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Covenant Forms in Israelite Tradition

• Legal custom of covenant is brought to religion

• Covenant is what establishes the relationship between man and God

• Contract between man and God was an actual event, with a location and repercussions

The Nature of Covenant

• Oaths were instituted in order to hold one to the covenant they made

• Vassal is bound by oath to obey the Hittite sovereign

• Purpose of the suzerainty was to create a mutually beneficial relationship between two nations

The Structure of the Covenant

• Covenant belongs to the sovereign (suzerain)

• 6 elements: preamble, history, stipulations, public reading, list of gods

• Treaty was written in the 1st person to create a personal tone

Other Factors in the Covenant

• Vassal swore obedience by oath

• Suzerainty treaties were not found in any other period

Covenant Forms in Israel

• Covenant between Abraham and God: circumcision was a sign, not an obligation

• ID’s the participants of the covenant

• Mosaic Covenant imposes promises fulfilled by the clans, but Yahweh doesn’t promise anything

The Covenant of Joshua 24

• A monotheistic obligation is implied

• 1st person reference on behalf of Joshua

• Difference between generations (Joshua vs. Moses)

The Breakdown of the Covenant Form

• Monarchy established (pros and cons of the “old ways”)

• King made by covenant; Yahweh was witness

• David’s reign was declared the Golden Age (modus vivendi)

The Rediscovery of Moses

• King Josiah made a covenant with his people to follow the Lord’s commandments

• Former amphictyonic covenant was rediscovered

• New Testament is founded upon the Mosaic Covenant

• Moses speaks in the 1st person

• Religious tradition and political leadership went hand in hand

Intro:

• Two covenant types in the Old Testament: obligatory vs. promissory

• Treaty vs. grant

• Treaty: vassal obligated to obey master

• Grant: master obligated to care for vassal

• Abrahamic and Davidic covenants were grants

Unconditional Gift

• Hittite treaties are known for giving land away as a reward to their vassals

• People of a dynasty cannot give land away to a stranger

• A father’s sins don’t fall to the son

• Dynasty could be legitimized by adoption (???)

• Adoption is classified as a “forensic metaphor”

• Adopted sons can be punished as the sons of free men, not slaves

The Covenant with Abraham in Gen. XV

• Suzerain = God

• God swears to keep His promise to Abraham

• Sacrificial animals were part of oath-taking

• 3rd millennium is when sacrifices for a covenant began

• Oath-imprecation (???)

The Legal Formulae in the Covenant with Abraham

• Conveyance in perpetuity (???)

• There was a “judicial pattern” in the way that land was gifted in Genesis XV

• Abraham is promised a legacy, a dynasty, before he is promised land

• David and Abraham were promised that their names would be great

The Grant of Hebron to Caleb

• Caleb was loyal and faithful, so he was granted Hebron as a fiefdom

• Scholarly assumption that Abrahamic and Davidic covenantal traditions originated in Hebron

The Grant of Priesthood and Priestly Revenues

• Grants of status

• Levites were given the tithes of all Israel by God

• Sons of Levi were given an inheritance

• Hebron is the origin of the Aaronite and Levite grant

• Abraham was named “Father of the hos of nations”

The Abrahamic Covenant in the Priestly Source

• D source is a reformulation of the P source

• P source covenant relationship is considered “one-sided”

• D source says that Israel actively participates in forming a relationship with God

• Abraham is promised that he will have a kingly legacy

• Israel had at least 5 vassal states

• Circumcision was classified as a pre-requisite for becoming a person of Israel