To put it simply, Covenants are permanent promises between God and His people. Understanding what Covenants are can help us to connect events of the Bible through history to today.
A Theme that ties the books of the Bible Together
The bible is not a single book. It is a library of many books written by many people over many centuries on various topics and with various styles. With that much variety, have you ever wondered if there are any common themes or ties that run throughout the Bible? Yes, there are. Covenants show us how God makes promises and is faithful throughout the Bible.
- God’s Covenant plan is a continuous story that seems to start small but keeps growing throughout the Bible. Despite sin and evil all around, the Lord’s Covenant plan faithfully continues throughout history and reaches us today. That is worth understanding some more.
Marriage – Adam and Eve – Gen 2:7, 2:21-24, 3:15
It starts with a marriage bond.
In Genesis we see God created Man and Woman in His image and in a permanent marital relationship, ‘The two of them become one body’. This is essential for a marriage. Marriage is the essential building block of society. When the couple is married with an oath before God, it is a permanent Covenant.
Gen 2:23-24
23 the man said:
“This one, at last, is bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;
This one shall be called ‘woman,’
for out of man this one has been taken.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.
Sometimes we focus on the marriage vows that say ‘in good times and in bad’. This is where Covenants are important. In a fallen world that is filled with sin and difficulties, God’s Covenants provide extra power and grace to help a couple through difficult and joyful times. As they remain faithful to God and each other they can endure trials and tribulations and remain as one.
In Genesis, we begin to see the permanence of the Covenant. Despite Adam and Eve’s sin, and the consequences of their sin, Adam and Eve are not cast away with the serpent, but will have an ongoing battle with him. God has not abandoned Adam and Eve.
Gen 3:14-15
14 Then the LORD God said to the snake:
…
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel
This verse is sometimes referred to as the protoevangelium, or the first hint of good news, which we will come back to later.
After the fall, we see a lot of sin and evil in the Bible. We may tend to think that evil is winning, but God has a plan. The Covenant Has begun with a marriage of 2 people.
Household – Noah – Genesis 8,9
It especially seems like evil is winning in the time of Noah. The entire world has turned to sin except for a few. Noah is attentive to the Lord’s call and builds an ark. Most know the story. The flood comes, Noah’s family and the animals are saved.
Then God makes a Covenant with Noah…
Gen 8:20
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.21 When the LORD smelled the sweet odor, the LORD said to himself: Never again will I curse the ground because of human beings, since the desires of the human heart are evil from youth; nor will I ever again strike down every living being, as I have done.
Gen 9:12
God said: This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come:
The idea of sacrificing animals may seem strange to us, but that was what Noah had available from his livelihood to offer to the Lord. it would be equivalent of us working hard in our jobs and giving the Lord the first of our earnings.
So sin was wiped away from the earth, or was it?
Shortly after, we see sin reappearing. The tendency to sin is still in everyone and the epidemic spreads. It looks like evil is winning again, but God has a plan.
- If we look at God’s Covenant plan it has grown from a marriage of 2 people to a household of 8 people; Noah and his wife, their three sons, and their wives.
One Tribe – Abraham – Genesis 12, 15
Did you ever notice the list of generations in the Bible, the genealogies? Don’t skip them. Why? The genealogies keep us on track. They show us God’s Covenant plan as it continues in history. The ones that follow it can see how God’s promise continues all the way from the beginning to the end.
The events in the life of Abraham and his faith in God seems extraordinary, but this faith did not happen overnight. When we look closer we see a chain of events that are reliant upon Abraham being attentive to the Lord’s call and then following it.
By the time we reach the Covenant with Abraham he has already left his homeland of the Chaldeans.
Gen 12:1-7
1 Abram: Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.
2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will find blessing in you.
4 Abram went as the LORD directed him
God makes a Covenant with Abraham
Gen 15: 1-18
1 Some time afterward, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: Do not fear, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great.
2 But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what can you give me, if I die childless and have only a servant of my household, Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant of my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: No, that one will not be your heir; your own offspring will be your heir.
5 He took him outside and said: Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, will your descendants be.
6 Abram put his faith in the LORD, who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness.
7 He then said to him: I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.
…
18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates
You may notice that each Covenant is linked to a physical sign. God is working with people in the real world. Each person sacrifices what they have, giving themselves or their first fruits in trust to the Lord
- With Abraham, the Covenant promise has grown from marriage, to a household, and now to a tribe of people.
Twelve Tribes – Jacob – Gen 35
Jacob deceives Isaac to get the blessing. At this point, you might be asking ‘Why is God working with such sinful people?’ It is true, Jacob was deceitful. Esau was worse. The problem is that everyone is sinful. If God’s plan ended because there were sinful people in the word, the Bible would be very short and no hope for us. Good thing God’s plan transcends sin and evil.
- This brings up an important aspect of Covenants. They are part of God’s eternal promise and plan. They do not end or stop because of sinful people and corruption.
- It is never good if those trusted with authority sin, as there are always consequences, but the Lord keeps his promises. He is enduring, everlasting, true, and his Covenant continues no matter what else happens. That should be reassuring to us.
Some justice was served. Jacob ended up getting tricked by Laban into 7 extra years of service. Despite Jacob’s younger faults, he eventually relied on the Lord and set up several altars to worship Him, renewing the Covenant of his Father Isaac and grandfather Abraham.
Gen 35:11-
11 Then God said to him: I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will stem from you, and kings will issue from your loins.12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you; and to your descendants after you I will give the land.
13 Then God departed from him.
14 In the place where God had spoken with him, Jacob set up a sacred pillar, a stone pillar, and upon it he made a libation and poured out oil.
- With Jacob, now called Israel, the Covenant promise has grown from marriage, to a household, to a tribe of people, to 12 tribes of people.
The Promised Tribe – Judah – Gen 49
Up until now, there was only one head of the household so it was easier to follow the genealogy and the promise. With the sons of Jacob, we now have 12 tribes. Who does the Covenant promise go through?
Judah the Lion
While much of attention follows the events of Joseph, underneath another brother goes through a transformation from being extremely selfish in the beginning to being selfless for Benjamin at the end. Jacob (Israel) chooses Judah.
Gen 49:8-
8 “You, Judah, shall your brothers praise—your hand on the neck of your enemies;
the sons of your father shall bow down to you.
9 Judah is a lion’s cub,
you have grown up on prey, my son.
He crouches, lies down like a lion,
like a lioness—who would dare rouse him?
10 The scepter shall never depart from Judah,
or the mace from between his feet,
Until tribute comes to him,
and he receives the people’s obedience.
A Nation – Moses – Exodus 19-24
About 400 years later, the 12 tribes are in captivity. A prophet, Moses is chosen from among them. Moses and his brother Aaron are not from among the tribe of Judah. They are from Levi.
If we follow the Covenant promise and the genealogies, we might expect the promise to go through the tribe of Judah, not the tribe of Levi so what is going on here?
God’s promise does continue through Judah but at the same time his Covenant is growing and includes all of Israel
During the Egyptian captivity, the Israelites become attached to worshipping false gods. They were not only in physical bondage but in spiritual bondage.
Whenever Israel fell into grave sin, eventually one from among them would listen to the Lord. They were known as prophets and could come from any of the tribes to act as a mediator between God and his people.
Moses listened. He returned to Egypt, the plagues followed and Pharaoh let the Israelite go. Passover represents their escape from slavery. The Passover meal was a lamb and unleavened bread.
Moses receives the 10 Commandments and the Ark of the Covenant on Mt. Sinai.
- At the time of Moses, the Covenant promise has grown from marriage, to a household, to a tribe, to 12 tribes, now a nation of people. God’s Covenant plan even continues to grow despite grave sin.
For us here, it is helpful to remember the Lord’s promise will continue through the line of Judah so we will not look for the Messiah to come from the Levitical priesthood.
A Kingdom – David – 2 Samuel 7, 8
Roughly another 400 years pass (according to 1 Kings) and the line of Judah has continued to the house of David. Despite warnings from Moses in Deuteronomy and from Samuel, the people insisted on having a king.
David, from the tribe of Judah, was appointed by Samuel as the 2nd King of Israel after Saul. David was not without serious sin,
But David did repent, humbled himself, and God made a Covenant with him.
2 Sam 7:8-
8 Now then, speak thus to my servant David, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to become ruler over my people Israel.9 I was with you wherever you went, and I cut down all your enemies before you. And I will make your name like that of the greatest on earth.
10 I will assign a place for my people Israel and I will plant them in it to dwell there; they will never again be disturbed, nor shall the wicked ever again oppress them, as they did at the beginning,
11 and from the day when I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you:
12 when your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever.
14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will reprove him with a human rod and with human punishments;
15 but I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from Saul who was before you.
16 Your house and your kingdom are firm forever before me; your throne shall be firmly established forever.
For many Jews, this is the most glorious point of Israel. The land promised to Abraham was theirs, they were one United Kingdom, they were powerful and free from enemies roundabout. The promised one from the line of Judah was on the throne.
A thousand years later, under Roman rule, many Jews longed for a return to this glory.
- God’s promise was still growing. Starting from marriage, to a household, to a tribe, to 12 tribes, to a nation, now to a kingdom. God’s Covenant plan continues to grow despite the desire for worldly power.
A Worldwide Everlasting Covenant – Jesus – Jeremiah 31. Isaiah 9.
Now that we have gone through the Covenants of the Old Testament and have seen how God’s plan has continued from a married couple to the kingdom of Israel, there is still more room for the Covenant to grow…
Jesus
Jesus fulfills the promise of Gen 3:15. All the Old Testament Covenants are growing towards Him. He performs many miracles. teaches the people, chooses Apostles, and creates new Covenant bonds with His people. He is the new Covenant, the worldwide blessing.
- Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Covenants that came before. He is the universal Covenant for all.
We will continue this in our next Topic: How does Jesus fulfill the Covenants.
Gift Ideas: Jewelry – Visit Our Online Store
To Read a Quiet Psalm – Click Here
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.