Momo M.
asked • 12/20/202. Discuss the importance of the covenantal dynamic as an overarching theme of the Israel-story.
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Leanne S. answered • 12/26/20
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Dear Momo,
In plain words, the story of the Old Testament can be summed up simply: God creates people because He wants to have loving relationships with them. He promises to faithfully guide, protect, and provide for individuals, families, and the nation of Israel, if they will love him exclusively and abide by the guidelines He establishes. The long and the short of the story is that throughout the Old Testament, people respond to God's initiative (Adam, Abraham, Moses) and promise they will follow God's laws, and do so initially, but as they encounter hardships, temptations, or new and frightening circumstances, they inevitably stray or begin to grumble that God is not faithful to them. As they doubt and question, they wander into worshiping gods of the peoples around them, betraying their promises to love and serve God exclusively.
God stays faithful, while individuals, families, and Israel stray. The great miracle is that no matter how many times individuals, such as King Solomon or King David, or Israel itself stray, God never gives up on loving them. The covenant, or mutually agreed upon promise, is always upheld by God, even when people (or Israel) fall short on their promises.
The story of God's covenantal relationships with individuals, families, and the nation of Israel begins in the first chapters of Genesis and continues throughout the Exodus, the giving of the The Law, and the Prophetic books, indeed, throughout the entire Old Testament. From God's communication with first people, Adam and Eve, that they can have "every tree of the garden except . . ." to the last promise spoken in the book of Malachi, "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah . . ." God promises covenantal relationship, mutually-agreed-upon "contracts" between Him and others, not only because he seeks to be in relationship with these people and Israel, but by example, He intends to demonstrate His faithfulness and unconditional love to all humankind. It is both marvelous and devastating to see how God keeps "showing back up" (no matter what!) even after the Israelites continually break the promises they have made to God, "We will love and serve you only." In Deuteronomy 29, Moses tells Israel, "You are standing her in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as His people, that He may be your God as He promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
Whether it takes 40 years for God to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land after they begin worshiping idols, He does not give up on His promise. He puts the Israelites in a "desert holding pattern" until they again surrender and agree to love Him exclusively, providing daily for their needs for water, food, and reassurance. In another story, it takes 70 years for God to restore the promise to Israel after they are exiled to Babylon with King Nebuchadnezzar for 70 years after turning to the gods of the surrounding nations (Daniel, Chapter 9). God punishes Israel (as He promised He would when they made the covenant before God with Moses, Deuteronomy Chapter 30, vs. 15).
God does not quit loving Israel no matter how she hurts Him. He genuinely loves her. At one point, God even compares His love for Israel to that of a cuckolded husband's brokenhearted devotion to an unfaithful wife in the Book of Hosea, " . . .the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord. . . She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and the gold--which they used for Baal." Though God feels betrayed, violated, and abandoned as the Israelites worship Baal, in the story in Hosea, God tells Israel, "I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord . . . I will show my love to the one called 'Not my loved one." No matter how far individuals wander away from God, He continues to reach out in Love. Crazy? Some would say so . . .
There are hundreds of other stories in the Old Testament that illustrate the covenantal relationship God has with humankind and Israel, to be "a light unto the nations."
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Sorita D.
Law Covenant. The Law covenant between Jehovah and the nation of natural Israel was made in the third month after their leaving Egypt, in 1513 B.C.E. (Ex 19:1) It was a national covenant. One born a natural Israelite was, by birth, in the Law covenant and was thus in this special relationship with Jehovah. The Law was in the form of a code, arranged in an orderly way, its statutes grouped together. The Law, transmitted through angels by the hand of a mediator, Moses, was made operative by a sacrifice of animals (in the place of Moses, the mediator, or “covenanter”) at Mount Sinai. (Ga 3:19; Heb 2:2; 9:16-20) At that time Moses sprinkled half the blood of the sacrificed animals on the altar, then he read the book of the covenant to the people, who agreed to be obedient. Afterward he sprinkled the blood upon the book and upon the people. (Ex 24:3-8) Under the Law, a priesthood was established in the house of Aaron, of the family of Kohath of the tribe of Levi. (Nu 3:1-3, 10) The high priesthood passed by descent from Aaron to his sons, Eleazar succeeding Aaron, Phinehas succeeding Eleazar, and so forth.—Nu 20:25-28; Jos 24:33; Jg 20:27, 28.The terms of the Law covenant were that if the Israelites kept the covenant they would be a people for the name of Jehovah, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, with His blessing (Ex 19:5, 6; De 28:1-14); if they violated the covenant, they would be cursed. (De 28:15-68) Its purposes were: to make transgressions manifest (Ga 3:19); to lead the Jews to Christ (Ga 3:24); to serve for a shadow of the good things to come (Heb 10:1; Col 2:17); to protect the Jews from false, pagan religion and preserve the true worship of Jehovah; to protect the line of the seed of promise. Added to the covenant with Abraham (Ga 3:17-19), it organized the natural seed-nation of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. The Law covenant extended benefits to others not of natural Israel, for they could become proselytes, getting circumcised, and could receive many of the Law’s benefits.—Ex 12:48, 49.However, the Law covenant became in a sense “obsolete” when God announced by means of the prophet Jeremiah that there would be a new covenant. (Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:13) In 33 C.E. the Law covenant was canceled on the basis of Christ’s death on the torture stake (Col 2:14), the new covenant replacing it.—Heb 7:12; 9:15; Ac 2:1-4. In the days of Moses, Jehovah liberated the sons of Israel—then numbering in the millions—from slavery in Egypt and made a covenant with them whereby they became his special people. Under this covenant, the Israelites had a priesthood and a system of animal sacrifices that covered their sins in a token way. Thus, they had freedom to approach God in worship. They also had a system of laws and regulations to keep them free from superstitious practices and false worship. Later, they would receive the Promised Land as an inheritance, with the assurance of divine help against their enemies. Their part of the covenant called on the Israelites to keep Jehovah’s Law. The Israelites willingly accepted this condition, saying: “All that Jehovah has spoken we are willing to do.”—Exodus 19:3-8; Deuteronomy 11:22-25.For more than 1,500 years, the Israelites were in that special relationship with Jehovah. But time after time they failed to keep the covenant. Repeatedly they were seduced by false worship and came into bondage to idolatry and superstition, so God permitted them to be physically enslaved to their enemies. (Judges 2:11-19) Instead of enjoying the liberating blessings that came from keeping the covenant, they were punished because of transgressing it. (Deuteronomy 28:1, 2, 15) Eventually, in 607 B.C.E., Jehovah allowed the nation to become enslaved in Babylon.—2 Chronicles 36:15-21.Nevertheless, when, after 70 years, the Israelites returned to their own land, they still failed to observe the Law covenant properly. Almost a hundred years after their return, Jehovah said to Israel’s priests: “You men—you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have ruined the covenant of Levi.” (Malachi 2:8) Indeed, even the most sincere among the Israelites could not measure up to the perfect Law. Instead of being a blessing, it became, in the words of the apostle Paul, “a curse.” (Galatians 3:13) Clearly, something more than the Mosaic Law covenant was needed to bring imperfect, faithful humans to the glorious freedom of the children of God.01/26/21