Basic HTML Version
reject Israel for their disobedience so as “to destroy them utterly, and to
my
covenant with them …” (Lev. 26:44). “He will not … forget the covenant … which he
(
unto them” (Deut. 4:31). The most common verb is “to cut [
] a covenant,”
which is always translated as in Gen. 15:18: “The Lord made a covenant with Abram.”
This use apparently comes from the ceremony described in Gen. 15:9-17 (cf. Jer. 34:18),
in which God appeared as “a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp [flaming torch] that
passed between those pieces” (Gen. 15:17). These verbs make it plain that God takes the
sole initiative in covenant making and fulfillment.
“Covenant” is parallel or equivalent to the Hebrew words
(“word”),
%
(“statute”),
%%$
(“precepts”—Ps. 103:18,
NASB
), ‘edah (“testimony”—Ps. 25:10),
(“law”—Ps. 78:10), and
(“lovingkindness”—Deut. 7:9,
NASB
). These words
emphasize the authority and grace of God in making and keeping the “covenant,” and the
specific responsibility of man under the covenant. The words of the “covenant” were
written in a book (Exod. 24:4, 7; Deut. 31:24-26) and on stone tablets (Exod. 34:28).
Men “enter into” (Deut. 29:12) or “join” (Jer. 50:5) God’s “covenant.” They are to
obey (Gen. 12:4) and “observe carefully” all the commandments of the “covenant” (Deut.
4:6). But above all, the “covenant” calls Israel to “love the Lord thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut. 6:5). God’s “covenant” is a
relationship of love and loyalty between the Lord and His chosen people.
“… If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a
peculiar treasure unto me above all people … and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of
priests, and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:5-6). “All the commandments … shall ye observe to
do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware
unto your fathers” (Deut. 8:1). In the “covenant,” man’s response contributes to covenant
fulfillment; yet man’s action is not causative. God’s grace always goes before and
produces man’s response.
Occasionally, Israel “made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to
keep his commandments … , to perform the words of this covenant that were written in
this book” (2 Kings 23:3). This is like their original promise: “All that the Lord hath
spoken we will do” (Exod. 19:8; 24:7). Israel did not propose terms or a basis of union
with God. They responded to God’s “covenant.”
The wholly gracious and effective character of God’s “covenant” is confirmed in the
Septuagint by the choice of
to translate
!
A
is a will that
distributes one’s property after death according to the owner’s wishes. It is completely
unilateral. In the New Testament,
occurs 33 times and is translated in the
KJV
20
times as “covenant” and 13 times as “testament.” In the
RSV
and the
NASB
, only
“covenant” is used.
The use of “Old Testament” and “New Testament” as the names for the two sections
of the Bible indicates that God’s “covenant” is central to the entire book. The Bible
relates God’s “covenant” purpose, that man be joined to Him in loving service and know
eternal fellowship with Him through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.
TO CREATE