Ancient Israel, freed from Egyptian oppression, meets with Yahweh, their redeemer. Yahweh instructs Moses in how to lead a sacrificial ritual that will bind the people into a covenant relationship with them, conditional upon both parties keeping their promises to each other. This covenant is known as the Old Covenant or Old Testament. The ritual itself, however, gives us additional insight into Yahweh's Missional objective that would unfold centuries later in a covenant that would replace the Old Covenant with a New one, the New Testament.

Prior to Moses' death, he takes advantage of one last opportunity to impress upon the Israelites that their future depends on the faithfulness to the Old Covenant of Yahweh's Law (The Mosaic Covenant). Yahweh gives them a choice, Life or Death, Blessings or Curses.