Basis of Covenant

Covenants in Ancient Near Eastern Context

• Promissory covenants are similar to "royal grant" legal documents and include historical introduction, border delineations, stipulations, witnesses, blessings, and curses.
• God rewarded Abraham, Noah, and David in his covenants with them, establishing a relationship between the suzerain and the vassal.
• As part of the covenant with Abraham, God has the obligation to keep Abraham's descendants as God's chosen people and be their God.
• God acts as the suzerain power and is the party of the covenant accompanied by the required action that comes with the oath.
• Weinfeld believes that the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants have similar terminology and wording to ancient Near Eastern grants, as opposed to the Mosaic covenant.
• In Jeremiah, God uses prophetic metaphor to say that David will be adopted as a son, expressing legal and political relationships through familial phraseology.
• Pressures from outside invaders led the Israelite tribes to converge into monarchical unity for stability and solidarity, unifying religious traditions under the Mosaic covenant.
• Scholars hold differing opinions on the number of major covenants between God and humanity, ranging from one to at least twelve.
• The Noahic covenant applies to all of humanity and all other living creatures, promising never to destroy all life on Earth by flood.
• The covenant found in Genesis 15 is known as the "Covenant between the parts" and is the basis for brit milah (covenant of circumcision) in Judaism.
• With Abraham, multiple promised lands were given to his innumerable descendants, and circumcision marked them as a peculiar people set apart.
• Genesis contains three covenants: land and descendants without stipulations, the covenant of circumcision, and the promise to bless all peoples on earth through Abraham.