Covenantide Readings

Reading Notes

This week is the first week of Covenantide, the season between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost. In the great salvation event of the Old Testament, the Exodus, there was 50 days from the time God’s People came out of Egypt until they arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai, where they received the Law from God, that is, the first Mosaic Covenant. In the New Testament, this covenantal reception is paralleled by God inaugurating the New Covenant at Pentecost. The readings for this season focus on the theme of the Law and Covenant.

The Old Testament readings will be mostly drawn from Deuteronomy, but as a prelude to that, this week’s readings recapitulate God’s covenantal dealings prior to that, starting with the Covenant of Works (Gen. 1-3), and then proceeding to the Noahic Covenant (Gen. 6-9), the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 15, 17, 22) and concluding with God’s giving of the Law at Sinai. The New Testament readings are drawn from the Gospel of Matthew, which of the four Gospels makes the most references to the Old Testament. In terms of the Psalms, this week contains the only Psalm by Moses, as well as begins the reading of Psalm 119, the longest Psalm in Scripture which is an extended acrostic praise to the LORD for His Law. The readings from the Westminster Standards are questions in the Larger and Shorter Catechisms regarding the exaltation of Christ, as is befitting this time after Resurrection Sunday.