themselves to the authority of the Law. Apart from voluntary submission to a unifying principle there could have been no nation. The people redeemed out of Egypt by blood—who had begun a walk by faith— were constituted a nation when they as a people voluntarily submitted themselves unto the Law. This was reaffirmed in Deuteronomy 5:27–28: “Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.” From the divine viewpoint, Israel