Mirriam-Webster defines a covenant as a a formal, solemn, agreement. The Hebrew word for covenant is berith. The etymology of the word implies a sense of cutting.
There is an ancient eastern tradition called a blood covenant. It was a binding pact of significance between two parties. When the covenant was entered, an animal was slaughtered and cut in half. The two halves were placed on the ground in an area where there was a depression or ditch in which the blood would run into and pool.
The first party would then walk between the pieces through the blood. The blood would cover his feet and his sandals and splash up on the hem of his robe. In essence, the person would be saying "If I break this covenant, you can do this to me."
Then the second party would walk between the pieces and through the blood. Likewise, the blood would cover his feet and sandals and splash up on the hem of his robe. Again, basically saying, "If I break this covenant, you can do this to me."
With this understanding, a rather obscure verse becomes more clear. We see this ancient practice in scripture, but it is written without the need of an explanation to a people quite familiar with it. The prophet, Jeremiah, writes around 650BC:
As for those who disobeyed My covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.
- Jeremiah 34:18
But the practice of blood covenant is much older still. Let's look at the puzzling passage of Genesis 15. It begins with God promising Abram that He will be his shield, and that his reward would be great. Abram laments that being childless, his inheritance would go to his servant. God then promises Abram that he will have an heir of his own body, and then taking Abram outside and showing him the stars, God says his descendants will be as numerous as the stars.
Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
- Genesis 15:6
God also promised Abram the land to possess. Abram questioned how he would know with certainty. It wasn't a faithless question; God had just counted Abram's belief and faith as righteousness.
Then comes the peculiar passage:
So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.
- Gen 15:9-10
God didn't tell Abram what the animals were for. He didn't tell Abram what to do with the animals. Abram knew their purpose and what to do with them.
Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
- Genesis 15:12-16
God further explained to Abram about his descendants. We see the fulfillment of this in the story of Joseph when he is sold into slavery, his rise to prominence in Egypt, his being used to save his family, the Hebrews' flourishing in Egypt until they are subjugated and eventually led to freedom under Moses after 400 years . This fulfillment would be proof of God's active and faithful covenant.
God's promise was land and descendants. What was the other party's responsibility to the covenant?
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?
- Deuteronomy 10:11-13
God has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require from you? To to act justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.
- Micah 6:8
God's first command was in the garden of Eden. Don't eat of the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There was only one law, and it was broken. From that one event, all men inherited sin which made sinful actions the new nature of man. (Romans 5:12). Ten laws were given on Mt Sinai. Those were broken even as they were being given! Over 600 more laws were given and recorded in the book of Leviticus that encompassed moral laws, cultural laws, and ceremonial laws. The possibility of upholding every one of those laws easily proves impossible.
The pieces were cut. The blood had flown. It was time to seal the covenant.
It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.
- Genesis 15:17
"...a smoking oven..."
At various times, smoke (or cloud) was a representation of God's presence.
- the cloud that led the Israelites in the wilderness by day
- the shekinah glory of God that filled the tabernacle
- the smoke on the mountain when God presented the law
"...which passed between the pieces."
God entered the covenant. He passed between the pieces. Essentially the meaning is "If I break this covenant, you can do this to me." But God is holy and can not fail because of His perfect nature.
Abram surely knew that if he even dipped his toe in the blood to enter the covenant, he was already guilty because of his sinful nature. Entering the covenant would cost him his life.
"...and a flaming torch"
Many times, fire also represented God's presence.
- the burning bush
- the pillar of fire that led the Israelites in the wilderness by night
- the fire on the mountain when God presented the law
- the fire that came out from before the Lord in the tabernacle and consumed the offerings on the altar
- the tongues of fire that settled over the apostles on Pentecost
"...which passed between the pieces."
God entered the covenant again. A second time He passed between the pieces. This time He did it on behalf of Abram and his descendants - bloodline and those grafted in. The meaning essentially was "If you break this covenant, you can do this to me." God Himself would pay the penalty for us breaking the covenant!
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram
- Genesis 15:18a
This is why Jesus had to die. God founded the covenant on Himself. Centuries after establishing that covenant with Abram, Jesus - God the Son and Son of Man - came to pay the penalty by sacrificing His life.
The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
- Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45
For it is by grace through faith that you are saved, and that not of yourself. It is a free gift of God, not the results of any good works so that no one may boast.
- Ephesians 2:8-9
But what of those who do not accept Jesus' payment on their behalf?
The prophet Isaiah lived around 700 BC. He writes a passage that speaks about when Christ returns:
Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, this One who is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength?
“It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?
“I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with Me.
I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I stained all My raiment."
- Isaiah 63:1-3
In the light of a blood covenant, this passage takes on meaning. God is just, and because justice also necessitates recompense, He must extract the penalty of the broken covenant. He offered Himself as the payment, but those who refuse that offer, those who have not been saved by grace through their faith in Him, are still obligated to pay the penalty. He will "trod" them and "trample" them, and "their lifeblood will splatter on His garments."
But the mystery is not over. We'll look at another portion of it in Part 2.
[Originally written: Jun 7, 2017]
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