Having received some training recently on OT theology I've become more aware of reading the OT in light of the covenant the people were living under. It makes for an insightful exercise to first consider the particulars of the covenant before examining the response of the people.
We see in all of the covenants made between God and man that relatively little is required of man compared to the promises made by God. It continues to amaze me that these were days when the presence of God was amongst the people and when God Himself would walk and talk with men. Despite this, the people repeatedly chose to follow the influences of the world around them rather than the God who had literally offered them the world itself (see promises to Abraham in Genesis 17). When you also consider the faithful, unfailing nature of God, the people had no just cause to doubt the fulfillment of the various covenants yet time and again they sought to go it alone, hence the need for repeated covenants with the men that God found righteous amongst them.
I had always wondered why God communicated so many instructions concerning how the Israelites were to live, particularly regarding life situations which we as believers don't support/endorse (divorce for instance, see Deuteronomy 24 amongst other scriptures). Although God does not support such actions, those which are contrary to His intended creation plan, He does provide thorough instructions in order to protect the weak and vulnerable created by such situations. This is how God regulates a sinful society when He had previously made covenant with Noah to never again 'strike down every living creature' (Gen 8:21), a judgement that our deserves.
Having said all of that, the continuing theme of every covenant is consistently that, 'if you (the people) will walk in My (God's) ways' then the people will know the favour of the Lord. This remains true today and demonstrates God's continuing grace towards us despite our continuing failure to stay the course - thank you Lord.
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Great thoughts Steve. If you look at the OT prophecies regarding the new covenant (e.g. Jer 31:31-34; Ezekiel 11:19-20) it's amazing to see how God basically says (because Israel have repeatedly failed to fulfil their side of the covenant) he will effectively do it for them! In other words, he comes round our side of the table and does the work of obedience in us. It's all of grace, even our obedience!
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