The Covenants That God Made with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David - Research Paper Example

?Outline and Differentiate the covenants that God made with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David In all the covenants, God chooses a community and/or individuals to fulfill his word. He chooses then people responds to his choice by obeying the covenant. For example, in the Mosaic covenant, the people were to keep themselves holy by maintaining cleanliness and abstaining from sexual encounters. They were also to obey all the commandments and not to touch the foot of the mountain. They were therefore the community and still God initiated the relationship through Moses. In Abraham’s covenant, he and Isaac were the community. Abraham was to sacrifice his only son as part of obeying God. He was also to trust in God for the providence of a sacrifice, of which He provided the ram. Abraham was also to believe in the promises God had made to him concerning becoming a father of great nations. When asked to sacrifice his son, he was to believe that God would provide the sacrificial lamb on the day of the covenant. Noah on the other hand, had to believe and trust that God would keep His word, when he said that he would protect him and his family from the flood. He believed in God and sealed a covenant with him in that God would not punish humankind anymore with rain and floods. In this case, Noah, his family and the animals were the chosen community for the covenant. David’s promises were in two parts, whereby, Part 1 was fulfilled before David’s death, while part two had a later fulfillment. Section one of the first promises to be fulfilled before David died was; "I have been with you where ever you have been and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great like the names of the greatest men of the earth." (Verse: 9). Looking at 2nd. Samuel 8; 13, we can see that King David did have a great name among the nations. Therefore, this promise of God came true. Noah was promised that he and his seed was to be blessed. They were to be provided for, and under no circumstances was God to punish them anymore with rain or floods. These promises are known as the Davidic Covenant. Reeves 1comments that, ‘It is described in 2nd. Samuel chapter 7. In the overall purpose of God, it is equal in its significance to the Abrahamic Covenant. The Tabernacle was still at Gabion. David has made a tent for the Ark to stay in. 2nd. Chronicles 1;4 it says, “Now David had brought up the Ark of God from Kiriath Jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem." David wants to build a house for God and God says on 2nd. Samuel chapter 7 verse 4. In verse 8, God reminded David of his humble beginning. He reminds him of his previous life when he was following the sheep. It does not take a great deal of imagination to understand what the job of following the sheep involves. God promises to make David’s name great like the names of the greatest men of the earth. It was easy for David to believe Him based on His past faithfulness in fulfilling the promise. God made a great promise, establishing the Davidic Covenant, which had present and eschatological implications. Looking at 2nd. Samuel 8; 13, we can see that King David did have a great name among the nations. 2 Part 2 begins with verse 10; "I will appoint a place for my people Israel." He would add more land to the nation. Again, chapter 8 points to the fulfillment by describing David’s conquests over surrounding nations. Section three is also in verse 11 where God had "caused you to rest from all your enemies" again we read of this in 1 Chronicles’ 23;25, "The Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever." It is important to know that the Lord did fulfillment those promises to David because they validated those sections of part two of the covenant, which would take place after his death. The Lord says to David "When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your off spring (Note it is singular) to succeed you, who will come from your own body and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." No monarch had ever received such a promise as this. God was promising David a seed (off spring) in perpetuity. The physical proof of this was that the seed of David will always have a seed, will always have a male heir of David to sit on throne generation after generation3. On the other hand, David was promised that his lineage would produce a great king. Sacred law also governs all the covenants, but the context in which it is applied differs. God seeks out families and community that will do His will by keeping His commandments and laws. That is by adhering to His code of morality, law and ritual practices and by observing the things He has sanctified and separated from the everyday world. For example, the Israelites were themselves sanctified and separated from the other generations; they were not to touch the mountain, as it was holy. Moses was to remove his shoes when he was called on Mt. Sinai as he was standing on holy ground. He was also not to come any closer as He was on holy ground. David was not to build the temple as he had Uriah’s blood in his hands; hence, God promised that his son Solomon would build God a magnificent temple. He was slosh blessed with great wisdom to handle all the issues in Egypt. Noah on the other hand was to select an animal with its partner that were to be salvaged from the flood, hence, these were the chosen few who were sanctified for the glory of God’s divine command. Abraham on the other hand, was to follow God’s command when he was told to live his father’s land in Haran and go to Canaan where he barely knew; hence, this was obeying God’s sacred law and obedience to God’s divine command. The drive to collective sanctification also applies but in different cases in that. The people are commanded to be holy just as God is holy, they thereby agree to be adherents, and even priests of the true faith are members of the holy community, set apart from all the others. For example in Moses’ covenant with God and the Israelites, the people were to keep themselves clean and abstain from sexual intercourse as a way of sanctifying themselves. Blood was also poured on them as a way of sanctifying them and commissioning them and setting them apart from the everyday worldly people. Abraham on the other hand was sanctified by being blessed with a son after many years. Additionally, he was told to live his father’s land and go to an unknown land, port raying him as God’s sanctified and chosen one. Noah and his family also obeyed God’s sacred law by agreeing to live in the ark, on the other hand, when they were told not to take meat, it was a way of obeying God’s sacred law. David on the other hand, when he agreed to be a king at his tender age, showed that he was god’s chosen one and that he had great faith when he defeated Goliath with a sling and 5 stones, hence, he obeys God’s sacred law to the latter. On the other hand, when God told him that he would not build the temple shows that he had broke the commandments and that he was not sanctified enough to build God’s temple as he had the blood of Uriah in his hands.4 ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The idea of conditional privilege whereby God favors and blesses the community, provided that they keep his commandments and divine laws. This significantly qualifies the absolute e promise of blessing and possession. If they fail in their witness and adherence, they will be punished by God withdrawing His favor from the people. A good example was Sodom and Gomorrah, whereby God wiped out the entire population with a flood apart from Noah’s family. This also showed that God withdraws his mercy when people are disobedient. For the Israelites, when they refused to obey God’s commands and kept nagging Moses, God withheld from them the food they normally ate. On the other hand, when they were at the mountain and began worshiping idols, Moses melted the statue they had built and made them drink the concoction5. Additionally, they started killing each other. Abraham on the other hand, because he was not patient enough to wait for God’s blessing of a son, God made his blessing and promise of a son delay by blessing him with Ishmael first, instead of Isaac. David on the other hand, was withheld from building God the temple because he killed Uriah and also he was stopped from being the great king of Egypt and all these were given to his son King Solomon. The idea of witness, whereby god reveals Himself to the people and/or its leader through signs and miracles witnessed by the community as a whole; and it is a witnesses and recorders of God’s promises and theophany that the community establishes its unique claim and justifies its role in the covenant. For Moses, God showed himself in the burning bush, and at the sinaitic covenant through the cloud. On the other hand, GOD SHOWED HIMSELFS TO Noah through the rainbow. To Abraham he showed himself, by passing through the meat pieces as a fire and a flaming torch. He also showed himself in the ram that was held by its horns, when he provided Abraham with the animal to sacrifice. As for David God showed himself through. In all cases the sanctified places for the sacrifices are different, in that for Moses, it was on the holy mountain, Mt. Sinai. For Abraham it was on the hills. For Noah, it was on the ark and for David it was through the fulfillment of god’s promises. Bibliography Rad, V. G. Old Testament Theology: The Theology of Israel’s historical traditions, Oliver and Boyd: Edinburgh, Vol 1, 1994, pp 128-140. Reeves, J. The Bible in Brief, Allan Wingate Publishers, London, 1998, pp. 15-18. Read More