Covenant

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  • Covenant
    • Abrahamic
      • Abraham had a vision of God calling upon him to make a covenant.
        • The Tenakh tells the story of the continuing covenant relationship between God and Irael
          • The Hebrew word berit originally meant 'shackle' or 'chain'. It subsequently came to designate any form of binding agreement.
      • The making of the covenant implies benefits and responsibilities on both sides.
        • God promises Abraham and his descendants land
          • "A land flowing with milk and honey"
        • Abraham and the Israelites are expected to honour God as the only God.
      • The Hebrew word berit originally meant 'shackle' or 'chain'. It subsequently came to designate any form of binding agreement.
      • Genesis 17 makes clear the original form of the covenant, and insists that it was God's and not Abraham's initiative that lay behind it.
        • It's origin was in a vision, and the fact Abraham 'fell on his face' demonstrates the helpless nature of his response towards this divine self-disclosure.
        • Scholars have often compared this covenant to a vassalage or suzerainty treaty in which the two participants in the treaty are designedly unequal.
          • This is why Abraham appears as a particular individual; he in this sense the forerunner of the Israelite monarch.
      • The covenant recorded in Genesis 17 is central to Israelite theology and its external sign is circumcision.
        • Abraham is himself shown being circumcised at the age of 99 in what the Torah treats as a fundamental event in the history of the Jewish religion.
        • Jewish male babies are circumcised when they are 8 days old as an indication that they belong to God's covenant people.
    • Mosaic
      • God as a lawgiver and judge is central to Jewish scriptures.
      • The Mosaic covenant is also known as the Sinaitic Covenant. It refers to a biblical covenant between God and the Israelites, including their proselytes.
      • The Mosaic covenant played a role in defining the Israelite kingdom (c.1220-c.930 BCE), and subsequently the southern Kingdom of Judah (c.930-c.587 BCE) and northern Kingdom of Israel (c.930-c.720 BCE)
      • God established the Mosaic covenant with the Israelites after he saved them from slavery in Egypt in the events of the Exodus
        • From it is derived the 613 commandments.
      • The Mosaic Covenant was the fourth covenant of Yahweh.
      • The Mosaic Covenant, on the other hand, was a conditional covenant that determined what blessings the one who belonged to the Abrahamic Covenant would receive, based on their obedience
        • One cannot enter the Mosaic Covenant without entering first the Abrahamic Covenant.
      • If Israel was obedient within the covenant, Yahweh promised them three blessings.
        • First, they would be a “special possession/treasure” belonging to Yahweh.This means that Israel would enjoy a unique relationship with Yahweh.
        • Second, they would be a “kingdom of priests,” representing Yahweh before the nations. Israel would be full of holy people who enjoyed access to Yahweh, and they would go to the nations, revealing Yahweh to them and bringing them into the nation of Israel.
        • Third, they would be a “holy nation,” separate and unique from all the other nations.
    • A covenant is a legal agreement that sets out the terms of a relationship between two parties.
      • In Old Testament terms, this covenant most usually referred to the special relationship between God and the people of Israel.

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