God's Covenant with the Hebrews

The Bible shows us that God uses covenants to restore His rule on earth.  Whether it is His covenant with creation, with Abraham’s seed (the Hebrews), with King David, or the new covenant in Christ, essentially it is always about God’s Kingdom restoration project.  In spite of the destructiveness of human behavior, God continues to make and keep his promises.  And what is the key promise?  He will continue to secure a people for Himself and one day all creation will be restored to the proper relationship with God.  This would be accomplished by the perfect obedience of the Son and the ongoing work of His Spirit.  Ultimately it is for Kingdom restoration that God calls and chooses people like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Paul, and all true disciples of Jesus Christ.

The Great Rebellion: God had told humanity to spread out into the earth.  Yet, they chose to stay together to build a mighty empire and a strong tower to challenge their Maker.  So, to break their rebellion, God confused their communication, and then the nations spread to the ends of the earth.  Afterwards God chooses Abram to begin his offensive against the enemy.  He is going to build a kingdom for himself: Abraham’s offspring is supposed to model the God-centered community.  Abraham is trained and equipped to be his faithful servant, so that God’s glory may eventually fill the earth.  He must model the man to ‘trust and obey’ the Lord God in everything.  His offspring is called, saved, and sanctified to play a key role in God’s plan of redemption and restoration.

There is so much to say about God’s covenant with the Hebrews, but we will focus on a few central themes: the blood, the worship, and the dispersions.

The Blood: The Hebrew text speaks about “cutting a covenant”, and covenant history is often about cutting and about blood.  Immediately after the Fall already, God cut up animals to provide protection to the fallen humans.  From then on, blood had to flow as an ongoing stream all the way to the cross at Golgotha.  Apparently in line with regional customs, God decided to make a covenant with Abraham and his offspring.  He called for an official cutting ceremony where cut-up animals were used to make a path of blood.  The covenant parties should have walked together through this path of blood.  The blood-covenant sealed them together to the death: the bloody carcasses served as a warning for the one who would dare to break the covenant.  Naturally, this would be disastrous for the Hebrews.  However, Abraham did not have to walk the path of blood, and in the end he did not have to sacrifice his son.  God had already provided for a Substitute, for He knew that the Hebrews could not keep the covenant.  So, the ‘impossible’ had to happen: The Trinity would be broken, and the Son of God (the true Son of Abraham) had to walk the path of blood to shed his blood on the brutal cross.  Yes, it was a covenant of love, but we can only benefit from this love if we appreciate the cost and live a life of thanksgiving for the One who paid the price.  Most of the Hebrews perished in the desert, but God always secured a righteous remnant to ensure the successful outcome of his plan.

The Worship: The Hebrews were set apart by God.  They had to be reminded of their important position and commission.  Each newborn baby boy (just one week old) had to be cut by circumcision to mark the covenant relationship.  At Mount Sinai God gave his laws to Moses as expression of God’s holy character and his holy will for his people.  And they were to build a tent, later a temple, to symbolize Immanuel: God dwells among his people.  At the dead centre of the worship place was placed the Holy Chest, which contained the summary of the Law (The Ten Words) and the signs of God’s providential care: providing bread in the wilderness and providing a high priest.  So, again the covenant proves to contain gifts and obligations.  When God’s people walk with him, they will be blessed in incredible ways; if they refuse to put him in the centre of their lives, their kingdom will break apart and God will scatter them across the nations.

Dispersion: Remember that God started his plan with Abram after He had chased humanity from Babel into all the earth.  If Israel, God’s new creation (Isaiah 43: 1) should fail to embody His Kingdom, they too, would be scattered and dispersed among the nations.  Centuries later, after the true Son of Abraham had come to pay the price and conquer the prince of the world, God’s Spirit was poured out.  From then on, God’s new covenant community is sent out into the earth to reclaim it for the King of kings: from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria, and from there into the whole world! For ultimately this covenant is not about the Jews or Israel and it’s not about us as members of ‘the true church’: it’s about God and His Kingdom.  Abraham, apparently, understood that, for he anticipated “a heavenly country” (Hebrews 11).  May the Kingdom of Heaven be manifested: first in our lives, but also in the lives of those whom we meet in our communities.

Even though this relationship is now radically renewed, to understand Jesus we must be familiar with the preceding history.  Much of the Gospel record will remain a mystery unless we view Jesus as the ‘Climax of the Covenant’ (N.T. Wright).  Even though God’s self-revelation is the clearest in the teaching and life of Christ Jesus, it would be a crucial mistake to disregard the preceding history, for it forms the backdrop and the context of his ministry.