The Covenant God made with Abraham begins a series of covenants that impact all of world history even to modern times. This article tracks each promise leading to the Covenant God made with Abraham.
This covenant did not actually start with a formal covenant in the normal biblical sense. It started with a series of smaller promises. The first reference of a promise to Abramham, at the time known as Abram, is found in Genesis 12:
Genesis 12:1-4 1: Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee: 2and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make they name great; and be thou a blessing; 3and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 4So Abram went, as Jehovah had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
This promise contains several parts that we will see again. Some parts will remain as is, others will grow and change. In this promise we see the following:
Abraham is to be made into a great nation. A single nation. One with many people in it.
Abraham will be blessed.
His name is to be Great His name is to be great. He will be known by many people. The name of someone biblically represents his authority. This passage is saying that Abraham will have great authority in the world.
Abraham will be a blessing to others. Those around him, his family, people he knows.
Those that bless Abraham will in turn be blessed by God, those that curse Abraham will in turn be cursed by God.
Through Abraham all peoples on earth will be blessed.
The last entry on this list, probably because it will happen later in time, is generally thought to be a reference to the New Covenant (through Christ) and the covenant through which everyone is blessed. The others, though, are just promises being made to Abraham himself and his decendents.
As Abraham demonstrates faith, the covenant changes. We look now at the next round of covenant making with Abraham. The promises of God multiply as we go further up the record. By chapter 15 of Genesis we find the promises have multiplied greatly. The following are the relavant passages.
Genesis 15 5: And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Here the number of offspring has been increased. It is now likened to the stars in the sky, if, indeed, they can be counted. This is substantially larger than just a large nation, which was saw in Chapter 12. Now the story turns its attention to making this into a covenant, instead of just a promise. Abraham is asked to prepare the sign for the covenant, and then when it was time.
Genesis 15:17-21 17: And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. 18: In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, 20and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, 21and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.
The symbolism of this event symbolic - a fire pot passing through the pieces before Abraham - is often overlooked. Normally, both parties entering into a contract would walk between the pieces together. Symbolizing the covenant and reiterating that if either party broke their part of the bargan, the other had the right to cut the offender into two, just like the animals had been. In this case Abraham is noticably absent. Only the firepot passes between the pieces. What does this signify? That God alone had passed through the pieces, and that if God failed to keep his part of the covenant, that he could be cut into pieces, but that Abraham was under no such threat. This pictured what was now an unconditional promise.
Would Abraham ever have to execute this threat? No. God is trustworthy. He keeps his promises. This entire picture is simply for Abraham's benefit, and ours, so that we understand this has the force of a full contract, like two people might enter into. But, unlike a human counterpart, God will not fail in keeping his side of the bargain. What does that promise involve? In addition to what was mentioned before, it now included many more offspring, and it included a piece of land, the land from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates.
When God established the Sinai covenant he would make claim to this territory conditional on the good behavior of the nation, but for the purposes of all time, this is Abraham's territory. Deut. 11:22-25. As the nation would later experience, as they disobeyed God and his later covenant of possesion, the farthest parts of this empire would be the first to fall. 2 Sam. 8:3, 1 Ch. 18:3 As the nation would later disobey that covenant, the nation would itself be cut in two, like that pictured in this vision.
This was not the end of the story in Abraham's day. God switched to a conditional promise, and increased it still.
Third Covenant with AbrahamAs Abraham's story unfolds in Genesis we see it increasing still. The next relavant passages are found in Genesis 17. The following is the relavant text:
Genesis 17:3-10 3: And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations. 5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee. 6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7: And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. 8: And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9: And God said unto Abraham, And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. 10: This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised.
Here the promise grows still larger. Now Abraham is to become many nations which is mentioned twice and he is to be the father of kings and the whole land of Canaan is to become his as well. Unlike the earlier promises, Abraham has a condition. He, and his household, must be circumcised. This is his part of this conditional promise. Abraham is faithful and does what God asks, and so keeps his side of the promise. God is now doing more than he would at first.
Fourth Covenant with AbrahamGenesis 22 tells us of the final test Abraham would have to passed when he was asked by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah. After strapping his son on the altar and raising his knife to kill the boy, God tells Abraham to stop and nor to harm the boy. "Now I know that you fear God," he is told, and God then gives him his fourth and final promise. V.15-18: And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son]: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which [is] upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Seeing fulfullmentAt this point we should stop and ask what has been fulfilled from this set of promises. The king, or kings, which would come from Abraham, are those who populate the house of David, some 1000 years later. 1000 years after that Jesus comes from David's line and will eventually permanently fulfill the king promise given here to Abraham.
What about the other promises? Especially, here, the promise of many nations? This is harder to find fulfillment of, but it becomes clearer as God reiterates the Covenant with Abraham's descendants. Let us remember, though, that the Jewish nation, those we today call the modern nation of Israel, were never more than one nation, not many nations as promised here. Abraham's decendents must include someone else.
God Swears by HimselfAs we follow the story still further, the promises we've seen so far become completely unconditional. God is pleased with Abraham. The story involves a test, a test where Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son, his only son. Forshadowing the cross, and God's sacrifice of his only son, Abraham obeys and travels to the region of Moriah where he nearly completes the test. At the last moment, the Lord provides a ram to substitute and then confirms the covenant:
Genesis 22:15-18 15: And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, 17that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. 18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Because thou hast obeyed my voice.
"I swear by myself," is strong language. Nothing is going to stop him doing as he promised to Abraham. Nothing of the things we've looked at here are going to fail to come to pass. Unconditionally. Without any chance to fail. Compared to the New Covenant, this covenant no longer has any conditions placed on Abraham or his family. It is also not the New Covenant, in that it does not lead to eternal life. This covenant is only hinted at in these passages, and Hebrews 11 demonstrates that Abraham is saved under the New Covenant, but that covenant awaits the arrival of Jesus before it is in view.
At this point there is no further covenant making with Abraham. God does, though, come along and confirm this covenant with later generations in his family. We now turn our attention to the next generation, Isaac.
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