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You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws\u2014that you will listen to him. And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands (Deuteronomy 26:17-18).

Aspects of God\u2019s covenant with Israel are woven throughout this chapter of Deuteronomy. Now, covenant is not a common word these days, but lays at the heart of the biblical story, so there is value in recovering it from time to time.

In the ancient world, when a small and weak nation was being threatened with extinction by a larger people, it would sometimes ask an even stronger king to come to its aid. With this request she would establish a covenant with the powerful nation. Essentially the smaller people would promise to pay taxes in exchange for protection. Quid pro quo.

God\u2019s covenant with Israel is modelled on this common practice among ancient peoples. There are several books comparing these human covenants with God\u2019s relationship with Israel. While similar, there are significant modifications in the biblical covenant, maybe most dramatic is this: God\u2019s patience. In the human covenants, if the weaker nation neglected its obligations, the stronger would make quick work in enforcing its rights or wiping out the covenant breakers. The Bible details God\u2019s patience with Israel\u2019s unfaithfulness.

But there is something else in our text that strikes me as rather unique in God\u2019s covenant. \u201cAnd the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised\u2026\u201d I doubt this kind of language is found in the ancient covenants. Israel is God\u2019s treasured possession; a deep love lies at the heart of this divine covenant. A love demonstrated in exquisite fashion in Christ\u2019s death on the cross.

In this chapter, Israel is to remember their beginning as a nation. God, seeing Israel abused by the Egyptians, came to rescue them. Taking them from a place of tremendous adversity, he carried them through the desert and settled them in this land \u2018flowing with milk and honey.\u2019 God still calls his church to remember what he has done for us, bringing us to the sacraments of baptism and Supper. This is also why he calls us to worship him regularly as a community of faith. We are not to forget that he has rescued us from the domain of Satan.

But the truly astonishing aspect of God\u2019s covenant with Israel is that it is not a \u2018quid pro quo\u2019 relationship. Israel is God\u2019s treasured possession. And Israel is to gather the first fruits of the harvest into a basket and place \u2018the basket before the Lord their God and bow down before him. Then the people and the Levites and the foreigners residing among them would rejoice in all the good things the Lord their God has given to them\u201d (cf. 26:10-11).

Biblical religion does not deal in fear or coercion or uncertainty but in joy and security. Israel is to rejoice in all the blessings God gives, to rejoice in her relationship with God; that God names her, \u201cmy treasured possession\u201d. This joy is also expressed in further obedience. Jesus put this altogether for us in John 15 where love, joy and obedience are connected to our being the friends of God.

Whatever forces and attitudes have shaped our relationship with God up to this point in our lives, God is calling us, as he called Israel of old, into a relationship of friendship, characterized by love, joy and obedience. We are his treasured possession, and we are to rejoice in him. Enjoy your religion!