Commandments. The Alliance of Sinai Mountain with God is presented to the Israelites specifying the terms of the Law:
‘The Israelites arrived in the wilderness of Sinai exactly two months after they left Egypt… Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The Eternal called out to him from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the descendants of Jacob, the people of Israel: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I brought you to myself and carried you on eagle’s wings. Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all nations of the earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be to me a kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ Give this message to the Israelites.”‘ Ex. 19: 1,3-6
The Choice in the Conditional
In this Covenant we observe the offer made to the Israelites in terms of the conditional “if”: “If you will obey me” applying the logic of “If…then”. This offer gives the freedom of choice to the Israelites to accept the covenant and to obey its conditions. There is no compulsion in the offer but a reward of being “the holy nation of God” in term of a “message” delivered to Moses and transferred to the Israelites.
The Torah tells us that after the Israelites broke their covenant of Sinai with God, by taking the Golden Calf as gods, Moses asked forgiveness for them, he ordained the killing of three thousand of them and asked them to repent.
The Choice of Repentance
The Israelites chose to repent and to return to believe in God. We are told further that God had renewed his covenant with Israelites offering them a second Alliance. The choice of the Israelites was made to