“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Hebrews 8:10).
The people of ancient Israel promised to prioritize God’s will for their lives on several occasions. For instance…
“…all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD” (Exodus 19:8).
“Then [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient'” (Exodus 24:7).
“And the people said to Joshua, ‘The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!'” (Joshua 24:24).
Unfortunately, those promises largely failed to materialize as evidenced by God’s message through the prophet Jeremiah…
“…this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward” (Jeremiah 7:23-24).
To overcome this issue, God initiated a New Covenant foretold by the prophet Jeremiah. This New Covenant is one that internalizes God’s laws along with the desire to obey them. This echoes a similar promise made through the prophet Ezekiel…
“I will give them a desire to respect me completely, and I will put inside them a new way of thinking. I will take out the stubborn heart of stone from their bodies, and I will give them an obedient heart of flesh. Then they will live by my rules and obey my laws and keep them. They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20 NCV).
Thus, as one commentator concludes…
“God once wrote his laws to his people, now he will write his laws in them; he will give them understanding to know and to believe his laws; he will give them memories to retain them; he will give them hearts to love them, courage to profess them, and power to put them in practice. This is the foundation of the covenant; and when this is laid, duty will be done wisely, sincerely, readily, easily, resolutely, constantly, and with comfort.” (1)
(1) Henry, Matthew. “Concise Commentary on Hebrews 8”. “Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible”. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhn/hebrews-8.html. 1706.