BS-103
Lesson 7

The Five Main Covenants in the OT

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Week 2

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Apr 25 - 30, 22
4 5 6 7 8 quiz

Handout 09

A. The Purpose of this Handout:

In Handout #08, we briefly mentioned the five main covenants in the OT. The present handout describes those covenants in more detail, and shows from the OT why we understand them the way we do. Knowing which covenant is which, and knowing who are the earthly parties of each covenant, is the key(!) to understanding how the OT does, and does not, apply to Christians.

Of these five covenants, the two which are the most important for understanding how the OT applies to Christians are:

  1. the covenant with Abraham, and
  2. the Sinai covenant.

B. The Five Major Covenants in the OT :

As mentioned before, the five major covenants in the Old Testament are:

We will now look at each one, in the order that they appear in the Bible.

C. The Covenant with Noah and the Whole Earth [Genesis 8:20 – 9:17]

The main provision of the covenant with Noah is that → God will never again destroy the world with a flood. This applies to all human beings, whether they are Israelites, Gentiles, believers or unbelievers, Christians or non-Christians.

So in terms of figuring out what in the OT does apply to Christians versus what does not, we may move on to the other OT covenants.

D. The Abrahamic Covenant:

Main OT passages:

Genesis chapters 12, 15, 17, 22, also 50:24; Exodus 2:24, 3:15-17, 6:2-8; Psalm 105:7-11, 42; Jer 33:23-26; Micah 7:18-20.

In the NT, see:

Luke 1:55, 72-73; John 8:31-59; Acts 3:24-26, 13:26-48; Rom 4:9-17; 15:7-12; Gal 3:6-14, 15-29; Heb 6:13-20.

By Genesis chapter 11 …

Then in Genesis 12 …

God promises, in general, that He will bless Abraham and his seed, and that his presence will be with them. After that, there are three specific main promises that God makes to Abraham and his seed in this covenant:

  1. God will …

  2. God will …

  3. God will …

This third promise …

Some important observations & clarifications regarding the Abrahamic covenant:

  1. It is often assumed that the Abrahamic covenant is “with the nation of Israel,” but this is not accurate. The Abrahamic covenant is with “Abraham and his seed.” It is never said to be between God and “the sons of Israel,” i.e., Israel-as-a-nation.

    “The sons of Israel” –

    The “sons of Israel” and the “seed of Abraham” do overlap, but the Old Testament never fully equates them with each other. This is why it is important to note that the promises to Abraham are not said to be with the "sons of Israel," but rather, they are to "Abraham and his seed."

  2. The sign of the Abrahamic covenant is __ (Gen 17).

    • It is the sign that there is a covenant between God and Abraham & his seed.
    • It symbolizes the change of heart needed for an individual person to be rightly related to God.
    • Negatively, a person who rejects circumcision has broken the covenant. A person who refuses to be circumcised will be kicked out of the covenant community (Gen 17:14).

  3. This covenant is guaranteed by the oath of God. However, it is possible for individuals to scorn it and therefore to fail to inherit its blessings (see esp. Gen 17, Ps 37 & Ps 50:16-23).

    Genesis 18:19, Gen 22:15–18, and Gen 26:5 refer to the conditions needed to be blessed by this covenant. Therefore it is misleading to call it “unconditional” without explaining what you mean. It is better to say that the covenant has conditions, but that it also comes with a guarantee from God that some people will(!) believe and will be(!) blessed.

  4. This covenant does provide that a remnant (a physical remnant) of Abraham’s physical offspring (i.e., the Israelites) will inherit the promises. So Israel will endure as a nation/people group. And a remnant of them will also be believers (a believing remnant).

  5. However, nowhere does the OT promise that all Israelites will inherit the Abrahamic blessings. Rather, Israelites who scorn God will perish (see e.g. Exod 32:33, Ps 50, Isa 1, Micah 2:5).

    The NT agrees with this; see John 8:31-47, and Romans 9:1-8, 27-29.

  6. Similarly, nowhere does the Old Testament ever state that Gentiles will not share in the promised land; rather, several passages indicate that Gentiles will also inherit it.

    See Ps 37 & 87; Isa 14:1-2; 19:18-25; 49:6; 56:3-7; Ezek 47:22!; Zech 2:10-13; Zech 8:22-23; Mal 3:16-18, 4:1-3.

    Sometimes Christians assume …

  7. This is why God calls Abraham …

    Paul applies this expression directly to believing Gentiles in Romans 4:16-17.

In sum:

The Abrahamic covenant guarantees that God will bless Abraham’s “seed.” That “seed” is all who believe, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. And there will be(!) a believing remnant of Abraham’s physical seed (Lev 26:44; Jer 31:35-37; 33:19-26) who will inherit the blessings promised to Abraham.

E. The Sinai Covenant:

Exodus 19-40 (esp. chs. 19–24); the book of Leviticus, part of Numbers and most of Deuteronomy.

At Mt. Sinai, Israel-as-a-nation enters into a covenant with God for the first time. In this covenant, Yahweh offers Israel that if they worship him alone as God, obey him fully and keep his covenant, then out of all the nations they will be his “special people / special treasure” (Exod 19:5:6), and he will bless them greatly.

The Law (= the 10 Commandments and the rest of the laws) are the stated requirements of this covenant. The sign of this covenant is the Sabbath (Exod 20:8-11; 31:12-17, + also Num 15:32–36).

To be specific: If(!!) Israel honors God and obeys the laws:

Some Clarifications regarding the Sinai Covenant and the Law:

  1. This covenant with its laws was never given to be …

  2. The fundamental laws of God (honor God, love your neighbor, no murder, theft or adultery, etc.) did not originate with the Sinai covenant. They reflect God’s unchanging nature & character. They were true before the Sinai covenant, during the Sinai covenant, and they remain true today.

  3. The Law, by implication, condemns us all as sinners, and shows our need of God’s forgiveness. However, it was not given only for that purpose. When Israel honored God and obeyed the Law (as under Joshua, Solomon, Josiah, etc.), Israel was blessed, just as God had said.

  4. The Sinai covenant is what the Bible refers to as …

    The Outcome of the Sinai Covenant between God and Israel:

    Although there were times when Israel served God well and enjoyed the blessings of the Sinai covenant,

    Israel was generally unfaithful to God. Israel eventually broke the Sinai covenant (Hos 8:1; Jer 11:10, 31:32; Ezek. 44:7). God then executed the curses of the covenant, destroyed Jerusalem & the temple, and kicked Israel out of the land (587 B.C., by Nebuchadnezzar & the Babylonians).

However, the Sinai covenant did not come to an end then. Hebrews 8:13 says the “old covenant” ( = Sinai) is “obsolete, and is passing away”, which means that it had not quite yet passed away as of that that writing.

G. How the Sinai Covenant is Different from the Abrahamic: [Note also Galatians 3 & 4.]

  1. In the Sinai covenant, Israel makes the pledge, and so …

    In the Abrahamic covenant, God takes the oath, and so …

  2. The Sinai covenant is with Israel as-a-nation, collectively. They get blessed, or punished collectively.

    The Abrahamic covenant involves Israel, and guarantees a remnant of Israel, but was not with Israel as an entire nation. It is with the __ , not the __ .

  3. In the Sinai covenant, God explicitly offers to bless Israel …

    The Abrahamic covenant promises to bless “Abraham’s seed’. But nowhere does it say that …

  4. God offers to bless Israel as a nation “right here, right now,” in the Sinai covenant. In contrast, the ultimate fulfillment of the Abrahamic blessings is clearly in the future.

  5. Since the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant endure forever and are guaranteed by God, the Abrahamic covenant is eternal.

    The Sinai covenant (the book of Hebrews calls it “the old covenant”), on the other hand, can come to an end if Israel breaks it and God invokes the curses.

    Your prof thinks it ended in __ .

H. The Covenant with David and his Son:

2 Sam 7:8-16 = 1 Chron 17:7-14; 2 Sam 23:5; 1 Kings 2:1-4, 6:11-13, 9:3-9; Ps 72, esp. v. 17; Ps 89, Ps 132; Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:1-5; Jer 22:15; chs. 31-33, esp. 33:14-17; Ezek 34:20-24; 37:24-28; Amos 9:11-12

After David became king of Israel (2 Sam 5), God spoke to him through the prophet Nathan. God told him that He was going to “build a house for David” (2 Sam 7:11–16). God promised him that:

Psalm 89 and 132 look back on this and call it God’s covenant with David.

Some Important Observations and Clarifications about the Davidic Covenant:

  1. Like with the Abrahamic covenant, in the Davidic covenant it is God who pledges himself, who “swears” to David; see esp. Ps 89:3-4, 34-35. Therefore the Davidic covenant is …

    But did God fulfill this promise through one of Israel’s wicked kings?

    Therefore, the Davidic covenant has a condition:

  2. Unlike the Sinai covenant, this covenant is not with Israel; it is with …

  3. The covenant is not with David’s sons (plural), but with David’s __ .

  4. The Davidic covenant guarantees an eternal kingdom to David and his son (singular!). But it is entirely possible for there to be …

    See 1 Kgs 2:1-4, 9:3-9; Jer 22:15.

    That is why Amos tells us that God will return and will “restore David’s fallen tent” (Amos 9:11-12).

I. The New Covenant:

Main Passages:

Jer 31:31-34; Ezek 36:25–28; also Deut 30:1-10; Ps 119; Isa 51:1-8, esp. v. 7; Joel 2:28-32.

In the NT:

Luke 22; 1 Cor 11; 2 Cor 3; Heb 8.

The New covenant accomplishes two main things (Jer 31:31-34)

  1. It writes …

    Which means:

    This is sometimes described as … .

    or else as …

  2. It provides …

    It does what Hebrews 10:4 teaches us that the blood of animals could never do: it takes our sin away, once & for all.

    The New Testament teaches that Christ’s death inaugurated the new covenant. In specific, his death was the “blood of the covenant”; i.e., it was the sacrificial death which ratified the new covenant and put it into effect. All genuine Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles by birth, are heirs of the new covenant.

J. How Do these Covenants Apply to Christians?

We will address this question directly in Handout #27, “How does the OT apply to Christians?”

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Lesson 6 • Basic Nature of OT Covenants and ANE Treaties
Lesson 7
The Five Main Covenants in the OT
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Week 2

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