The Mosaic Covenant
It's the sacred promise sealed
in blood, and because of it, the Lord is truly our God, and we are His people
who pledge, "All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do!"
"Covenant" is a word and notion
frequently mentioned in Scripture, but unfortunately, the meaning of this
crucial term is often misunderstood simply because the word is seldom used in
everyday conversation. The most frequent mistake is to think of a covenant as
basically a contract between two parties, but in fact, a covenant is much more
than a contract.
A covenant is a sacred promise made between
two people or two parties that is permanent. A contract, on the other hand, is
a legal agreement with any time limits spelled out. A covenant involves the
exchange of persons, whereas a contract involves the exchange of goods or
services. A covenant establishes an irrevocable relationship of essence, while
a contract creates a contingent relationship of convenience.
A few examples will illustrate the radical
differences between a covenant and contract. A marriage, for instance, by
definition is more than a contract - it is a covenant between two people. The
husband and wife give each other to each other - it's a mutual pledge of their
total selves, it's a gift that is permanent, and the covenant establishes the
fundamental relationship of their lives and existence. Unfortunately, in
today's society, the notion of marriage is often reduced to a mere contract: if
you give me this much, I'll give you this much, and we can try it out, and if
it works for this long, then we can renew it, and if it doesn't work, we'll put
an end to our relationship. That's what happens when a covenant relationship is
downgraded to a contractual relationship!
In ancient times, there was also a very
elaborate ritual for the covenant of adopting a child. For adoption is much
more than just a contract - it's a covenant that this child will be for me my
son, and I will be for him his father, and this relationship would not be
limited to a couple days or weeks or months or years, for by this covenant, I
would be completely involved in his life as his father, and he would be
completely involved in my life as my son. There is an implicit covenant in
natural parenting as well, for even though it's not something written in words,
the father who begets and the mother who conceives a child establish a
permanent relationship with that child, and the implicit covenant allows no
room for loopholes and selfish contingencies. No, for parenting is a covenant, something
that is forever, and a complete gift of self.
We also speak sometimes of a covenant between
states or nations or tribes. If such a covenant is between equals, a covenant
of alliance, then the agreement binds the nations to each other for mutual
defense. If the covenant is between a greater state and lesser state, then the
greater state would pledge protection of the lesser state, which would in turn
pledge loyalty to the greater state.
God's sacred covenant with His people is like
the intimate covenant between husband and wife, it's like the selfless covenant
of adoption and parenthood, it's like the history changing covenant of a
greater nation extending it's security to a vassal state. But it's even more
than all these - it's the sacred promise sealed in blood, and because of it,
the Lord is truly our God, and we are His people who pledge, "All that the
LORD has said, we will heed and do!"