Visions From Our Story: Covenants

Last week we looked at the manner in which God dealt with the brokenness of the world; through grace and discipline. This week we take a deeper look at how grace and discipline become a more structured part of the relationship between God and humanity through Covenants.

Covenant is a term we don't use much anymore. Instead we use words like agreement or contract to describe arrangements between two parties in which each side agrees to undertake certain actions on behalf of the other. While these more modern terms are appropriate for most of what we do today (buy a house, sign with the Pistons, etc.) they miss the relational aspect which the word Covenant implies.

We see this relational aspect in marriage. In once sense marriage could be seen as no more than a legal contract in which both parties agree to live together, share assets and jointly file their taxes. Most of us however think of marriage as something more profound than that. We see it as the creation of an intimate and hopefully, long lasting relationship. There is an emotional content to the arrangement built upon love and support, rather than simply contractual agreements. This is why in church marriage ceremonies we speak of the marriage Covenant and not the marriage contract.

Biblical Covenants carry that same kind of relational content. God's Covenants with humanity are created out of God's love for the people God has created. God makes Covenants in order to help God's people realize their full human potential (as those God created in God's image). At the same time however, Covenants in the Old Testament also carry with them sanctions which are in place in case the Covenant is broken (think of divorce as a sanction for breaking the marriage Covenant).

We see this clearly in the Hebrew words used to describe the making of a Covenant. A literal translation would be to "cut a Covenant." This comes from the ancient practice of cutting a bull into two halves (yes I know this has an ick factor) and then having the two parties to the Covenant walk together, between the two halves saying, "May what happened to this animal happen to me if I violate the Covenant." The language is a reminder of the serious nature of Covenant making.

The first Covenant occurs in Genesis following the flood story (Genesis 6-9). God, having become angry with humanity for living in death dealing rather than life affirming ways, decided to make a fresh start. God choose Noah and his family to be the seeds from which a new humanity would grow. Everyone else is drowned. Needless to say this is a very disturbing story (even if not an actual event in history). It implies that God can lose God's temper and destroy all that God has made…including you and me.

Fortunately the story finds its conclusion in a unilateral Covenant (Genesis 9:8-17). God promises that God will never again destroy the world through flood (and by implication that God will not destroy it by any other means). God even gives a sign (the rainbow) that God will keep God's promise. This Covenant then establishes a "floor" under the rest of the story assuring us that God will work for the good and not for the destruction of humanity in times to come.

Next week: the Covenant of the Promise

John