The Abrahamic Covenant is the foundation upon which the three major world religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, stand. The story of Abraham and his descendants is the exemplum of each of these faiths and is pivotal to the understanding of world history when analyzed through the lens of theological worldviews. However, in this course, the theological worldview of the Hebrew people has been at the forefront, as they are the focus of the Tanakh. As a result, this essay will seek to analyze the Abrahamic Covenant from the perspective of the Hebrew people, as chronicled in the Hebrew holy text. First outlined in Genesis, the Abrahamic Covenant is of special significance to the Hebrew people. From the beginning of the Tanakh to the end, both the covenant and its perception in the minds of the Hebrew people develop and evolve as historical events and intense theological debates unfold within the texts. Ultimately, the Hebrew understanding of the Abrahamic Covenant is greatly enhanced and complemented by these developments, and an analysis of passages from each of the Tanakh’s three subdivisions can provide a clearer picture as to why this is.
Torah
The Torah ("instruction, teaching") is the first subdivision of the Tanakh, and within it, the Abrahamic Covenant is established and defined. In Genesis 12:1-3, God calls upon a humble, unpresuming, and faithful man from Ur of the Chaldeans, Abraham, to accept His command and follows it with a remarkable promise:
“The LORD
The tithing (or giving) issue is one that comes up often and that tends to bring up larger issues of law, Christian freedom, grace, generosity, faithfulness and priorities. With this issue, as is true of so many areas of the Christian life and, more specifically, church life, there is broad freedom with respect to many particular decisions or courses of action we might take, provided we take them for biblical reasons and with biblical principles in mind.
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.
Theologically, a covenant (used of relations between God and man) denotes a gracious undertaking entered into by God for the benefit and blessing of humanity and specifically of those who by faith receive the promises and commit themselves to the obligation which this undertaking involves. The Abrahamic Covenant is an unconditional covenant. God made
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 treaty analogue sheds light on some biblical phraseology used in covenant contexts. The relationship of the suzerain to the vassal is often expressed as a father – son relationship. The references to Israel as Yahweh’s son is illuminated by this characteristic idiom: The father – son metaphor informs another idiom: In treaties and diplomatic correspondence, the relationship between the two parties is one of “love.”
This chart is intended to be used as an aid to studying the Abrahamic Covenant that would be found in Genesis. It is a simple tabular formatted chart. The material is done in a logical chapter:verse order starting with Genesis 12 and completing in Genesis 50. It was attempted to show all the verses that either outright mentioned a covenant or at least implied a covenant.
Busenitz’ article offers an in depth understanding of covenants and how they play a prominent role in the Old Testament life including social, political, and religious settings. The author brings to light the definition of the term covenant and provides specific examples of how the term is used within the 39 books of the Old Testament. Busenitz’ establishes the Old Testament usage of the term, covenant, including how it is phrased,
An examination of Israelite theology goes beyond finding similarities and differences, it should articulate the relationships which existed and clarify the cultural context. Otherwise, the mere interpretation of text may lead to interpretation with a theological significance based on our understanding.
The six Covenants define Hebrew law and give a basis for how the current population of Jewish people follows and practice their religion. The first Covenant is the Abrahamic covenant this is defined in Genesis chapters 12 through 13. In Genesis 12 and 15, God grants Abraham land and descendants. This Covenant states that to make of Abraham a great nation and bless Abraham and make his name great so that he will be a blessing, to bless those who bless him and curse him who curses him and all peoples on earth would be blessed through Abraham. To give Abraham 's descendants all the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates, this is now known as Israel. To make Abraham the father of many nations and of many descendants and give "the whole land of Canaan" to his
Book of covenant also known as the law would be referred to as the Torah. The purpose of the Law was proved that it was impossible for mankind to achieve the law and the need of Jesus Christ’s.
In Judaism the covenant is considered to be an extremely and is a central characteristic that is carried out by Jewish adherents as they rely heavily on them and ensure that they are followed throughout their lifetime. The covenant is essentially a reciprocal relationship between God and the people of Israel established in Abraham’s time. However, it continued to pass on down from Abraham to Moses and is still recognised in Judaism. The covenant is important and is still upheld today, as it allows Jewish adherents to maintain a close relationship with God, which is enhanced through Jewish sacred texts, rituals, ethical values and beliefs.
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
The contextual range of meaning of האמנה, or covenant, will explore the usage of covenant in the text of topic, Exodus 19:1-8, followed by its usage in the book of Exodus as a whole. Covenant is used only once in the focal passage but carries great significance. (Strong’s “covenant”:
There are many central themes that are in the Old Testament, and many may say that there is only one theme of the Old Testament, which is Jesus, and even though that is true in a lot of ways due to the fact that a lot of the minor prophets actually talk about the coming of Jesus, His death and His resurrection. However, I have discovered five main themes of the Old Testament that I found quite interesting. And in this paper I will discuss two of them. I believe one of the most important themes of the Old Testament is Covenant.