THE
STORY
Chapter
2—Covenant
The
focus of the week two text in THE STORY is rooted in the concept of
covenant. More specifically, in God
making and living into the covenant promises he had made to Abram/Abraham. In the Bible, the Lord makes two different
kinds of promises with his people: covenants and eternal covenants. Reformed theology, of which I am an adherent,
is rooted deeply in the principals of “covenant theology.” That is, we understand and know God through a
series of covenants within which God has entered into with humanity--with the greatest covenant reality of God being the incarnation of Jesus. While this
interpretive framework had been around since the earliest days of the church—the
Apostle Paul certainly held to the importance of God making covenant with
humanity—Augustine of Hippo was one of the first Christian theologians to truly
systematize it.
The
concept of an eternal covenant between God and a person/people is found in
fourteen different books—ten in the Old Testament, three in the Apocrypha, and
one in the New Testament. For the
purpose of this refelction, we will only be concerning ourselves with the
writings in the Old and New Testament texts.
The Old Testament texts that speak of an everlasting/eternal covenant (diaqh/khn ai˙w¿non LXX;
תָּמִ֑יד מֵ בְּרִ֥ית in the Hebrew Masoretic Text) include: Genesis 9:16, 17:7, 17:13,
17:19; Exodus 31:16, Leviticus 24:8; Numbers 18:19, 25:13; 2 Samuel 23:5; 1
Chronicles 16:17; Psalms 105:10; Isaiah 24:5, 55:3, 61:8; Jeremiah 32:40, 50:5;
and Ezekiel 16:60, 37:26. The lone New
Testament text to reference eternal/everlasting covenant is Hebrews 13:20.
Dr. Andrew Dearman, who I
was truly blessed to study under, writes that “In theological terms
the word
‘covenant’ refers to God’s relationship with another entity that is initiated
by God and established by his solemn oath.”[1]  |
| Dr. J. Andrew Dearman |
It is important to understand that it is God who is the initiator in the making of covenants—particularly those as supposedly permanent as an everlasting covenant. Dearman goes on to write, "A covenant instituted by God is not a parity relationship. In making a covenant with an entity God may or may not require a response. In the OT God establishes a covenant with Noah and all living beings, with Abraham and his descendants; and through the prophets God promises a new and everlasting covenant in the future for his people."
Of
the four uses of eternal covenant in Genesis three of them revolve around
Abraham—who is the primary focus of chapter 2 of THE STORY. The first mention in the Bible of an eternal
covenant is found in Genesis 9:16 (chapter 1 of THE STORY) and is made by God
with Noah after the flood waters had subsided and his family and animals had
come out of the ark. Gerhard Von Rad
writes,
A covenant of God with Noah is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament
(outside of the flood narrative). This covenant with Noah differs from that
with Abraham, the covenant on Sinai and all other covenants in that in the
latter instances the individual or the nation was called quite personally into
a relation of fellowship with God and thereby faced with the question of
affirming this ordinance. Here the sign
of the covenant with Noah, absolutely without any confessing appropriation by
the earthly partner, is high above man, between heaven and earth, as pledge of
a true gratia praeveniens (grace
coming before the will)! God’s gracious
will is made visible to give mankind terrified by the chaotic elements, renewed
assurance that God will support this aeon and to guarantee the duration of his
ordinances.[2]
This
eternal/everlasting covenant with Noah is a promise to never again destroy the
earth by flooding. But is more than
that. It is a glimpse into the deep love
and faithfulness that God has for his creation.
This covenant, as Von Rad notes, is all about God making promises—it is
not about God expecting any type of response from humanity.
The
remaining Genesis texts pertaining to an eternal covenant (17:7, 17:13, 17:19)
all revolve
around God’s relationship with Abraham. This relationship, initiated by God in
Genesis 12 matures as time goes by.
Abraham (Abram) becomes very successful due to his blessing by God, so
much so that he and his nephew Lot decide to separate their families and flocks
(Genesis 13). After an exciting story in
Genesis 14 of Abram rescuing Lot from enemies, he receives a special blessing
by the mysterious king/priest Melchizedek.
It is chapter 15 that God makes his official ‘covenant’ with Abram,
promising to bless him with descendants as great as the stars (15:5) and to
give him the land in which he was living (15:7).
 |
| Abraham's descendants will be as numerous as the stars. |
Abram,
in an attempt to take things in his own hands, and perhaps force God’s actions
after waiting ten years, took Hagar, his wife’s handmaid, and married her. She bore him a son whom he named Ishmael
(chapter 16). Yet God told Abram that
Ishmael was not the one who would inherit the promises that God had made with
Abram (17:15-22). It is in this setting
in chapter 17 that God reaffirms his covenant with Abram he had made in chapter
15. This time, on three separate occasions,
God stresses that this promise is an eternal one. It is within this context that Victor
Hamilton writes,
This covenant with Abraham is something that God initiates, something he
maintains, and something he brings to fulfillment. No less than three times in this chapter (v
7, 13, 19) we are told that God’s covenant with Abraham is an eternal one, and one time (v. 8) that
Canaan was to be the permanent possession
of Abraham’s descendants…it may no accident that the word eternal is present in ch. 17 but absent
from ch. 15. Is it not interesting that
in the chapter where at least four covenant stipulations are placed before
Abraham—walk before me; be blameless; keep my covenant; circumcise
yourselves—the covenant should be thrice described as an eternal one? This repetition
of eternal emphasizes that God’s
covenant with Abraham has not suddenly shifted away from the unilateral
emphasis on ch. 15 to a bilateral pact her in ch. 17. To be sure, God has expectations concerning
Abraham’s behavior, but these do not become grounds for establishment and
authentication of God’s covenant with Abraham.
Rather, the covenant remains a personal commitment by God in which he
binds himself to this open-ended promise to Abraham.[3]
 |
| "The Sacrifice of Isaac" by Rembrandt |
The
culmination of the Abrahamic story is known as, “The binding of Isaac.”
After responding faithfully to God’s testing to sacrifice his son Isaac, God
swears a solemn oath to Abraham, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD,
because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I
will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars
of heaven, ans as the sand of the seashore.
And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring
shall all nations of the earth by blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
(ESV) Scott Hahn writes,
The oath that God swears to Abraham in Genesis 22 represents the sum and
substance of the covenant grant, particularly as it relates to the worldwide
blessing and future triumph of Abraham’s “seed.” The Aqedah (the binding of
Isaac) is inseperably linked to the divine oath, which assumes foundational
importance for the life of and history of Israel and for the nations as
well. The divine oath in Genesis 22
represents the ultimate purpose of God’s calling, promises, and covenants to
Abraham: the mediation of divine blessings to all nations through Abraham’s
seed.[4]
The
rest of the story of salvation, and so, our study this year in THE STORY, will
be rooted in this eternal covenant that God made with Father Abraham, and
ratified by a solemn oath after the binding of Isaac. We will return to this story multiple times
in the coming days, weeks, and months, as we learn how our story is rooted
completely in God’s story.
[1]
Dearman, J. Andrew NICOT: The Book of
Hosea (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010) 51.
[2]
Von Rad, Gerhard Genesis (Louisville:
Westminster, 1972) 133-134.
[3]
Hamilton, Victor P. NICOT: The Book of
Genesis Chapters 1-17 (Grand Rapids: Eerdman, 1990) 465-466.
[4]
Hahn, Scott W. Kinship by Covenant: A
Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God’s Saving Promises (New Haven:
Yale, 2009), 134.
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