WHAT DOES COVENANT RELATIONSHIP REALLY MEAN?
The record of Rahab and the Canaanites in the book of
Joshua is fascinating, and I thought I was going to talk about that here in
this Preach Letter. But as I got into it, the LORD
took me to what He wanted covered first. He showed me that before we can
understand the depth of the spiritual feast in the record of Rahab, we needed
to refresh and embrace what we know about the rank, reputation, and importance
of Covenant! So that’s what we’re going to do here, and even for those who
think they know a lot about it, I think you’ll pick up some new and exciting
aspects. I know I did! And next week we’ll get into the story of Rahab.
To understand
much of the Bible, we need to know that for the most part, Bible events took
place in an Eastern world. So, when people from the Eastern culture read about covenants
made between God and people or people and people, they understand its
significance, but Westerners for the most part, do not. So, here, I’m going to
take a little time to expound on a few things about Covenant relationships.
Many Christians
may have already learned about salt covenants, (so you can skip that part if
you want), but in my research the past few weeks, the LORD led me to amazing and wonderful new
insights on covenants that I believe will really enhance and energize our
spiritual lives even more.
Many of us first
read about salt covenants in a book by Bishop K.C. Pillai (c.1900-1970). He lived in India and grew up as a Hindu. His
conversion to Christianity is a lesson in one of the most significant Eastern
customs found in the Bible. When a Hindu child of the ruling class is born, a
little salt is rubbed on the baby who is then wrapped in swaddling cloth. This
custom invoked one of the oldest and strongest covenants in the Eastern world,
the “salt covenant.” In this particular instance, the child was salted for a
lifetime of dedication to the Hindu religion. The “salt covenant” is used in
like manner throughout the Bible to seal the deepest commitment.
As a result of the salt covenant, it is difficult for
Hindus to convert to Christianity. When they do, their family actually conducts
a funeral service to symbolize that the individual is dead to their family, the
community, and Hinduism. Their family will carry a portrait of the “deceased”
to the cemetery and bury it.
A salt covenant in the East carries over in to adult
life. As Bishop Pillai puts it: “In the East, the taking of salt is pledge, a
promise of fidelity. If I come to your house and eat food with you which has
been seasoned with salt, I can never betray you or do you harm. Even if you
commit a crime and I am asked to testify, I cannot do it because I have eaten
salt with you. Perhaps I may come to you and try to persuade you to do the
right thing, but I would die before I would break the covenant of salt. In fact,
the penalty for so doing, is death; Anything said while eating anything with
salt must never be broken.
A servant and master in the Eastern custom will exchange
the salt covenant to show the servant will be trustworthy. So the men eat
salted food such as an olive or something and say, ‘in the name of the salt on
the food I am eating, I will never betray you. I will never rob you. I will
never cause damage to your property as long as I am in charge, so help me God.’
The master says, ‘I will never treat you as a servant, I will treat you as my
equal, my brother. I will trust you.’”
And from Biblehub.com: “In the biblical context,
covenants between men are solemn agreements or promises made between
individuals or groups, often invoking God as a witness to the commitment. The
breach of such covenants is taken seriously in Scripture, as it reflects not
only a failure in human relationships but also a disregard for the divine
witness to the agreement.”
Now let’s look at two other examples in Genesis of physical
demonstrations of a covenant taking place. Both are with Abraham. The first is in
Genesis 14:22 “And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand
unto the LORD, the most high God,
the possessor of heaven and earth.” Notice that LORD
is capitalized, indicating Abram’s already existing covenant
relationship with God. This is Abram’s way of taking a solemn oath.
He swore before the King that he would not keep any of
the spoils of war that belonged to the King. Swearing with a raised hand before
God is similar to what witnesses are supposed to be doing in the modern
courtroom. This kind of covenant oath with the raising of the hand is also
found in Daniel 12:7 and Revelation 10:5-6.
The other example of one of the covenants of Abraham is
in Genesis 15. God made a covenant with Abram to bless him with land and
promised him seed from his own bowels to be his heir. At the time, Abram and
Sarai had no children. But that was no problem to God. What God promised in
covenant with Abram would come to pass. God told him: “Look now toward heaven,
and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so
shall thy seed be” (Gen. 15:5).
To seal the covenant, Abram cut several sacrificial
animals into two-piece sections and walked between them. This signified a
solemn declaration of his intention to adhere to the covenant. Just as the two
separate pieces belonged to the same animal, the two parties of the covenant
were to be of one mind about the terms of the covenant.
When night fell, God did a miracle for Abram to show His
side of the covenant. He displayed a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that
passed between the two sections of the sacrificed animals! This was a huge sign
to Abram that God would forever keep His promise! (And WE are part of that
promise, as we are called the seed of Abraham in Gal. 3:29).
So, we see that with the cultures of the East, covenant
was a serious matter, not to be broken.
But God does give us have several examples of the
consequences of a broken covenant. I’ll just mention one here, with the
Gibeonites and Saul.
In Joshua 9:15 we see that the Gibeonites made a covenant of peace with Israel:
“And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them
live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.” However, Saul
violated this covenant by attempting to annihilate them.
As a result, God sent a famine upon Israel during the
reign of David as punishment for Saul's breach: “Then there was a famine in the
days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, ‘It
is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the
Gibeonites.’”
As my friend, Frank Fick, says, “A covenant is not a
contract. You can break a contract.” But when people break a covenant, it is
not merely a social or legal issue but a spiritual one. In the Biblical
worldview, such breaches are taken as offenses against God Himself, who is
often invoked as a witness to these agreements. The punishment we’ve just seen
passed down from David from his father Saul, for breaking a covenant, shows the
gravity of the offense and should serve as a red flag to us regarding making
casual promises.
From a moral and ethical standpoint, the breach of a covenant is a violation of
trust and integrity. It reflects failure to uphold one's word and a disregard
for the sacredness of promises made before God. The stories in the Bible
consistently present the importance of faithfulness and truthfulness in human
relationships, reflecting the character of God, who is always faithful to His
covenants.
Throughout the Bible, God always tells the truth, honoring His commitments and
covenants, no matter what. And Jesus came to show us even more about how to
live in righteousness, and He emphasizes the need for believers to honor their
promises and uphold the sanctity of their word. “Be ye therefore imitators of
God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ” (Eph. 2:1-2a).
For all of us born again confessed Christians, maybe it’s
time to renew and upgrade our covenant relationship with our God. When we got
born again, we chose God’s way and repented of our old ways. We accepted God’s
son Jesus as our Lord and Savior. God changed us on the inside and by the new
birth, we were brought into a covenant relationship with Him. We confessed with
our words that from that day forward Jesus would be our Lord.
But maybe we didn’t even know at the time that we were
promising with our mouths a covenant agreement with God. I was only eight years
old at the time and I admit, I had no idea of covenant and I bet there are many
others who didn’t know either. Well, God knew what His part of the covenant
was, and He kept it no matter what, and that’s how I believe many of us have
stayed alive for so long. But now it is high time for the body of Christ to
rise up and commit to being truer to our spoken covenant than ever before. What
do you think?
Love, Carolyn
Learn to grow more and more into the ways of God, as a
new person in Christ.
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