COVENANT ETYMOLOGY- The idea of covenant is absolutely fundamental to an understanding of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The actual names of our Bibles derive from the concept of covenant. The Hebrew word, berith, usually translated, diatheke in the Septuagint, became testamentum in the Latin Vulgate. By the time Tyndale released his translation to the English-speaking world, covenant had become fixed as the word, "testament." [1]

COVENANT-MAKING - The Hebrew berith, originally referred to an artificial brotherhood, a relationship struck between two parties unrelated by bloodlines. Covenants were cut between individuals (Gen. 21:27, 26:28; 1 Samuel 18:3), between husband and wife (Malachi 2:14), between tribes (1 Samuel 11:1, Judges 2:2, Exodus 23:32), between kings (1 Kings 20:34), and between a king and his people (2 Kings 11:4, 2 Chron. 23).

THE RITUAL - God asks Abram to prepare for the rite of covenant. Abram seems clear about what God has asked him to do-such rituals must have been common. Commentators are uncertain about several of the details surrounding the ritual such as why the birds were not divided or why the animals had to be three years old, or the precise meaning of verse 11: "And when the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abraham drove them away." God appears in a theophany via the smoking pots and fire; they (it?) pass through the divided animals.

 

Recall some of your own "covenant-making" and truce-brokering as a child. Recall the promises made (by you or to you) that . . . eventually got fulfilled.

In what sense does this promise die from lack of fulfillment? In what way does Abraham "see" the promise that he will become a mighty nation? How do we "see" all of our expectations that will live beyond us?

What about this? God makes it clear-especially in view of vv. 13-16-that there will be a delay in fulfillment of the promise. A four hundred year delay. The story of God’s people during those centuries attests that God’s promises will move through dark and complex times. We want immediate results-no deferred gratification; we want our cake and to eat it too! But this text may invite listeners to view God’s Plan from the standpoint of generations-each person invited to become a link or chink in God’s long chain of Promise-keeping.

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