Covenants

Covenant: Is an agreement between two people and involves promises on the part of each to the other.

Covenants A common example of a covenant still made today is Marriage: Two people commit themselves to one another through sickness and health, good times and bad until death do them part. What qualities are required of people who enter into a covenant?

Biblical Covenants The word covenant comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to cut”. This explains the strange custom of two people passing through the cut bodies of slain animals after making an agreement. (Jer 34: 18) Sometimes people would share a meal when entering into a covenant (Gen 31:54)

Biblical Covenants Covenants are a major theme of the Bible The bible contains 5 major covenants:  God’s covenant with Noah  God’s covenant with Abraham  God’s covenant with Moses  God’s covenant with David  The covenant of Christ

Things you need to know before studying Covenants Because the bible conveys events that on the surface would appear to contradict our understanding of God, it is important that we learn how to read the scriptures. A concept you must be familiar with are “Myths”. By understanding what myths are and how they operate you are more likely to read the bible stories as they were meant to be read and understood. Your task then is to research what a Myth is and how they operate within the Old Testament. Compare one of the Old Testament myths to a myth from another culture. You could for example compare the Genesis creation accounts (yes there are 2) to the Aboriginal creation account. We will start you off by providing you with a basic definition of Myth: A story that conveys the ideological beliefs of a cultural, social or religious group

Now that you understand what myths are and how they operate, you are ready to explore the covenants found in the Old Testament.

God’s covenant with Noah

Noah lived during a time of great evil and Godlessness. God, on seeing the violence and corruption of the world, told Noah of his intention to destroy the world by flood. Since Noah was the only righteous man on earth, God instructed him to build an Ark. Despite being ridiculed by all those around him, Noah, showing his faith in God, built the Ark. After the flood waters subsided God promised Noah and his descendants he would never again destroy the world by flood. God established the rainbow as his sign of promise to Noah and his descendants. Read Genesis for the story of Noah.

God’s Covenant with Abraham God called Abram out of Mesopotamia and promised to give his offspring the land of Canaan (Gen 12: 1-7) God reaffirmed to Abram his promise of offspring, even though Abram was 75 and his wife was well beyond child bearing years. (Gen 15: 1-4) God also reaffirmed his promise to give Abram’s descendants the land of Canaan and a covenant was cut between God and Abram (Gen 15: 7-10)

God promised to give Abram as many descendants as there were stars in the heavens. God then renamed Abram, Abraham, because he was to be the father of many nations.

As a sign of his promise God gives Abraham a son called Isaac. Strangely, God then asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. Research question: What does this act mean in the context of God’s covenant with Abraham?

God’s Covenant with Moses The Ark of the Covenant

The most famous symbol of God’s covenant with Moses are the two stone tablets upon which were written the Ten Commandments. The handing over of God’s law to the nation of Israel came only after God freed the people from slavery in Egypt.

We are all probably familiar with the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Through the power of God, Moses brought down 10 plagues on the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh to let his people go. Moses was then given the task of leading God’s people to the promised land. It was during this journey that Moses received the Ten Commandments.

God remembered the covenant He made with Abraham and He brought their descendants out of slavery in Egypt. God said to the people, ‘If you obey me fully and keep my covenant then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession…You will be for me a kingdom of Priests, a Holy Nation.’ (Exodus 19: 5-6) The next day, Moses sprinkled blood on the people saying this is the blood of the covenant that the lord has made with you. (Ex 24: 8) An animal was cut and the people came under the covenant by being sprinkled by its blood. The tablets of stone were then placed in the ark of the covenant.

God’s Covenant with David In 2 Samuel 7: God makes a covenant with King David in which David and his descendants were established as the royal heirs to the throne of the nation of Israel. This covenant was fulfilled in Jesus as indicated by the Gospel of Matthew which shows Christ was the “son of David” (Matthew 1: 1)

Covenants in the Old Testament In summary: Covenants were an agreement between two parties. Covenants involved each person making a promise to the other. They were a sign of fidelity. They involved the cutting of an animal as a symbol of the covenant being agreed to by both parties.

Problems with the Covenants

Through the many covenants of the Old Testament, the perennial problem lay in the failure of God’s people to keep their side of the promise. This is symbolised in the Old Testament by the Golden Calf

Unlike the unfaithfulness of the chosen people to the covenants made with God in the Old Testament, Jesus was always faithful to God’s will. For this reason Jesus is called the New Covenant

The Church teaches that in the person of Jesus, who is fully human and fully divine, we have the first person ever to be totally in tune with God’s will for his people. Jesus was perfectly obedient to God’s will and is therefore called the new covenant

Because Jesus was the perfect fulfilment of God’s Covenant with his people, Jesus is the final covenant. No more covenants are needed. Like the Old Testament Covenants, Jesus covenant was sealed in the spilling of his own blood. Because Jesus is the fulfilment of the covenant, Christians believe that no further blood sacrifices are required.