Page 18 - Biblical Theology Textbook - masters

Study Section 3: Old Testament Covenants

3.1 Connect

When I was a kid, I used to play baseball on a Little League team called the Tigers. Many
times, when growing up my father would tell me he would come to my baseball game
coming up on Friday, but most of the time he never showed up. Sometimes I would hear
him tell me he was coming, so I would say, “Promise?” And he would say, “Yes, I promise.”

One day we were in the final championship game. It was the last inning and we were losing by one
point. The best pitcher in the league was throwing for the other team. Our team was in the bottom of
the batting order and I was the 8 batter (not a very good batter). The 5 batter got on first base. The
th
th
sixth and seventh batters struck out. We now had two outs and I was the only hope. I watched two
pitches go by as strikes and did not swing the bat. My coach called me over and said, “I promise if you
swing the bat, we can win this game.” So, I did. And boy was I surprised when I hit the ball and made an
infield home run. We won the game! And guess what? My Dad did not keep his promise and was not
at the game. But God is not like my Dad. He always keeps His promise, no matter what. Let’s see how
he does that…

3.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to describe all the various forms of covenants in the Bible.

2. The student should be able to describe the various types or validations to the various forms of
covenants, citing which is stronger or weaker than each.

3.3 Forms of Covenants in the Old and New Testaments

There were several forms of covenants made in the Bible.

1. The first was a Parity Covenant. This form of covenant is where all parties involved in the
covenant are in equal standing when entering the covenant. This is typically the form that is
used to take personal relationships to a next level. The parity covenant was also frequently
used between groups of people, not only individuals. This is the way that families or clans
turned into tribes. If one family were farmers and another, skilled hunters they could form a covenant
whereby the one party brings their hunting or fighting skills to protect the other while securing for
themselves a reliable supply of food. Because the parties need to be of approximately equal standing, it
would be impossible for man to enter such a covenant with YHVH.

We can find several examples in Scripture of such validating covenants. The covenant between Jacob
and Laban is an example that shows the process of making a covenant in patriarchal times (Gen 31:44-
54). We see that they had a meal, called witnesses, put up a sign of the covenant and agreed on the
conditions. Please note that the blessings, here are that they will both live in peace; Laban will bless his
children and grandchildren. The only “curse” in this covenant is that YHVH will judge between them if
one of them do not maintain this relationship between the two families.

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