This sheet on Deuteronomy 26 was written by Daniel Reifman for 929 and can also be found here
Modern scholars often distinguish between two different types of covenant in the Bible: constitutive vs. conditional. A covenant is said to be constitutive if it simply formalizes the relationship between two parties. Such covenants are understood – or even explicitly stated – to be perpetual and unconditional. Examples of this type in the Torah are God's covenant with Noah after the Flood (Gen. 8:21-9:17) and His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17).
The Mosaic covenant, on the other hand, is often formulated in conditional terms: God has chosen Israel, but that chosenness is contingent upon Israel’s observing God's commandments. Nowhere is the conditional nature of this covenant made clearer than in the tokhahah (Execration) of Deuteronomy chap. 28, which ends with a disobedient Israel being sold back into slavery in Egypt, the square one of Jewish history.
Yet in this chapter, the relationship between God and Israel is depicted in rather different terms:
You have affirmed the Lord this day to be your God, and to walk in His ways, and to observe His laws and commandments and rules, and to obey Him.
And the Lord has affirmed you this day to be His treasured people, as He promised you, and to observe His commandments (26:17-18).
In contrast to the very hierarchical relationship between God and Israel in chapter 28, this passage portrays the relationship as reciprocal: Israel chooses God just as God chooses Israel. Moreover, observance of the law is described here not in negative terms (“obey, or else…”) but rather as a positive symbol of God and Israel’s commitment to one another: not only does Israel designate God by observing His commandments, but God designates Israel by choosing them as the ones to observe them.
This perspective on the Mosaic covenant makes it similar to the constitutive covenants we mentioned above, which also feature laws as symbols of the nature of the relationship that is being consecrated. God’s covenant with Noah frames the antediluvian world order with a set of commandments relating to the treatment of human and animal life (Gen. 9:3-6): the laws requiring all life to be treated with respect is the flip-side of God’s promise never again to destroy the world by flood.
Likewise, the laws of circumcision express the nature of God’s covenant with Abraham in that they create an irreversible sign that adheres to all of his male descendants. These examples demonstrate how the character of law – binding, perpetual, exceptionless – allows it to function not merely as a condition, but as an expression of the deep and durable bond that is the very essence of a covenantal relationship.
The Mosaic covenant, on the other hand, is often formulated in conditional terms: God has chosen Israel, but that chosenness is contingent upon Israel’s observing God's commandments. Nowhere is the conditional nature of this covenant made clearer than in the tokhahah (Execration) of Deuteronomy chap. 28, which ends with a disobedient Israel being sold back into slavery in Egypt, the square one of Jewish history.
Yet in this chapter, the relationship between God and Israel is depicted in rather different terms:
You have affirmed the Lord this day to be your God, and to walk in His ways, and to observe His laws and commandments and rules, and to obey Him.
And the Lord has affirmed you this day to be His treasured people, as He promised you, and to observe His commandments (26:17-18).
In contrast to the very hierarchical relationship between God and Israel in chapter 28, this passage portrays the relationship as reciprocal: Israel chooses God just as God chooses Israel. Moreover, observance of the law is described here not in negative terms (“obey, or else…”) but rather as a positive symbol of God and Israel’s commitment to one another: not only does Israel designate God by observing His commandments, but God designates Israel by choosing them as the ones to observe them.
This perspective on the Mosaic covenant makes it similar to the constitutive covenants we mentioned above, which also feature laws as symbols of the nature of the relationship that is being consecrated. God’s covenant with Noah frames the antediluvian world order with a set of commandments relating to the treatment of human and animal life (Gen. 9:3-6): the laws requiring all life to be treated with respect is the flip-side of God’s promise never again to destroy the world by flood.
Likewise, the laws of circumcision express the nature of God’s covenant with Abraham in that they create an irreversible sign that adheres to all of his male descendants. These examples demonstrate how the character of law – binding, perpetual, exceptionless – allows it to function not merely as a condition, but as an expression of the deep and durable bond that is the very essence of a covenantal relationship.
(יז) אֶת־יְהֹוָ֥ה הֶאֱמַ֖רְתָּ הַיּ֑וֹם לִהְיוֹת֩ לְךָ֨ לֵֽאלֹהִ֜ים וְלָלֶ֣כֶת בִּדְרָכָ֗יו וְלִשְׁמֹ֨ר חֻקָּ֧יו וּמִצְוֺתָ֛יו וּמִשְׁפָּטָ֖יו וְלִשְׁמֹ֥עַ בְּקֹלֽוֹ׃
(17) You have affirmed this day that the LORD is your God, that you will walk in His ways, that you will observe His laws and commandments and rules, and that you will obey Him.
Daniel Reifman teaches at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and at the Institute for Advanced Torah Studies at Bar-Ilan University
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