What is a Covenant?
It’s easy to become confused about the things you read about when you begin to study the Bible. The things that happened there happened a lo-o-o-ng time ago. The cultures were different, the languages were different, and things that they experienced every day are often a mystery to us today.
This is one of the reasons that it is beneficial to do a little ‘research’ into the past and try to bring it into the present time. After all, even Jesus, who came to earth several thousand years after Abraham lived, said that he didn’t come to change the law. Why? Because the law was as good for his time as it was for Abraham’s time, and it is still good for us today. So let’s explore this concept of ‘Covenant’ to see what it meant for them so that we can bring that forward to our own time.
We usually call the parts of the Bible the ‘Old Testament’ and the ‘New Testament’. The word Testament is from the Latin word, testamentum. A more proper name for these two parts would be Covenant. A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties. The root words in Hebrew, Berith, and Greek, Diatheke, actually mean to cut covenant. It is a way of making a binding agreement between two parties and is a very ancient custom. As a matter of fact, in many parts of the world, it is a very well understood part of life, even today.
This kind of agreement was understood by the Israelites, both in the time of Abraham and in the time of Jesus. Literally, an agreement to Cut Covenant meant a special procedure or ritual was performed where an animal was killed in a specific way and the participants walked between pieces of flesh.
The two divisions of the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament, are actually about the Old Blood Covenant that God made with Abraham, and the New Blood Covenant that Jesus ratified with His own blood.
Covenants in the Bible
In the Bible, as it is today in cultures where this ritual is still used, the blood covenant between two parties is the closest, most enduring, the most solemn and most sacred of all contracts. It absolutely cannot be broken. When someone entered into a blood covenant with someone else, they promised to give each other their lives, their love and their protection forever.
There were several very specific steps to the covenant ceremony. Even today, people in other cultures go through these steps when performing the covenant ritual. We, ourselves, even have ceremonies that incorporate parts of the covenant ceremony.
When you understand covenant language, you will begin to recognize covenants between many individuals in the Bible. Although only a single detail may be mentioned, this is enough to tell you that a covenant ceremony was performed. If you lived back then, you would have understood from this mention that a covenant ceremony actually took place.
The Hebrew Covenant Ritual was similar to the ritual that the nations all around them practiced. It had 9 steps and required witnesses. In the next few posts, I’m going to go into a bit of detail about each step. You may even recognize some steps from your own experiences.
What does this have to do with me? you might ask. That was the Old Testament and I am living under the New Covenant where all this bloodshed is unnecessary.
Ahhh … but it WAS necessary and was performed by Jesus Christ Himself. When you understand the covenant ceremony, you can see exactly how Jesus, Himself, fulfilled each step of the covenant ceremony and, for all time, gave us the privilege of being co-heirs with Him and the promise of eternity with God.
I am so excited about this study. I hope you gain the enormous insight that I did into my relationship and commitment to our wonderful Savior.
Blessings your way,
Chandra Lynne
