapters describe the Ten Commandments and other statutes which the children of Israel had to keep. 

God’s Promise (if they were obedient) was that the children of Israel would be a special treasure to God (which entails physical blessings).  Note that there is no mention of salvation.

The covenant was ratified with offerings of oxen.

Exo 24:3  So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has said we will do.”
Exo 24:4  And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Exo 24:5  Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.
Exo 24:6  And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
Exo 24:7  Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.”

God’s Sign was the sprinkling on the people with the blood of sacrificed oxen.

Exo 24:8  And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.”

Half the blood was sprinkled on the altar which represented God, and the other half was sprinkled on the people.  This is explained in the book of Hebrews.

Heb 9:1  Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.

Heb 9:18  Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
Heb 9:20  saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”
Heb 9:21  Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

The Old Covenant was renewed at various times.  It was renewed after Moses made new tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments on them.

Exo 34:10  And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
Exo 34:11  “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

Exo 34:27  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
Exo 34:28  So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Note that God would drive out the other nations from before the children of Israel.  This is what God meant by being a special treasure.  Further details of what God meant by being a special treasure are given in Leviticus 26:3-13, where blessings for obedience are described.

Lev 26:9  ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.

Curses for disobedience to the covenant were also spelled out a few verses later.

Lev 26:15  and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,

Lev 26:25  And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

Deu 4:13  “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

Deu 9:9  “When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

The Old Covenant was renewed at the end of Moses’ life and at the end of Joshua’s life.

Deu 29:12  “that you may enter into covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today,
Deu 29:13  “that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Josh 24:25  So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
Josh 24:26  Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
Josh 24:27  And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”

Rituals were added later.

Jer 7:22  “For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
Jer 7:23  “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’

It should be noted that some people falsely argue that the Old Covenant is obsolete, and therefore we don’t have to keep the Ten Commandments.  This argument shows a lack of understanding about what a Covenant is.  The Ten Commandments were not the Old Covenant, but rather the condition part of the Old Covenant.  The Ten Commandments exist outside the Old Covenant.

Conclusion

The Old Covenant was God’s Covenant with the children of Israel to be a special treasure to God.

The Parties: God and the children of Israel.

The Condition: Obedience to God’s commandments, statutes and judgements, Ex 20: – 23:

God’s Promise: To be God’s special treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 

God’s Sign: Blood of oxen sprinkled on the altar and the people.