Covenant of the Old Testament Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Covenant of the Old Testament - Research Paper Example Meaning of Covenant Covenant is considered as an agreement taking place between two people as a method to relate with the God. The term ‘covenant’ has been derived from Hebrew roots which refers the action ‘to cut’. With concern to the meaning of covenant as specified in the Holy Bible’s Old Testament, it has often been categorised as the most significant term defining the relationship between God and His people. In a Biblical sense, a covenant means much more than a contract or a mere concurrence taking place between two parties. The term ‘covenant’, in the Old Testament, offers an additional insight to the meaning of God’s expectation from humans. The act of covenant, in particular tends to demonstrate the tradition, where two people with agreement attempted to pass through the cut bodies of assassinated animals as a method to get closer to the divine soul. However, other acts of covenant were learnt to have possibly taken place in terms of circumcision and also by sprinkling animal blood on the people engaged in the agreement. Such a ceremony escorted the making of the agreement in the Old Testament. ... However, it has been noted that He approves of entering into an agreement with the man who tends to be weak, sinful as well as flawed in order to direct them in the path of wisdom and peace (Schulten, â€Å"Legal Models For The Old Testament Covenants: An Issue of Contract or Real Property Law†). While entering into relationship with man, God was found to possess unilateral freedom. Therefore, He began, defined as well as confirmed each of the agreement not depending upon the human merits but completely according to His own elegance as well as clemency. Consequentially, the role of human beings has been to act as a recipient rather than acting as a contributor. People did not bargain, barter or dared to contradict with God. However, it was found that man beheld his power to decide upon whether to keep with the promises made to the God or to reject them; to obey Him or to transgress. Hence, stating precisely, God was completely accountable to look after covenantal security. The role of man was thus restricted to believe and obey (Weinfeld, â€Å"The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East†). There are nearly six covenants in the Old Testament. The Covenant with Adam It is worth mentioning that the first covenant enacted in the Garden of Eden was in agreement with Adam and Eve where the Holy Spirit explicitly directed them stating, â€Å"You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat it, you will surely die†. According to the description given in the Old Testament, Eve was the first sinner as she had contradicted the order of the Holy Spirit. Consequentially, when Adam followed the same path making a sin,