Dec. 11, 2011

Background Scripture: Genesis 15:1-21

Devotional Reading: Hebrews 13:17-22

In my Bible, the word(s) “covenant,” “covenants” and “covenanted” appear in the Old and New Testaments 314 times. It is a term with which most of us have been familiar for as long as we have been reading the Bible.

Yet for all the frequency with which it appears, can we easily define the word? Had anyone asked me, I would have replied that a covenant is an agreement to do or not to do some particular thing. But I decided to see what the dictionary (The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House, 1967) says, and found both a general definition and one of its usage in the Bible.

The first of these was similar to my offhand definition: “An agreement between two or more persons to do or not to do something specified.” But for the Biblical meaning, I found these words: “The conditional promises made between God and the ancient Israelites, in which God promised to protect them if they kept his law and were faithful to him.”

Not entirely satisfied, I went to my Bible dictionary (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Abingdon Press, 1962) and read: “A solemn promise made binding by an oath, which may be either a verbal formula or a symbolic action.”

The concept of covenant was not unique to the Israelites, but a common practice among the peoples of the Middle East. The first mention of the covenant is in Genesis 6:18 when God is instructing Noah in the building of the ark.

But it is not until Genesis 15 that God begins to explain His relationship with Noah and his descendents: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” (15:1).

By any other name

It was a general assurance, but Abram wanted something more specific: “O Lord God, what wilt thou give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (15:2).

Then God addresses the specific concern of Abram: “This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir” (15:3).

Keep in mind that at this time, aged Abram and Sarah were well past the age of becoming parents, but God took him outside and said: “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them … So shall your descendents be” (15:5).

If you were in your seventies, would you take seriously this promise, particularly if, after a half-century or more, your wife had been infertile?

Note the difference between his name in 15:2 and 17:5, “No longer shall your name be Abram. But your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” Biblical scholars are divided as to the significance of this change from “Abram” to “Abraham,” for “Abram” is in itself an exalted name that probably means “the (or my) father is exalted.”

At best, it appears that “Abraham” is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew “Abram.” Aramaic was the language spoken by most Jews in Jesus’ time, while Hebrew was largely known only by the educated few. And Abraham, being an Aramean, almost certainly didn’t speak Hebrew.

How God ‘reckons’

 So, what’s the point? I believe the name change was used in telling the story to highlight the enhanced change of the relationship between God and the man we know today as Abraham.

He begins his encounter with God as a doubter and progresses to one who trusts the Lord and his promises. When, when pointing to the innumerable stars above, God assures him, “So shall your descendents be,” the writer of Genesis adds, “And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness” (15:6).

“Reckoned” here means God counted or regarded it as righteousness. (See also Romans 4:5 ff., Galatians 3:6 and James 2:23.)

When the writer says “he believed,” it is not the entertainment of an idea, but an expression of trust, of betting his life on it. So God saw Abraham’s trust in His promises as proof of Abraham’s faith.

There is an enormous difference between beliefs that we hold and convictions to which we entrust our lives. The question is not whether we can recite and believe in the Apostle’s Creed, but whether we can entrust our lives to it.

Actually, I believe that every day is a day of reckoning with God, a day when our trust in trust in the Lord, not our idle beliefs, is tested and weighed. If we pass, it will be grace of God’s covenant with us, not our performance grades, that make the difference.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.