saw that the wickedness of man was great
on the earth, and that every
intent [yetzer]
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"
(Gen 6:5).
"The LORD smelled the soothing aroma;
and the LORD said to Himself,
"I will never again curse the ground on account of man,
for the intent [yetzer]
of man’s heart is evil from his youth;
and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done"
(Gen 8:21).
“Then it shall come about,
when many evils and troubles have come upon them,
that this Song
will testify before them as a witness
(for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants);
for I know their intent [yetzer]
which they are developing today,
before I have brought them into the land which I swore"
(Deut 31:21).
While an equivalence between The Torah and The Sinai Covenant
is typically assumed and nearly universally accepted
by Christians and Jews alike
(i.e., the Torah is the Sinai Covenant),
a close reading of the introduction (Genesis 1-11)
and the conclusion (Deuteronomy 29-34)
of the Torah does not support this conclusion.
In the beginning and the end of the Torah, exile from Eden
(Gen 3:23-24)
and from the Promised Land (Deut 30:1-2)
is certain because Adam [humanity] and Israel
break God's commands.
Israel, like Adam's early descendants,
most assuredly will find themselves in Babylon
(Gen 11:1-9; 2 Kings 25).
From the perspective of Moses, the problem has
to do with the human inclination (yetzer),
which is continually bent on doing evil.
The situation cannot be fixed
by working harder and trying to do better.
Rather, the problem of the inclination
requires a divine surgeon who performs
open-heart surgery.
"Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart
and the heart of your descendants,
to love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul, so that you may live"
(Deut 30:6).
Moses, no doubt, was the mediator of the Sinai Covenant.
But having lived in the shadow
of Israel's repeated failures
for 40 years,
and foreseeing the certainties of a broken covenant and exile
(Deuteronomy 4:24-30; 30:1—32:43),
Moses, and all the prophets
who followed him,
were avid preachers of the
New Covenant
(e.g., Jer 31:31-34; Ezek 36:24-27).
To be true to the message
of Moses and the Prophets, therefore,
is to
believe in Jesus.
"So, having obtained help from God,
I stand to this day testifying both
to small and great,
stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses
said was going to take place"
(Acts 26:22).