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Essay / Covenant in the Bible - 1835
In the Bible there are many covenants, which are extremely important ideas because through a series of covenants God enters into people's lives and brings them together. The idea of covenant was described by Hugenberger as follows: “A covenant, in its normal sense, is a relationship of chosen, as opposed to natural, obligation under oath. ” (Jefferey 10) His definition follows that of Mendenhall, who defines covenant more broadly as a “solemn promise made binding by an oath, which may be either a verbal formula or a symbolic oath.” Like a covenant, a contract is also a binding agreement between two parties that sets out the terms and obligations of each party, and it also represents commitments, promises, and obligations. For example, God protects and guides his people who are slaves in Egypt through covenants. The government creates laws to allow everyone to share equal rights and duties. This reveals that commitments and contracts are usually provided by the stronger side to protect the weaker side. Whereas alliances come in much more varied forms. They can be conditional, unconditional or even have both characteristics. There are several conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in the Bible. In particular, I wish to introduce the Mosaic Covenant, which is conditional and based on the Ten Commandments given by God. This covenant, which begins in Exodus 19, contains the foundation of the written and oral Torah, as well as God's promises to make the Israelites his special possession among all people and "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation," if " [they] obey [God’s] voice and keep [his] covenant.” (Exo 19:5) This covenant demonstrates that God demands absolute loyalty and obedience from his people. The Israelites must obey the commandments of the Torah in order to receive God's blessing and finally fulfill the covenant. This means that continued habitation in the land depends on their obedience. Unlike the Mosaic Covenant, the Phinehas Covenant is unconditional, that is, regardless of people's obedience or disobedience, God always gives Phinehas a sign to remind Noah and his descending his covenant promise, God “placed the rainbow in the cloud” (Genesis 9). :12-13). Just as circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, the rainbow is the sign of the Noahic Covenant. This covenant always reminds us of God’s faithfulness and amazing grace. God is a holy and righteous God who has a generous heart to forgive the sins of his people. Additionally, just as God provided a way for Noah and his family to be saved in the ark, He also provided a way for us to be saved through Jesus Christ. Noah and his family were saved from God's wrath in the flood. God's covenants are made first with the nation of Israel and ultimately with all humanity because of God's great love for His