I've heard a teaching on the Abrahamide covenant. When he had the animals and cut them in half, and the two divine light thingies went between them, that was supposed to be the establishing of a covenant with royalty and subject. When the king and subject make a covenant, they put these animals in their places, then the subject walks through them, signifying that if this subject failed his king, he would be subject to the consequences of said failure, namely death. The king, on the other hand, was not obligated to return the favor, though good kings often did.
A covenant is essentially a commitment between two "parties." Sometimes the covenant is between two equals such as that between David and Jonathan. Other times the covenant is between two "unequals" such as between a king to his servant or subjects, or as in the Bible, between God and one of His servants. The main covenants in Scripture followed the patterns/types of the covenants in the Ancient Near East.
The covenant between two equals is known as a
parity covenant. Abraham and Abimelech is an example of one such covenant in Gen 21:27. Another type was known as the
royal grant covenant. This is an "unequal" covenant between a king and a faithful servant. In the royal grant covenant, the king would give/grant land to a loyal/faithful servant.
This grant was unconditional to the servant and his descendants. The
Noahic covenant is in the form of a royal grant covenant, as is the
Abrahamic covenant in Gen 15:9-21, the
Davidic covenant in 2 Sam 7:5-16 and the
New covenant in Jer 31:31-34.
A third type of covenant was known as the
suzerain-vassal covenant. In this covenant, the king (suzerain) would require loyalty and service from a subject (vassal), as well as a pledge of protection. The vassal would then give the required loyalty and service, and rely upon the protection of the king. Unlike the royal grant covenant, the
suzerain-vassal covenant was conditional. The typical wording in these covenants were terms like "Lord" and "servant" or "father" and "son." The
Mosaic covenant in Exodus chapters 19-24 and the
Abrahamic covenant in Gen 17 are suzerain-vassal covenants. Also the book of Deuteronomy is patterned after the suzerain-vassal treaty.
My understanding of covenants is as such: the Noahide covenant is really a restatement of the Adamite covenant, and applies to all mankind. The Abrahamic covenant applies to his descendants, of Isaac and of Ishmael. The Mosaic covenant only applies to the children of Israel, and finally, the New Covenant through Jesus Christ applies, not through blood, but through faith, His church and everyone who would believe in Him.
My question though, is why God chose the concept of the covenant to relate to humanity, and whether or not I'm right about my classifications in the scope of these covenants. Oh, and can someone help explain what the official doctrine of these covenants are? I've researched the Noahide covenant, and supposedly there are seven laws from that covenant, but half of them seem to come out of Acts 15. I don't know. Help me, please.
The Noahic covenant is really in a different form than anything God said to Adam. What God told Adam was conditional - don't eat the fruit of one tree. The Noahic covenant is unconditional - God said He would refrain from ever destroying the earth again with water.
In Genesis God repeats the promises of the Abrahamic covenant to Isaac and Jacob, but not to Ishmael. So the Abrahamic covenant wasn't to Ishmael, but specifically to the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. The Mosaic covenant is specifically to Jews. The Davidic covenant was specifically to the Davidic kings who succeeded David. The New covenant was originally addressed to Jews only - to those who held to the Mosaic covenant. However in Acts 10-11, God demonstrated that New covenant blessings were expanded to include believing Gentiles and not just believing Jews.
Now these covenants are related to one another. The Abrahamic covenant spells out its promises in broad terms. The Mosaic, Davidic and New Covenants expand on these broad promises and go into more of the details.
There is a Noahic covenant and then there are Noahide laws. One can read Gen 9:8-17 and observe what the Noahic covenant says. However if one wants to find the seven Noahide laws, then these are listed in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 56). Regarding Acts 15, these are not Noahic laws. They are cultural/social restrictions from believing Jews to believing Gentiles, and they concern widespread practices which were once associated with pagan religions.
LDG
