Summary
The biblical writers were theologians who consciously organized their material in a systematic fashion in order to communicate certain Central truths. We need to rediscover their system and allow their system to organize our closets.
The covenant is a major structuring principle of our scriptures. A covenant was much like a contract
Fictive kinship Israel's patriarchal culture in which an individual's privileges and responsibilities within the bêt ’āb, the tribe and larger society were predetermined by their lineage, gender and birth order. This was how the ancients ordered their world.
Establishing a relationship of privilege and responsibility with someone who was non-kin that person would have to make kin out of non-kin. This was accomplished by means of fictive kinship. Both parties agreed to act like family. (think marriage and adoption)
Egypt and Mesopotamia were the superpowers who regularly sought for control of Canaan; Israel's territory (Canaan or Palestine)
In the days of the divided monarchy, this tiny strip of land housed, the Israelites, Judahhites, Philistines, Phoenicians, Moabites and a dozen other small tribal groups.
Two sorts of international alliances: the Parity Treaty (made between equals) and the Suzerain/Vassal (treaty made between greater and lesser powers).
Parity Treaty: responsibilities of both parties typically limited to military alliance against an outsider (covenant partner spoke of each other as brothers)
Suzerain/Vassal Treaty: One party clearly more powerful than the other had right to demand submission of weaker Ally. (Partners spoke of each other as Father and son or Lord and servant)
Make a covenant ("cut a berit") with us (Joshua and the The Gibeonites).
A berit always involved oaths, ratified by of animals ("May what has happened to these animals happen to me if I fail to keep my oath")
Genesis 15:9 Abram participating in a covenant with Yahweh: " oh Lord God, how may I know that I will possess the land?" Genesis 15:8 Yahweh answers in a way that he knows Abram will understand - cow, goat, ram, dove, pigeon for sacrifice as when people cut a berit.
Abram supernaturally induced sleep - A great darkness fell upon him (an appearance of the deity in physical form) What happened at Sinai when God descended upon the mountain in material form to communicate with his people. Genesis 15:18 God passed between the torn and bloodied parts of the sacrificed animals. "May what has happened to these animals happened to me if I failed to keep my oath"
Abram didn't fail his promise, but the children of Abraham did. Whose flesh was torn to pay the price for this broken covenant? The God man, Jesus Christ, the representative of humanity and the embodiment of Yahweh whose flesh was torn to appease the broken stipulations of the oath taken.
Covenants are the terminology associated with the international politics of the ancient near East, and the Bible is describing Israel's relationship to Yahweh in terms of a berit. Suzerain and Israel has become his vassal.
Yahweh has become Israel's sovereign Lord and Israel His servant. Israel will demonstrate this three times a year, every year, when every male was required to appear before Yahweh with his tribute in hand. If Israel fails to obey the stipulations of the covenant, their sovereign Lord will surrender Israel to her enemies. But if Israel is faithful, Yahweh will defend her against all military and economic afflictions. In this manner, the nation of Israel will retain the land grant of the Great King.
In sum, we see that the word covenant carries more semantic cargo than most Bible readers would ever guess and Yahweh, the great teacher, selected this well-known secular image in order to teach his chosen people about himself. So significant. Is this concept of covenant to the Bible that the biblical writers utilize it as a major structuring principle for both the history and theology of redemption.
