Page 6 - Advanced OT Survey Student Textbook

another, the parties of the covenant would take pinch of salt from their bag and place it in the other
person’s bag. Sometimes they would mix the salt in a common bowl, break bread, and dip it in the salt,
and eat it. The only way to break the covenant would be to separate each grain of salt from the other’s
bag, and return it, which was quite impossible.

This covenant is also called the Covenant of Hospitality or Covenant of Friendship because they would
break salt bread together. When Abraham welcomed the Lord and broke bread with Him (Genesis 18:1-
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15, he was modeling the salt covenant. Abraham was a “friend of God” but he never stopped being
God’s servant. Abraham remained faithful to his covenant and his faith was counted to him for
righteousness (Romans 4:3, 4:9, 4:22, Galatians 3:6, James 2:23).

Sandal Covenant
The Sandal Covenant is also called the Covenant of Inheritance. The ancient Hebrews used worn-out
sandals to mark the boundaries of their property. Sometimes they would cover the sandals with rocks
to keep them from blowing away. God told Israel that wherever their feet would tread, that land would
be theirs forever. So when they were walking in their land, they would carve footprints in the rocks to
claim God’s promises.

When two parties wants to establish a contractual agreement, quite often the parties exchanged
sandals. An example of this is found in the book of Ruth 4:1-13. Ruth’s closest relative chose not to
purchase her family’s field, nor take her as his wife. Instead, he allowed Boaz to acquire both the land
and Ruth and yielded up his right to possession by exchanging his sandal with Boaz, a validation of their
agreement. Normally, it was done publicly so witnesses could also validate the transaction. Boaz
waited to make his vow in the center (gathering area) of town, so all could witness his promise.

Once a sandal was placed as a marker or exchanged to validate a vow, no person would every date
move the marker as this was forbidden in Torah (Deut. 19:14. This covenant is thus the progression
from being a friend to being a son or daughter who would inherit the land. That is why the sandal
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covenant is also called a Covenant of Inheritance, as it validates ownership of a land.

Marriage Covenant
In Bible days, most marriages were arranged by the parents of their children. Young ladies were married
off quite young, compared to today. Sometimes young ladies as old as 13 were married to a young man
not more than 17. Most of the time, the man was a bit older. Upon agreeing upon a match, the young
couple entered a period called a betrothal. This was a period of at least one year where the couple
made a covenant of marriage and signed legal documents, however, they did not live together. The
young lady would remain under her father’s care and plan on setting up a household for her future
husband. The young man would spend his time constructing a home or addition to provide a house for
his wife when they came together.

The marriage covenant was a man and woman covenanting to one another in an unconditional
covenant. The performance of either did not determine the outcome of the marriage. The man
unconditionally vowed to love and care for his wife, regardless of what may come in the future and what
she brought to the relationship. The same was true of the wife.

6 https://sites.google.com/site/Biblecodestoday/covenants/salt-covenant
7 https://sites.google.com/site/Biblecodestoday/covenants/sandal-covenant
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