Covenants of The Old Testement

Part III.  Essay.

What are the covenants of the Old Testament? 

There are seven covenants in the BIble, four of which are the covenants God made with the Israelites, and three covenants which were made between God and all mankind, not only the nation of Israel.   

The first covenant, or Adamaic Covenant, has two parts.  The Edenic Covenant(Gen 1:26-30), which outlined man's responsibility towards creation and God’s warning about the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Adamaic Covenant(Gen 3:16-19) which was about Adam’s punishment for disobeying God when partaking of the fruit from the tree and how God provided for them even if they were banished from Eden.  In a way, the Adamaic covenant was directed to us all.  If we disobey God, we will be deprived of all happiness.  God has the power to give everything and the power to take away everything.  Even though God did provide for the needs of Adam(though not like in Eden), Adam would never live in harmony or plenty for the rest of his life.  

The Noahic Covenant(Gen 9) was the covenant between God and Noah and humanity.  The people had turned away from God and no longer believed in Him.  God decided to destroy all he had created.  The only person who was worthy of saving, was Noah, an old and faithful man whose family rejoiced in the blessings God had given them.  God commanded Noah to build an ark which would house his family, along with two of every land animal, during the flood.  Noah had faith that he and his family would be provided for by the Lord. After the flood, God promised all of humanity that he would never destroy life on earth.  He gave the rainbow as a sign of this promise to never flood the earth again and to show that he was the one true God. The rainbow was his covenant to his people and this sign is an everlasting reminder of it.  We are so blessed to be able to see proof of God’s message every time it rains.  

In the Abrahamic Covenant, God promised Abraham that his name would be great, his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and that he would be the father of many nations and that many people would be blessed through Abraham's descendants, including Jesus who was from the line of Abraham.   

The Palestinian Covenant(Deuteronomy 30:1-10) was part of the Abrahamic Covenant in that it was connected to the many promises God made to Abraham.  In it, God says that if the people disobeyed him, He would cause them to scatter but then he would eventually build up the nation and restore the people to their homeland where they would act according to His commands and he would make them prosper.  Even though all the covenants of the Old Testament speak of God’s love for us, to me, the Palestinian Covenant is one that directly speaks to the hearts of the Israel Nation.  God said that even if one of his children were driven as far as the poles of heaven, He would bring them back to himself.  My favorite line is Deuteronomy 30:6 which is when God said: “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, that you may love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul that you may live.”  

The Mosaic Covenant(Deuteronomy 11)was a conditional covenant that either brought blessing to the people of Israel, or suffering and sadness to their nation if they were disobedient.  The Ten Commandments were apart of this covenant, along with the rest of the law.  God also speaks of the land which flows of milk and honey which he would give to the Israelites if they observed his precepts and followed his commands faithfully.  God tells the Israelites what they must do in order to bring up their children in the faith. 

The Davidic Covenant(2 Samuel 7:8-16) is like the Abrahamic Covenant in that God promised David that his lineage would last forever and once he died, he would rest peacefully in the land of his father's.  David was also promised that his kingdom would never pass away permanently.   He promised David that there will be a time when someone from the line of David will sit on the throne and rule as king and that this new king would remain faithful to the commands of the Lord.  God was talking about the Messiah, Jesus who would come and restore peace to the throne of David.  This covenant was fulfilled the moment Jesus was conceived. 

 The New Covenant(Jeremiah 31:31-34) is the covenant made first with the nation of Israel and then with all Mankind.  God promised to forgive sin and promised that there will be a universal knowledge of the Lord. This new covenant would not be according to the covenants made with the fathers, but this covenant would restore peace to all humanity.  A city would be built to the Lord from the tower Hanameel even to the gate of the corner.  And the whole valley of the dead will be brought to life to live with God in his name forever.   God brought hope to every generation through all his covenants of the Old Testament.  There is a tremendous outpouring of mercy in each Covenant He made.  This just goes to show how much God loved all that he had made.  Even if his people sinned against him more times than we can say,  God still cherished the people of Israel, and the people of the world.  What he expects from us is for us to love him and obey his commands in order so that he may unleash the greatest covenant with his people which is an eternal home in Heaven