Obviously there are many things I can say about covenant. In the bible there are seven main covenants: Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Palestinian, Mosaic, Davidic, and New. Sometimes the Palestinian Covenant is not listed and the New Covenant and an Everlasting Covenant added. This teaching is not specifically on covenants but relationship so I won’t go into details and differences between teachings. What I will do here is delve into the concept of covenants and what are our commitments and that of God’s in our relationship with God.
— What is covenant?
At the basis of this word is agreement, promise, even a commitment. It should be formal, like in writing, stipulating the terms and conditions of this agreement. The covenant is binding so long as each party fulfills their commitments. In normal civil law there are penalties imposed for breaking this covenant. For instance, if you sign a lease with a landlord there are certain stipulations imposed upon both the tenant and landlord. Penalties imposed for breaking commitments can be both financial and legal. When covenants are not in writing people used to swear to fulfill their parts of the agreement. Problems arise, however, when one remembers things differently or forgets or ignores part of the covenant. In Genesis 16 we see God himself swearing to uphold his end of the Abrahamic covenant. Interpretation of covenants, however, can vary greatly. For instance did the promise to Abraham to make his descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore only include the Jews or others as well?
— What our our responsibilities to uphold a covenant?
The marriage covenant is another type of covenant. It exemplifies a commitment between a man and a woman. Traditionally the vows include something like ‘to love, honor, and cherish a partner for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part’. Many have departed from this commitment over the centuries. The idea of adding ‘so help me God’ or similar such phrases invokes the idea of a spiritual commitment before God. A binding agent in any covenant could be swearing to an oath, shedding of blood, or a symbolic even such as sharing a meal. Many times (written) covenants get sealed or perhaps even ‘sealed with a kiss’ although that is less common. For a kiss can also be a mark of betrayal like what Judas did to Christ.
— What God has bound himself to in covenant?
Listen to these words spoken by the Angel of the LORD:
Gen. 22:15-16:: the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son
In Hebrews we read ‘God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself’ (Heb. 6:13). Normally men swear by the greater which is the case of God there is none.
Heb 6:17-18:: God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie
Immutable means unchangeable. The two things here are the promise confirmed by an oath. The promise is to bless 1) bless Abraham, 2) make his descendant numerous, 3) make his descendents possess the gates of the city, and 4) bless the whole world through his seed (offspring). The oath is God swearing by himself.
So if the two unchangeable things are the promise and the oath what does that say about lying?
We also read
God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do? Has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Num. 23:19)
This verse leaves open the idea of the Son of Man having to repent. Repent at it’s core is not necessarily lying. It could be changing one’s mind or changing one’s course.
We read in the gospel of Luke ‘it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem’ (Luke 9:51). So where was he heading before heading toward Jerusalem?
Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people (Matt. 9:35)
He went around all of Israel before setting his face toward Jerusalem. So by the broadest sent he changed his course when the time for him to be delivered up drew near.
These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 10:5-6).
Yet time changes things. Christ himself met the woman at the well in Samaria. Paul was sent specifically to the Gentiles. Even under the old covenant foreigners like Jethro, Rehab and Ruth were instrumental in Israel’s history.
To Ananias in Damascus the holy vision spoke to him ‘Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel’ (Acts 9:15). In Antioch Paul spoke to the gentiles quoting Isaiah: I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”[Is. 49:6].
But never remember, the overall context of Isaiah 49 is to bring Jacob back unto himself. Isaiah 49:8 says ‘I will preserve You and give You As a covenant to the people, To restore the earth, To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages’
So even the preservation of Israel over the centuries, despite the many pogroms and the hollocaust was to show his covenant to all peoples. It is a witness to God’s unfailing commitment to all of the sons of Jacob. It may have always been God’s design to bring in the Gentiles yet it came to fruition under the ministry of Apostle Paul, comissioned on the road to Damascus.
— Covenant makers: God unto Abraham
When it comes to covenant the first person we usually think of is Abraham. In Genesis 15 Abraham brought out five animals and cut in two the heifer, a goat, and a ram. The animals were three years old signifying a triune god and three days in the grave. After the sun went down a smoking oven and a burning torch passed between these piece. God there made a covenant with Abraham. To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates. It was unconditional. Abram had already passed the test by leaving the land of his father. Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran (Acts 7:2). The ceremony in Genesis 15 happened after Abram left Mesopotamia and after he left Haran when his father died there. There was yet a still big test Abram was to undergo yet the LORD God had already promised Abram his inheritance. Yet Abram was obedient in his life. I suggest to you that even the birth of Ishmael to Hagar was in obedience to Abram’s descendants inheriting the whole land between the rivers. So while God made an unconditional promise to Abramham there was a sign of circumcision given unto him:
This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you (Gen. 17:10-11). God further explains his covenant would only follow Isaac even though Ishmael and his descendants also followed the practice of circumcision. God can further refine and specify covenant, especially when we do not fully grasp his plans.
When we get to chapter 22 of Genesis the question I have is this. What would have happened if Abraham was unwilling to sacrifice his son? The word says in Genesis 22:2 that Isaac was his only son. The word hebrew word here is ‘ben’ and not ‘yeled’. For yeled also means son but that is from the root word yalad which means to beget, to bear forth. Hagar begat (yalad) Ishmael. Sarah was Abraham’s wife. Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children (yalad).
For Abraham and Sarah were of one flesh and only they could beget a son. We can have many sons and daughters but when one begets it is through our wife, not a concubine. It was God’s plan ‘C’ for Eliezar was to to be Abraham’s heir and Ishmael was place ‘B’ concocted by Abram and Sarai. Ishmael was from Abram’s body but Sarah did not beget him so it was his son (bēn) but thine only (yāḥîḏ) was Isaac. Ishmael was not a yeled unto Abraham and Sarah.
I suggest to you that passing the test of sacrificing Isaac on Mount Mariah was not a condition of the covenant of God with Abraham. If anything, it was circumcision that was the requirement for Abraham and his descendants. For this was a sign of the covenant.
Gen. 21:12-13:: in Isaac your seed (zera) shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed (zera) We read in Genesis 22:18 ‘in your seed (zera) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. This blessing is for all of Abraham’s descendants, even the ones birthed through Ishmael, for he was also from Abraham’s seed, it was just not the seed that was called to carry on the covenant (Isaac).
Would the blessing given to all of Abraham’s seed (including Ishmael) have been lost in this test upon Mount Moriah? Up until then Abraham had obeyed the voice of the LORD but this was the ultimate test to bless all of Abraham’s seed.
Does obedience flow to the next generation to maintain covenant? Circumcision was the sign of the covenant. Obedience is what sealed it for his descendants.
Abraham’s descendants would have the inheritance so what happens if his descendants break the covenant of circumcision. Is this a covenant for both descendants of Isaac and Ishmael?
— Covenant breakers: Between Abraham and Abimelech’s descendants
Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant (Gen. 21:27). We find another Abimelech in Genesis 26, possibly a son who also lived in Gerar. Sources I have seen suggest 75 years between the two Abimelech’s. Actually abi means father and melech king so together Abimelech means my father is king: it is a title more than a name. What is also interesting is that Philcol was commander of Abimelech’s army in both accounts so the two incidents could easly be confused or at the very least related.
Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to (the first) Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant (Gen. 21:27). Then seven ewe lambs were sent to Abimelech as a witness that I have dug this well (Gen. 21:30). The place was then called Beershiva which means Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven.
What is interesting is that Abraham lied about his wife Sarah being his sister. Isaac does the same thing, he lies to the king of Gerar about Rebekkah being his sister for she was beautiful as was Sarah. Deja vu? Sounds like a generational lie to me.
In Genesis 26:3-4 there is a re-iteration of the covenant God made with Abraham, this time to Isaac. Isaac’s servants also quibble over water rights. Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. (Gen. 26:18). There were three wells which Isaac’s servants dug called Esek, Sitnah, and Rehoboth. The fourth well dug was called Shebah and it was in Beershiva.
I suggest to you some, if not all, of the wells Isaac’s servants dug were what Abraham originally dug and were stopped up by the Philisteans. The witness of the seven ewe lambs had been forgotten. The new generation ignored what was honored during their parent’s lifetime. Covenant broken in the subsequent generation. If you remember what happened to the children of Israel in Egypt. The new Pharoh remembered none of the promises of his father for the good done unto Joseph and his family. Likewise, many arab peoples forget the covenant given to Abraham and their part, along with Israel, to this covenant.
So in this day of broken covenent never forget God’s commitment to the Jewish people. They are also a light to the nations just as circumcision was a sign of covenant to the descendants of Abraham.
Sources:
https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-covenants.html
https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/48774/what-are-the-two-unchangeable-things-referred-to-in-hebrews-618
https://bam.sites.uiowa.edu/RTL/yalad