Page 7 - Advanced OT Survey Student Textbook

A good example of this type of covenant is revealed in the story of Mary and Joseph. Since marriages
were arranged by the parents so Mary and Joseph probably did not know each other very well, so
Joseph should not be blamed for mistrusting Mary when he discovered that she was with child.

The commitment of a betrothal was so legally binding that a divorce breaking that commitment was
required (1:19). Joseph had little choice. If a man’s betrothed became pregnant, people would assume
that she had regarded him as an inadequate man, and this would publicly humiliate him. It also spoke of
her lack of discretion and unwillingness to keep herself pure for her husband. Worse yet, if he did not
divorce her, people would assume that he was the father of the child, and he would bear great shame in
a culture that was obsessed with shame and honor. He would bear this shame for multiple years to
come.

Jewish law required a man to divorce a wife who had been unfaithful. Joseph could have divorced Mary
publicly in a court of justice. The court would not only establish his innocence, but also, he would get to
keep Mary’s entire dowry. By planning to divorce her privately, Joseph elected to forfeit the profit of
her dowry rather than to shame her any further.

Mary trusted in the Lord and He resolved her issue with Joseph. The same angel informed Joseph that
the child was not as a result of infidelity but was to be the miraculous birth of the coming Messiah.
Willing to endure public shame along with Mary, he took her for his wife into his own home and cared
for her as if the child were his. Joseph was a loving man of God.

Joseph remained faithful to his marriage covenant the rest of his life. So should we. Many couples
today who enter marriage look to the other partner to “make them happy.” They enter with a
conditional vow. “You must perform for me to make me happy, then we will have a good marriage.”
This is the reason why more than 50% of marriages end in divorce. The degree of commitment is weak
to begin with, based on performance. Such is not the design of the marriage covenant.

Covenant of Blood

This was the highest level of commitment within covenants. It requires the shedding of blood, normally
an animal. In ancient days, when two people wanted to seal the strongest possible covenant, they
would take an animal, kill it, and cut it into two halves. They would divide the halves by several feet
with the blood of the sacrifice between. Then the two individuals would walk hand in hand between the
two halves of the sacrificed animal. What they were saying was, “If I break my vow, then what
happened to this animal will happen to me, and my blood will be required.”

In the Bible, wine is considered an acceptable symbol for shedding blood; it is the blood of the grape.
This is why we currently observe communion as we do. Through the wine, we are constantly renewing
the blood covenant that God initiated with Adam when he told him that as a result of sin, a Savior will
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come and shed His blood in payment for sin (Genesis 3:15). Jesus told his disciples, “this wine is a
symbol of my blood, which is shed for you” (I cor. 11:25-29). In this act, Jesus introduced his disciples to
a new covenant validated by His previous blood.

In Genesis 15, God told Abraham to bring a three-year-old heifer, a she-goat, and ram, a turtle dove, and
a young pigeon. When Abraham brought them, he asked God no questions about what they represented
or what to do with them. He simply cut the animals all in two and stood the halves against the walls of a
trench he had dug earlier. He did not cut the birds in two. The animal’s blood flowed down the trench,

8 https://sites.google.com/site/Biblecodestoday/covenants/abrahamic-covenant
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