E7: The Abrahamic Covenant.

Podcast

October 25, 2024

Covenants of the Bible. Covenants of God. Chasing the Seed.

Podcast Program Transcript
Episode 7: The Abrahamic Covenant. Covenants of the Bible. Covenants of God. Chasing the Seed.
Heather M R Olsen

WARMUP/Review:

What is a covenant?
Remember the Hebrew name? B’rit
What 2 covenants did we cover? Adamic & Noahic
Explain them…Adamic, tend the garden, walk in harmony with Eve & God. Enjoy relationship. Kicked out due to disobedience,
What are the 5 questions we are asking ourselves regarding the covenants?
What is the other aspect we are covering in this course…Chasing the Seed.
Hebrew for seed? Zerah זרע

Setting the stage before we begin our next covenant. In Genesis 1-11 God made creation, humans disobeyed God and the first sin, they were expelled from the perfect Garden. Humanity spiraled downward and God saved Noah plus his family, 8 people, but destroyed all living inhabitants on earth. It didn’t take long for humanity to spiral downward again after Noah, as we encounter the tower of Babel when God confused languages.

Finally, we end the first section of Genesis with Abram’s lineage in Genesis 11 ends with Abram’s lineage.

As we continue through the covenants, we can realize that God is a God of people and a God of relationships. Hence these agreements, entitled covenants made by God with humanity.

GENESIS 12: ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

And so begins the calling of a man named Abram.

This is one of the most foundational covenants between God and humanity and it will pave the way through other covenants up to the New Covenant. In short, the Abrahamic Covenant instills a promise of land, descendants, a seed, then the seed, followed by blessings.

With this covenant, God takes time to unroll its details over the course of decades.

Bird’s Eye view:

Genesis 12 …God’s Initial Call…Nation, Blessing, Land, Seed

Genesis 13…Promise of Land and Seed

Genesis 15 …Ratification of the Covenant…Son, Seed, Land

Genesis 17…Covenant of Circumcision…Nations, Land, Seed, Son

Genesis 22…Sacrifice of Isaac…Descendants, Blessing, Seed, Nations Blessed

Genesis 26…Covenant reiterated to Isaac… Blessing, Descendants, Land, Seed, Nations Blessed

Let’s start at Abram’s biblical beginning, which rewinds a little into Genesis 11. His name is “Avram” אברם, the son of Terah “Terach.” Abram had 2 brothers, Nahor and Haran. They were born and lived in Ur of the Chaldeans.

In antiquity, scholars believe Ur of the Chaldeans was SE Mesopotamia, “between the rivers.”[i] Abram’s homeland would have been modern day Iraq. Abram’s brother, Haran, had died and left his son Lot.

Father Terah, took his son, Abram, Abram’s wife Sarai, and orphaned grandson, Lot, to the land of Canaan. Well, that was the end goal. This travelling group though headed to Canaan, ended up settling in Harran, which is now modern-day Turkey.[ii]

GENESIS 12

This is the next segment in the story of God, and the Chasing of the Seed, where

God (YHWH) reaches down to Abram.

Gen 12:1-3

12The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

²I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
³I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God set the stage for Abram, laying the foundation for a covenant to come. Abram obeyed. Obedience is a big theme in the Bible, and Abram took his family including his nephew, Lot, to Canaan. (Gen 12:4-6).

At this time in his life, Abram was 75 years old! He was believed to be wealthy in Ur, one source wrote that it was the Las Vegas of the ancient world, known for its prosperity! Obedient Abram left the city, his wealth, his friends, and his remaining family.^[iii]

Moreso, Abram believed God, and this was credited to him as righteousness.We call thisfaith! There is a definition of faith in:

Hebrew 11:1 “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”

Because of Abram’s faith and obedience, the covenant began. God began His plan promised to Adam & Eve and chose a man to head the family from which one day the Rescuer would come. Abram heard and believed God. Abram obeyed God. Sarai believed God. This was counted to them as righteousness, and this belief in God’s promises produced faith that prior to Jesus, was how people were “saved” in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.

Hebrews 11:8-12

“⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹²And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.”

REVIEW:

As we enter this story of Abram, it is important to remember the ancestry that came from Noah.

Abram descended from Noah’s middle son, Shem.

The Egyptians & Canaanites descended from Noah’s youngest son, Ham.

God says to Abram, “To your offspring, I will give this land.” Gen 12:7

After Abram arrived in Canaan, at a great tree of Moreh at Shechem, God then promised that He would give this land to Abram’s offspring, זרע “zerah,” literally seed.

(13:3) They (all) then went to Bethel (Beth-El “house of God”), built altars at both spots and sacrificed to YHVH (the LORD) and called on (the LORD’s) YHVH’s name.

Abram then continued south to the Negev which is a big desert.

There was famine, so as seems typical in the biblical narratives, Egypt was the place to get food during famine. Abram’s wife, Sarai, was taken by Pharoah, but God afflicted Pharoah for this, and they were all sent away.

What do we know about SARAI/SARAH?

She was very beautiful
She was the daughter of Haran, Abraham’s dad
This made her the half-sister of Abraham
She laughed at God’s promise that she would bear a son in old age
She lied to God about laughing
She believed that pregnancy was never going to happen to her (she was 90 years old when she conceived)
She “helped” God pertaining to the promised son by giving her slave, Hagar, to Abram to conceive
She is the 1^st woman listed in the Heb 11 Faith Hall of Fame

Abram & Lot separated. Lot took the “plain of Jordan” and set out to the east (remember to the east often means away from God). Lot settled near Sodom.

Abram lived in the land of Canaan (13:14).

Genesis 13:15, “All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.”

Genesis 15:1-21 Ratification of the Covenant

Gen 15:1 The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.”

God goes on:

⁹“Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

I have a favorite website entitled, Chosen People Ministries. Here is a quote explaining the ratification of an Ancient Near Eastern covenant.

“History tells us that in the days of Abraham and before, when two parties joined efforts into the signing of a covenant, animals would be used as a witness to them and their adherence to that covenant. The two parties would gather a number of specific animals, sacrifice them and arrange their carcasses on the ground in some fashion, creating a path through which both parties would pass together as they swore to uphold their end of the contract lest they receive the fate of these animals for any breech of that covenant for which they would be responsible.”^[iv]

The ratification of God’s covenant with Abram was technically a cultural norm! Walking through cut, dead animals.

However, biblically, one doesn’t make or sign a covenant, one “cuts” a covenant.

The LORD cut a covenant with Abram.

The Hebrew word you will find in the Bible is “carat” כרת or cut.

כרת ברית carat b’rit is, “He cut a covenant.”

Uniquely, though, in this ratification with Abram, only God walked through the animals. The covenant was contingent on God’s word alone, not on anyone else’s. God solely cut and ratified the covenant with Abram.[v]

Hebrews 6:13-20

The Certainty of God’s Promise

¹³When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, ¹⁴saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” ¹⁵And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

¹⁶People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Take some time to pore over those verses in the book of Hebrews. God couldn’t swear by anyone or anything greater than Himself, because there isn’t anyone or anything greater than Himself. His Promise was & is so secure, He put his own life and reputation on the line. Alone.

At one point, God took Abram out to see the stars and promised that his offspring would be as numerous.

Gen 16 recorded the birth of Ishmael, through Sarai’s slave, Hagar with Abram. Here is where Sarai decided to help God along, as she figured she was too old to literally have a child, so she decided to have a child through her slave. At this point in the narrative, we only know with the covenant, that Abram had to be father. But Sarai discounted that she was also part of this covenant, and the Seed “zerah” had to also come from her.

This is a great lesson in taking God’s words literally versus figuratively. Sarai took God’s promise figuratively and gave Abram her slave, Hagar. This one action caused generations and generations of strife. Still does. Yet, God had made a literal promise that would produce a literal son from Abram’s and Sarai’s very old bodies.

Reconfirmation:

Gen 17:1-21 At 99 years old, God came to Abram and Sarai to remind them of this covenant. It is here that God changed their names.

Gen 17:5 Abram’s name אברם “exalted father” was changed to Abraham אברהם “Father of many” or “Father of many nations.”

Gen 17:15 Sarai will be called Sarah שרה “mother of nations,” and that kings of peoples will come from her. A contemporary definition of Sarah is “princess.”

Aside: I mentioned in the Adamic Covenant podcast, “ima” אמא is “mom” in modern Hebrew. “Av” אב is Father in biblical Hebrew, but “abba” אבא is “father in the New Testament” which is actually Aramaic, and “abba” אבא is “dad” in modern Hebrew. Tuck that in your memory bank!

God then instated the sign of the covenant. It was established that on the 8^th day, every male among Abraham and his people shall be circumcised. Even those bought (servants) or born into the household. This would set them apart as different and given to God, to show that they were God’s Chosen ones. In fact, all males prior to entering the Promised Land, which was Canaan, were to be circumcised under penalty of death.

In fact, fast forward to the Exodus.

Exodus 12:48 “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it.”

Staying in Exodus, but also jumping to the book of Joshua, many of the Israelites, the next generation from those freed from slavery in Egypt, had not been circumcised during the 40 years of wandering in the desert. They were not allowed to enter the Promised Land under penalty of death until they were circumcised, no matter their age. Consequently, Joshua circumcised them all, and they waited until the men & boys were healed (Joshua 5).

What does it matter?

This cut “carat כרת ” is evidenced in the cut of the male child’s flesh as well as the cut of the animals God walked through. carat b’rit כרת ברית God cut [this] covenant.

This cut “caratכרת ” was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant, proof that the covenant was in place.

This Abrahamic Covenant was a one-sided covenant, provided by God with God’s own “I will” statements.

Regardless of Abraham’s behavior.

Regardless of the future Israelites behavior.

And personally in faith, regardless of our own behavior.

God made this sign & stipulation for the line of Abraham, to set them apart.

Lots of blessings!

Abraham was blessed. Abraham was to be a blessing. Those who bless Abraham’s descendants will be blessed. All who believe in the future Messiah because of Abraham, will be blessed, both Israel and the Nations.

ASIDE: If Israel was the Nation, and Canaan was the land, this does not discount that all who believe in the Messiah Jesus are part of the NATIONS.

The Hebrew word for nations is “goyim.” Goy is singular masculine for “nation/people, gentile, pagan.”[vi] Goyim is masculine plural. That’s where I fit in.

God started with Abraham, the first Hebrew, promising a seed, an offspring, a son. This expanded to the Seed/the Offspring, The Son, Jesus the Messiah.

Galatians 3:16 ¹⁶The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.

God promised Abraham both Land and the Nation of Israel, as his descendants. This expanded to the single Seed, Jesus the Messiah, whose message would go out to the Nations. Which includes non-Jewish believers. Friends, nobody is discounted in God’s family.

If you don’t know the following verse, it would be a good one to memorize. I had to as a little kid.

John 3:16-17 ¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

We gentile believers, non-Jews, are part of the world. The Nations.

God loved the WORLD, not just the Jewish people.

Not just those who behave well.

Not just the western world.

Let’s be honest God sent Jesus even for the terrorists in our world, the dictators, the people who discriminate against others.

God sent Jesus for the entire world, not just who you and I deem worthy.

And we who hold onto God’s promises are heirs of Abraham.

Gal 3:29 ²⁹If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Acts 3:25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’

Romans 4:18 ¹⁸Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Abrahamic covenant:

Father of a great Nation…Israel
Land for this nation…. Can’t be a great nation without land. Otherwise constant immigrants in other’s lands.
Abraham to be blessed…God gave him a son, and great wealth.
Abraham to be a blessing to others…the line of the Seed, the Rescuer, the Messiah.
Whomever curses Abraham and his descendants will be cursed.
Whomever blesses Abraham and his descendants will be blessed.
All people, through Abraham will be blessed…by the Messiah
Other Nations will come from Abraham…we gentiles (non-Jews) are part of the goyim nations.
Circumcision is the Sign of the covenant.

LAND…
DESCENDANTS…Israel…Nations
SEED…Isaac…Jesus
BLESSING…Abraham…those who bless Abraham’s descendants…nations blessed

The Seed and Blessing will be fulfilled in the upcoming New Covenant.

“Abrahamic Covenant is eternal and unconditional.”^[vii]

“Some of its clauses went into effect immediately, some a bit later, and others are yet to be fulfilled.”^[viii] Isn’t that just like God’s Promises and God’s Prophecies?

Here is another Hebrew word we find repeatedly in these Promises of God’s to Abraham.

“Olam” עולם

Everlasting…Forever…Always…Long duration…Perpetual…Eternal[ix]

Let me give you some verses that include the word “olam” עולם You can also find them on my transcript onilluminationhebrewinsights.com.

Everlasting Covenant motif:

Gen 9:16 everlasting “olam” עולם covenant, put a rainbow in the clouds. God would never again destroy the earth by a flood.

Gen 13:15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever “olam” עולם.

Genesis 15:18-21 ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—

Gen 17:6-8 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷I will establish my covenant as an everlasting “olam” עולם covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting “olam” עולם possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

Genesis 48:3-5 ³Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me ⁴and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting “olam” עולם possession to your descendants after you.’

1 Chronicles 16:16-18 ¹⁶the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.
¹⁷He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting “olam” עולם covenant: ¹⁸“To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.”

Psalm 105:9-11 ⁹the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.
¹⁰He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting “olam” עולם covenant: ¹¹“To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.”

Olam עולם

Everlasting.

Forever.

Olam עולם

When God says something once, we pay attention. When He says something twice, we better obey, because He means it. When He uses a superlative and says it over and over and over again, well, you get the picture. “Olam” עולם.

I do want to pause and address a huge elephant in the room.

One of my dear friends has a difficult familial story. Her dad lived in Jerusalem as a Palestinian in 1948. If you know your history, you know the war and ensuing traumas of families forced to leave their homes.

And yet, there is the world stage apology to the Jewish families who had been subjected to ghettos, expulsion from countries, concentration camps, starvation, gas chambers, mass graves, you get the picture. They were given parts of the land that had been promised “olam” עולם, theirs long ago.

How do we reconcile what the Bible says?

I was recently told that the Israel of the Bible is not the same as the Israel today. I wonder when that peoplehood would have changed. Certainly not before the first century. Jesus would refer to Abraham and his ancestors. The Hebrew Bible was Jesus’ Bible. True people. Certainly not in the following few decades as the Apostles proclaimed the Message,

The gospel, being the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)

As the apostles received power when the Holy Spirit came upon them; being Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). Do you hear that progression? Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth. Starting at the HEART of where Jesus taught and moving out from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, like a beautiful ripple effect in the water.

The Jewish people were deported from the Land again in the second century after the Bar Kokhba Revolt under Roman Legates? They were scattered throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. Is this the time the peoplehood would have changed?

Or during forced Christian conversions? Expulsions from England, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Austria, Naples, Hungary and many more from the 1100’s to the 1600’s.[x]

Fast forward to the rise of Hitler, ghettos, concentration camps and a World War.

Hopefully you are getting the theme of trauma, pain and sadness in a Land that God gave to Abraham but many live there. My point is this.

This everlasting covenant b’rit olam, does not discount loving and caring for those among The Nations. “Remember, God so loved the World.” (John 3:16)

Jesus came so that the “the eternal gospel is proclaimed to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” (Rev 14:6)

There is this line in a favorite praise song of mine. The song is Hosanna by Hillsong.

“Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for your Kingdom’s cause”

Let us open our eyes and pour out love and compassion letting our hearts break for what breaks God’s.

Another promise?

One day, there will be healing. In the New Jerusalem we can read that “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Rev 22:2).

The Healing of the Nations.

One day ‘Jesus will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away.” (Rev 21:4).

That is what we can strive for, friends.

This Abrahamic Covenant, it does not rely on the faithfulness of the ones receiving the promise. It relies on God’s faithfulness alone.

He alone walked through the cut animals.

You and I take part in this faithfulness as God’s children when we believe. In faith through Jesus’ blood now, this will be credited to us as righteousness.

Jesus drives this message home as he chastised arrogant religious leaders in:

John 8:42-47 ⁴²“If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. ⁴³Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵~~Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ⁴⁶Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?~~ ⁴⁷Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

Jesus’ words: Whoever belongs to God hears what God says.

God’s unconditional covenants rest on

God’s unlimited promises,
God’s unlimited power,
God’s unlimited plan.

Hebrew 6:18 It is impossible for God to lie.

Titus 1:2 God, [who] does not lie.

We can take those promises to heart.

Final summary:

Who is the covenant between? GOD and Abram/Abraham, a Nation, the Nations
Are there stipulations? Nope. It rests on God’s promises alone.
Is there a sign of the covenant? Yes, first the smoking firepot and blazing torch^[1] then circumcision of all male Israelites
Is the covenant conditional or unconditional? Unconditional
How long will this covenant last? Forever, Everlasting Olam עולם

Thanks for joining me.

Next up, the Mosaic Covenant.

“The LORD is your shield, your very great reward.”

Shalom, Chaverim.

**Heather!

What is a covenant?
Remember the Hebrew name? B’rit
What 2 covenants did we cover? Adamic & Noahic
Explain them…Adamic, tend the garden, walk in harmony with Eve & God. Enjoy relationship. Kicked out due to disobedience,
What are the 5 questions we are asking ourselves regarding the covenants?
What is the other aspect we are covering in this course…Chasing the Seed.
Hebrew for seed? Zerah זרע