Gods covenant
Read Before
In ancient times being in a family was essential for survival (provision, protection, …), and being in an important family was even better.
But how do you join a family? By marriage, by birth, by adoption and by COVENANT.
Historical covenants
Historically, there are two types of alliances:
- between equals (military alliance, support, also called brothers)
- between the strong and the weak (conquest, called master and slave or father and son).
Let us look at the second type. This is usually the case when one country conquers another.
The stronger had authority over the land and people (he sets up a king and owns the land),
- supports the weaker with soldiers and tribute, and
- the stronger is obliged to protect the weaker.
An example is Joshua and the Gibeonites, who deceived him into making a covenant. When they were attacked he had to protect them even though he did not like them.
If the weaker one broke the covenant (usually when he stopped paying tribute), he lost that land. The weaker one was not allowed to make such a covenant with others, because you can only have one father. (Covenants between several equals are possible, since you can have several brothers. A strong one can have several treaties with weaker ones, as a father can have many sons).
The Bible is full with covenants between people
- Abraham and Abimelech,
- Isaak and the Philistines,
- Jacob and Laban,
- Gilead,
- Ahab.
“Making a covenant” literally means “cutting a covenant”. This has the following background: During the covenant ceremonies a sacrifice was offered to
- celebrate the covenant
- and to show what would happen if the covenant was broken. Often the sacrifices would be lined up and the weaker would have to go through them to show what would happen to him if he broke the covenant.
The covenant with Abraham
In the Bible the story of Abraham describes such a scene. The covenant with Abraham is defined in more detail (when circumcision is added)
But here the foundation is given. God promises land and heirs. Then we have the sacrifice scene. The odd thing here is that it is not Abraham as the weaker one who goes through the animals, but God Himself, so that He will carry the breaking of the covenant from Abraham’s side.
The covenant before was with Noah which was one-sided (only God the stronger promised something)!
The covenant with Israel
To understand the covenant with Israel, we need some additional understanding.
When a contract was made it had a specific form
- Preamble: (often long and detailed) title and name of the stronger party.
- Prologue (only in the time of the Hittites, second millennium B.C.): shows the faithfulness and kindness of the stronger one to encourage him to join the covenant.
- Demands: what the weaker had to do
- Blessing and course: military support of the stronger or illness, removal of kings or exile of the weaker.
- Witnesses are called: usually gods of the stronger to see that the covenant is not broken.
The covenant is kept in the house of the gods of both parties and is regularly red.
This pattern is also found in the covenant that God made with Israel:
- Preambel: I am the Lord your God.
- Prologue: Who brought you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery.
- Commandments: First (implicite): Have only one God, included in the 10 Commandments.
- Blessing and Course: consequential in exile, but gradually for education (“if you still do not listen, I will”).
- Witnesses: heaven and earth.
The requirement to read it again, even for the king. There was a meal together, and each party got a copy of the commandments (one tablet stays with God in the temple, the other with the God of Israel — so both in the temple — that’s why Moses had two tablets).
God also calls himself the Father of Israel.
The Bible uses the word “heset” = “covenant loyalty” which is a word that can be described by “love”, “goodness”, “mercy” or “faithfulness”.