The word “covenant” is used 284 times in the OT and 37 times in the NT. The first time “covenant” is used in the Bible is Genesis 6:18 where God makes a “covenant” with Noah. But, God is not introducing the word into mankind’s vocabulary. He is utilizing a word from man’s vocabulary and God will give it His own theological significance.
Covenants began as agreements between two individuals or two families or two clans. Then, as the population of the world increased, the covenants grew to include agreements between two language groups or between two nations. We see an early covenant in Genesis 31:43-54, between Jacob and Laban:
“Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? So now come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.” Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, and aMizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other. If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.” Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me. This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his kinsmen to the meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.”
Please note these aspects of this covenant:
1. A Covenant is a “witness,” testimony to the agreement between two individuals.
2. The stone was a visible sign of the testimony between the two individuals.
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4. A curse was placed on the other individual if he did not fulfill his part of the covenant.
5. Both parties agreed not to harm the other.
6. The oath was made in the presence of God, calling down the curse from God if one were to violate his oath.
7. The covenant agreement was consummated by the offering of a sacrifice with a meal shared (perhaps a reference to meal of verse 46).
Can you see all of these points reflected in what we know to exist in the New Testament covenant between God and man? God always initiates His covenants with man. Man receives the protection and other blessings from God and man is under obligation to obey the stipulations God puts into the covenant, whether we’re talking about the covenant with Noah, Abraham, the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, David, or the New Covenant in Jesus Christ.
Commentary for the Sermon on the Mount
