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Chapter 4: Covenant By Chaplain Ron McCants

Chapter 4: Covenant By Chaplain Ron McCants. A mutual agreement of two or more persons.

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Chapter 4: Covenant By Chaplain Ron McCants

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  1. Chapter 4: Covenant By Chaplain Ron McCants

  2. A mutual agreement of two or more persons A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means "to cut," and hence a covenant is a "cutting," with reference to the cutting or dividing of animals into two parts, and the contracting parties passing between them, in making a covenant (Genesis 15; Jeremiah 34:18, 19).

  3. A Promise made by God – a conditional divine plan for people The promises of God as revealed in the Scriptures, conditioned on certain terms on the part of man, as obedience, repentance, faith, etc. • The covenant of Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:27-28; Leviticus 26:15), which was afterwards renewed at different times in the history of Israel (Deuteronomy 29). In conformity with human custom, God's covenant is said to be confirmed with an oath (Deuteronomy 4:31.

  4. Exodus 34 • 27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

  5. Leviticus 26 Consequences 14“‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. 18“‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. 19I will break down your stubborn pride… 22 I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted. 26 …You will eat, but you will not be satisfied. 30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.

  6. Leviticus 26 Commitment 40“‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers—their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 …They will pay for their sins… (for) breaking my covenant…I am the Lord their God.

  7. Archaeological Periods in the Ancient Near East

  8. Covenant Places Mesopotamia Egypt Assyria Babylon Persia Greece Rome Dead Sea

  9. Ancient Near East

  10. Mesopotamia • Semitic people – similar languages and cultures in the ancient world • More influence on Israel and Egyptian culture.

  11. Modern Near East

  12. Ancient Egypt • Gift of the Nile • Culture was permeated with optimism rooted in hope for afterlife. • Benevolent deities: • Sun god (Amon-Re – two sun gods) • Moon god (Khonsu) • Sky god (Nut) • Underworld gods (Osiris and wife) • Pharoah (human god)

  13. Let My People Go (Exodus 1 – 18)Literary World: Pharaoh a god? • Exodus is a history book in the Bible's Old Testament. And Exodus is also a law book. • The people called Hebrews were slaves in Egypt. God sent Moses to free them (Exodus 3). The people in Egypt did not want to free these slaves. But God caused many terrible troubles in Egypt. These troubles forced the people in Egypt to free their Hebrew slaves. So, the Hebrew people left Egypt. • God promised the land called Israel to the Hebrew people. But the journey to Israel was through a desert. God did many wonderful things to help the people through the desert. God provided water (Exodus 17) and food (Exodus 16). • Moses met God at a mountain called Sinai (Exodus 19). There, God gave the law to Moses (Exodus chapters 20).

  14. The Historical World: The Exodus in History The Covenant is given in several types of literature – legends, poems, legal codes, and speeches. Exodus 15 • 18 The Lord will reign for ever and ever.” • 19 When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. 21 Miriam sang to them: • “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. • The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.” Reference to Ba’al (Lord) the Canaanite myth god who destroys the chaotic forces personified as the god Sea (Yamm).

  15. Exodus Routes

  16. You Shall be My People and I Shall be Your God (Exodus 19-50, Leviticus, Numbers) • The Sinai Covenant • Moses ascends and encounters the LORD. • It is a conditional agreement, dependent on allegiance to the LORD and faithfulness to the covenant. • It introduces the way to fulfillment of the third element of the ancestral promise: blessing.

  17. Conditional (called case, or casuistic law) • It is common law. • It includes an “if…” or “when…” (describing a situation) • It identifies specific situations that can threaten social harmony and balance in society. • Exodus 22: 25“If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. 26If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, 27because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. • Which writer is speaking in verse 27, Yahwist or Priestly?

  18. Unconditional command or prohibition (absolute or apodictic law) • It is legislation. • It demarcates categories of actions to do or avoid in order to maintain the type of social order God desires. • Exodus 20: 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. • 12“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

  19. Law Codes • Decalogue (Ten Commandments – Exodus 20:1-17) • Covenant Code (Exodus 20:23 - 23:33) • Ritual Decalogue (Exodus 34:10-26) • Holiness Code (Leviticus 17 – 26) • Deuteronomic Code (Deuteronomy 12 – 26)

  20. Law was administered in premonarchic Israel by tribal elders, village elders, or both, and by specialists whose particular skills or special charisma was widely recognized.

  21. Ancient Near East - Law Codes • Babylonian emperor Hammurabi (1728 – 1686 BCE) • Mesopotamia: • Sumerian code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2050 BCE) • King Bilalama of Eshnumma (c. 1920 BCE) • Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (c. 1875)

  22. CLASS ASSIGNMENT • Page 93: Read “The Historical World – The Law book in the Temple” • Complete the handout Active Reading K-W-L sheet Be prepared to discuss in class • RESOURCES: • Hauer, Christian E., & William A. Young. An Introduction to the Bible: A Journey into Three Worlds. 8th edition. Boston: Pearson. 2012. Print. • The Holy Bible • Eagle’s Web • www.ChaplainRon.com/College

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