The Covenant with Israel

When God has chosen people to belong to Him, He has usually made a special covenant with them. A covenant is a binding agreement that ties one person to another. It is sometimes called a contract. It helps people to know where they stand with each other. They are either in the covenant or out of it. For example, a man and woman enter their marriage covenant at the time of their wedding. For those in the covenant there is great assurance. They can be sure of the partnership and its terms. Knowing what each should give and receive, they can go forward in life with far more of a sense of direction and certainty.

One of the most famous covenants God made was with Abraham (Genesis 37). When Abraham’s children, the Israelites, had grown large enough to become a nation, God sent Moses to them. When God brought them out of Egypt, He made His special covenant with the whole nation (1 Kings 8:9,21). The ten commandments were an important part of this covenant: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel’. Moses … wrote on tablets the words of the covenant – the ten commandments” (Exodus 34:27,28).

Many people have misunderstood this covenant. They thought it was meant for all people. But God Himself spoke of it as a contract between Him and the Israelites (Exodus 34:27; Leviticus 20:23-26; 26:46; Malachi 14:4). Many have thought that it would continue even after Christ. Yet even the old covenant pointed ahead to a great change: the old covenant would be replaced by a new covenant: “ ‘The time is coming’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt’” (Jeremiah 31:31,32).

Bro Jackson Nyakambiri (Harare, Zimbabwe)