Abrahamic Covenant According to the book, A Survey of the Old Testament, “Old Testament” indicates that the covenant is the core concept of this collection of books. Through this covenant, God reveals both what he is like and obliges himself to a particular course of action. The Old Testament often appear to be the history of the covenant, more than a history of Israel. Genesis 12-50 is a history of the establishment of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Abrahamic Covenant was a covenant that God made with Abraham. Abram was a man living in ancient Mesopotamia. (Genesis 12:1-3). Now the Lord stated to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” As you continue to read in the Bible, there are three very important parts to this covenant. When God first called upon Abram, he was living in Ur of Chaldeans, but as stated above, God told him to move to another land that God would show him. Abram …show more content…
He promised this once to Isaac, and again to Jacob. (Genesis 26:2-4) And the Lord appeared to him and said “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of Heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be
God promised Abram three promises which the narrator repeated several times. It is important to know to understand the rest of the bible. The first promise was that Arbam would have a great nation. The second promise to Abram was that the lad he was standing on would be for him and his people and family. The final promise was that God would bless the whole earth through one of his descendants. God created a covenant with Abram and renamed him Abraham. This was a patron covenant. It is a covenant that solely depends on God and does not rely on others.
The covenant dominates the relationship, and was created to teach Abraham how to live in a civilized manner. We can prove that the relationship between the two is a guiding one because God speaks unto Abraham, saying “Be thou perfect” Gen 17.1, during the formation of the covenant. God means to guide Abram in two distinct ways to bring him closer to refinement. The first is changing Abram’s name to Abraham. This represents the changing of Abram’s purpose in life, away from a husband with no children, to a father of a multitude of nations. The second change is the
The origin of the covenant dates back to ancient Hittite civilizations, and was widely common during various periods in the Bible. Covenants (or treaties) were necessary for a
We can believe that the Abrahamic covenant would be fulfilled when, God called Abraham to leave his country, relatives, and family to go to the land that he was going to be given. God said, “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.” The land that the Lord took Abraham too, was the land that would be given to him and his descendants. After Abraham was gone, his descendants would be in possession of the land.
God’s covenant with Abram, whose name was later changed to Abraham, was to be the father of many nations. The covenant includes promises concerning a land covenant, a seed covenant, and a blessing covenant. The foundation will flow out of the “Seed Covenant” to his descendants Isaac and Jacob, through whom the twelve tribes of Israel were born.
Covenant and law are both prevalent themes that are used throughout the Old Testament of the Bible. A covenant is a binding contract in which “a kinship bond between two parties” is created when each party carries out assigned expectations established in the making of the covenant (Hahn and Bergsma 1). A law is a binding rule or regulation that is used to regulate the conduct of a community or group of people and is usually enforced by some kind of authority. There are many similarities and differences between covenant and law, and in some cases covenant and law can be connected so that one supports the other. This is especially true when talking about the Mosaic Law and God’s covenant with Israel. In these two items God creates expectations through the covenant, rules and regulations through the Law, and allows for covenant-maintenance by using both together rather than a simple law code.
The first covenant was between Moses and God. A covenant is like a contract between God and people. The contract says that if the people do as God says that they will be rewarded. In the covenant that God made with Moses, God promised that the Hebrews would have a perennate place to live. To get the reward the Hebrews had to only warship God and reject all others. The Hebrews also so had to live their life following the 10 Commandments.
The Abrahamic Covenant was established in Genesis 12:2-3, this is the first time God spoke to Abraham and instituted this unconditional covenant. The importance is magnified for now we can understand the purpose that God has intended for Israel. The covenant required nothing of Abraham for God’s promise to give him land, descendants and above all nations would be blessed through him per Genesis 15:18-21.
When God told Abram to leave his homeland and to move on (see illustration #1) (Gen.12:1-2NSRV) God made a promise to Abram. “I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing”. (Gen. 12:1-3) Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Therefore, he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him (Gen. 12:7). Abram knew that through his faith in God would blessed Abram and his decedents and Abram would be the father of many nations. From these promises, all must flow from and through Abram, to accomplish God's plan, the birth of Christ and the salvation for humankind after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. “Therefore,
Biblical covenant is “legal term denoting a formal and legally binding declaration of benefits to be given by one party to another, with or without conditions attached.” (Arnold) Biblical covenant is a part of God holy plan and they reveal enteral plan. Each covenant plays a part of God plan of salvation. The Mosaic covenant showed that being saved by works was impossible and reveals God’s Holy character the need of a savior. “The Mosaic Covenant was like the vassal treaties of the ancient Near East, where a more powerful king entered into a relationship with a lesser king.” Knowing the Bible)
The Christ of the Covenants demonstrates the relationship between five covenants God instigated with Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses, and David in the Old Testament, and how they are reflected in Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection in the New Testament. In answering four basic questions, I discovered this main idea to be true time and time again. Robertson exhibits his vast knowledge of the subject with a concisely structured index outlining one clear point for the entire novel.
many times in different texts. Some scholars my say that the word covenants is hard to find a true meaning. You will hear the word covenant throughout the Old Testament. I think sometimes when we hear the word covenant only one or two covenants come to mind. There are many covenants throughout the Bible. I will attempt to define and explain five covenants. These five covenants are: Noahic Covenant, Abrahamic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant, Davidic Covenant and the Fifth Covenant or the (New Covenant). In these particular covenants we will find the promises God made with his people. In this paper I will attempted to answer questions which of these
Understanding the dynamic concept of covenant permeates everything God says in His Word and everything He does in a believer’s life. The following word study will examine the text of Exodus 19:1-8. The text begins with an obscure and severely brutalized people who are saved from slavery and are on the verge of a new covenant between God and man. The word in study is the Hebrew word האמנה, translated “covenant.”
There are three main covenants in the Old Testament. The first covenant is the Abrahamic Covenant. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation (Genesis 12:2). God also promised him the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:7; 17:8), He
Covenant making and covenant people have been a part of God’s plan since the beginning of time. In the Old Testament, and with Jesus Christ being just a foreshadow of things to come, covenants often made God and God’s holiness visible (Fehren, 1996). Furthermore, covenants were the vehicles or processes in which God used to institute promises and manage people (Korver, 2015). In the simplest terms, a covenant is an agreement between two or more parties concerning shared responsibilities and privileges, once ratified, covenants cannot be changed in any way, including the parties involved or the covenant provisions (Korver, 2015, p. 29). Covenants, may either be unconditional or conditional. Thus, an unconditional covenant, such as the one offered to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), requires no conditions to be placed on the recipient (Korver, 2015). Hence, the onus of the Abrahamic covenant was completely on God, and Abraham needed only to accept God’s offer. However, the enjoyment of the blessings made in the Abrahamic Covenant was dependent on how well Abraham and the future nation of Israel adhered to and listened to God’s commands (Merrill, 2006). Therefore, some action was required on behalf of Abraham and Israel to reap the full benefits of God’s blessing. Conditional covenants, such as the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19:1-8), requires the recipient to meet certain conditions before enjoying the benefits of the covenant (Korver, 2015). Typically, conditional covenants