Covenants made by Ancestors still valid?

[Quid est Veritas?]

Are the promises and covenants made by your ancestors to God still binding on you?

The OT clearly implies God holds sin to be transferable (holding accountable to the seventh generation) and the same with love of God (to 7 x 7 generations).
Much of the OT is about the Israelites' covenant with God and how they trangressed it and failed to uphold it. This goes back to Moses and Abraham in this sense, with the Israelites as the chosen people. Then we see the NT new covenant and the Law being more 'of the heart' thereafter.

Now what of promises made later? In 1838 a ragtag group of my wife's ancestors defeated a massive Zulu army at the battle of Blood River. The Zulu king had betrayed them and murdered one of the leaders of the group and all his male relations (Piet Retief) and thereafter tried to kill the entire group of Voortrekkers (Pioneers). They had left the Cape Colony to escape British Rule and had struck a deal initially with the Zulu for some land before this.
The 400 odd group was faced by 20000 Zulu warriors and solemnly swore to God that they and their descendants would keep the anniversary of the battle holy, like a Sabbath, if God delivered them.
They subsequently won the battle with no deaths on their side, only a few wounded. This became a solemn holiday in South Africa, traditionally with large open air Church services.

Now this practice has largely died out. Seldom is the day observed at all and never as a Sabbath, more as a sort of nationalist festival.

My own ancestors weren't present, but my wife's were and therefore my son's as well. This has now made me wonder whether it is sinful if we don't keep the solemn word of our forefathers to God. In a similar vein, is not the Solemn league and Covenant binding on Scots and some Englishmen?

What if my father made a promise to God in my name and I fail to fulfill it?
Is this sin? Are your ancestors' promises to God forever binding upon you, as the Covenant with Israel had been on the Jews?

 

[section9+1]

I wouldn't think you'd have anything to worry about. I don't see how what an ancestor said could have any valid claim upon you. The covenant with Moses is long gone and the covenant with Abraham is the only one I see as being still active. It's the one Christians are under.

 

[Norbert L]

Are the promises and covenants made by your ancestors to God still binding on you?

They had left the Cape Colony to escape British Rule and had struck a deal initially with the Zulu for some land before this.
The 400 odd group was faced by 20000 Zulu warriors and solemnly swore to God that they and their descendants would keep the anniversary of the battle holy, like a Sabbath, if God delivered them.
They subsequently won the battle with no deaths on their side, only a few wounded.

My own ancestors weren't present, but my wife's were and therefore my son's as well. This has now made me wonder whether it is sinful if we don't keep the solemn word of our forefathers to God. In a similar vein, is not the Solemn league and Covenant binding on Scots and some Englishmen?

This might be something along the lines of reading the fine print. Do you, your wife or son own any of the property initially given to your ancestors by that Zulu king? Or have you given up your ownership to that land? Because without it, the original asset being warred over is missing. The condition which is why the covenant was made in the first place is no longer valid to your family. You will have to figure out if there are any other factors directly related to those specific events that may suggest otherwise but it seems your personal family is no longer obligated to keep that covenant.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

This might be something along the lines of reading the fine print. Do you, your wife or son own any of the property initially given to your ancestors by that Zulu king? Or have you given up your ownership to that land? Because without it, the original asset being warred over is missing. The condition which is why the covenant was made in the first place is no longer valid to your family. You will have to figure out if there are any other factors directly related to those specific events that may suggest otherwise but it seems your personal family is no longer obligated to keep that covenant.

The Covenant was specifically that if God saved their lives when they were surrounded by Zulu hordes, that they and all their descendants would keep the anniversary as a sabbath in God's name. Therefore from the wording of the original Oath, my wife and son are obligated to do so. Ownership of land was not really applicable here. The condition was that their lives be spared, which it was, and therefore all their descendents are direct recipients of the boon of the Covenant; for otherwise they wouldn't exist.

But to the wider question, it seems you think that your ancestors' covenants remain in force?

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

I wouldn't think you'd have anything to worry about. I don't see how what an ancestor said could have any valid claim upon you. The covenant with Moses is long gone and the covenant with Abraham is the only one I see as being still active. It's the one Christians are under.

Please elaborate. If we are still under an Abrahamic covenant, then is this voluntary as Christians? For few of us are genetic descendants of Abraham in any sense. We enter an Abrahamic covenant as Ruth entered the Jewish one, can we then opt out of our ancestors commitments?

I ask not to weasel out of an additional Sabbath, I am just wondering if I should be stressing it to my children and relations to keep it. Of course it is more important to keep to the Spirit of the Law, Circumcision of the heart even if not really circumcised; to keep to the Path of Christ. I am just a bit conflicted on the importance hereof.

 

[Greg J.]

Are the promises and covenants made by your ancestors to God still binding on you?

The OT clearly implies God holds sin to be transferable (holding accountable to the seventh generation) and the same with love of God (to 7 x 7 generations).
Much of the OT is about the Israelites' covenant with God and how they trangressed it and failed to uphold it. This goes back to Moses and Abraham in this sense, with the Israelites as the chosen people. Then we see the NT new covenant and the Law being more 'of the heart' thereafter.

Now what of promises made later? In 1838 a ragtag group of my wife's ancestors defeated a massive Zulu army at the battle of Blood River. The Zulu king had betrayed them and murdered one of the leaders of the group and all his male relations (Piet Retief) and thereafter tried to kill the entire group of Voortrekkers (Pioneers). They had left the Cape Colony to escape British Rule and had struck a deal initially with the Zulu for some land before this.
The 400 odd group was faced by 20000 Zulu warriors and solemnly swore to God that they and their descendants would keep the anniversary of the battle holy, like a Sabbath, if God delivered them.
They subsequently won the battle with no deaths on their side, only a few wounded. This became a solemn holiday in South Africa, traditionally with large open air Church services.

Now this practice has largely died out. Seldom is the day observed at all and never as a Sabbath, more as a sort of nationalist festival.

My own ancestors weren't present, but my wife's were and therefore my son's as well. This has now made me wonder whether it is sinful if we don't keep the solemn word of our forefathers to God. In a similar vein, is not the Solemn league and Covenant binding on Scots and some Englishmen?

What if my father made a promise to God in my name and I fail to fulfill it?
Is this sin? Are your ancestors' promises to God forever binding upon you, as the Covenant with Israel had been on the Jews?

An interesting and complicated question (otherwise you wouldn't have posted it ).

It is not that sin is transferred between generations (Ezekiel 18), it is that parents and children are connected spiritually. (e.g., Exodus 34:7) This presumably is an effect of the relationship between parents and children being made in the image of the relationship between God, the Father and God, the Son.

Note that humans cannot make covenants just like God did. God is everyone's God—both Abraham's and Abraham's descendants, for example. God's covenants are one-sided contracts. Specifically, His covenant was not just to Abraham, it was to Abraham and his descendants. (God could have made a covenant to just Abraham if he wanted.) The recipients did not get to choose whether to accept the covenant or not (as God's creations they didn't have the right). Their only choice was in how they responded to the covenant that God had set in place. God's covenant was basically a command to Abraham and his descendants, except God outlined what would result from accepting and rejecting it.

If there is any question of whether a descendant can or should consider themselves an inheritor of the ancestral promise's obligations is IMO a matter of seeking the Lord's will for you, prayer, and your heart. In lieu of a clear answer, sometimes common sense through a heart of love for God makes the most sense, particularly when the complexity of the issue is so great that you can see that you cannot necessarily simplify it into a clear and simple assertion people would agree with. Descendants keeping promises made 180 years ago may not be a part of your culture. You may not have been raised to be the sort of person who can (or should) accept responsibility for the promises. (Or perhaps you were.)

It's pretty easy to fall into the trap of thinking the ancestral promise is important. What is important is honoring God in the best way you believe—in accordance with God's will (whatever it is). In other words, don't let the promise or keeping the promise become an idolatry. Be aware that even if it is not an idolatry to you, it may become one to your children—if you choose to acknowledge the ancestral promise. Unnecessarily adding to all of God's commands creates potential stumbling blocks. Remember there are plenty of ways to honor God and some of them are significant (e.g., 1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Another way to ask your question is: Do you believe your ancestor's promises binds you somehow? Do you think God thinks it binds you somehow?

he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5, 1984 NIV)

We are set us free from all chains through faith in Jesus. Your wife is no longer a child of Adam, but is a child of God in Christ. Your born again wife is no longer a spiritual descendant of her earthly ancestor (but being a descendant in the flesh is not without meaning).

 

[section9+1]

Inclusion in Abraham's covenant is automatic when you decide to become a Christian. It is called God's covenant of love and was made with Abraham and his seed. Abraham's seed is Christ and if we are in Christ we are Abraham's descendants. Galatians and Hebrews elaborates on this.
God's covenants are conditional and must be upheld by both parties. But the covenant with Abraham was conditional on Abraham's response only. Abraham lived up to his end so now it is permanent and does not depend upon our performance to be included in it. All that's required of us is our commitment to be a Christian.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Are the promises and covenants made by your ancestors to God still binding on you?

The OT clearly implies God holds sin to be transferable (holding accountable to the seventh generation) and the same with love of God (to 7 x 7 generations).
Much of the OT is about the Israelites' covenant with God and how they trangressed it and failed to uphold it. This goes back to Moses and Abraham in this sense, with the Israelites as the chosen people. Then we see the NT new covenant and the Law being more 'of the heart' thereafter.

Now what of promises made later? In 1838 a ragtag group of my wife's ancestors defeated a massive Zulu army at the battle of Blood River. The Zulu king had betrayed them and murdered one of the leaders of the group and all his male relations (Piet Retief) and thereafter tried to kill the entire group of Voortrekkers (Pioneers). They had left the Cape Colony to escape British Rule and had struck a deal initially with the Zulu for some land before this.
The 400 odd group was faced by 20000 Zulu warriors and solemnly swore to God that they and their descendants would keep the anniversary of the battle holy, like a Sabbath, if God delivered them.
They subsequently won the battle with no deaths on their side, only a few wounded. This became a solemn holiday in South Africa, traditionally with large open air Church services.

Now this practice has largely died out. Seldom is the day observed at all and never as a Sabbath, more as a sort of nationalist festival.

My own ancestors weren't present, but my wife's were and therefore my son's as well. This has now made me wonder whether it is sinful if we don't keep the solemn word of our forefathers to God. In a similar vein, is not the Solemn league and Covenant binding on Scots and some Englishmen?

What if my father made a promise to God in my name and I fail to fulfill it?
Is this sin? Are your ancestors' promises to God forever binding upon you, as the Covenant with Israel had been on the Jews?

In the New Covenant, we are to bear our own burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ. Also, there are references about children no longer being punished for the sins of their fathers. You can Google it to find them. Although there might be generational curses of unbelievers, when a person is born again of the Spirit of God, that generational link is broken because he now goes back only one generation because his immediate ancestor (spiritually) is God, because he is born of God. Therefore there are no generational curse for believers. This also means that for a born again believer, any covenants or oaths made by ancestors no longer applies, because the generational ties are broken because the believer is born again.

A covenant is binding on a person only while they are alive. Because of the born again state of the believer, the believer is able to consider himself dead to the world and any binding obligations he might have had. He has died to his past life and become alive in Christ. The scripture says that if any person is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away; all things have become new.

 

[1213]

...solemnly swore to God that they and their descendants would keep the anniversary of the battle holy, like a Sabbath, if God delivered them.
They subsequently won the battle with no deaths on their side, only a few wounded. This became a solemn holiday in South Africa, traditionally with large open air Church services.

Now this practice has largely died out. Seldom is the day observed at all and never as a Sabbath, more as a sort of nationalist festival....

Maybe that is the reason why Jesus told:

but I tell you, don't swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
Matt. 5:34

I think ancestor should not swear on behalf of other people.

I think there is no punishment, if you don’t do what ancestor swore. But even if I don’t think it is bad, if you (or your child) don’t do what was promised, I think bad can be the reasons why you don’t do it. But I think the story is great and it would be good to keep the promise. However, in my opinion it is also great if you just tell the story as you just did.

 

[Norbert L]

The Covenant was specifically that if God saved their lives when they were surrounded by Zulu hordes, that they and all their descendants would keep the anniversary as a sabbath in God's name. Therefore from the wording of the original Oath, my wife and son are obligated to do so. Ownership of land was not really applicable here. The condition was that their lives be spared, which it was, and therefore all their descendents are direct recipients of the boon of the Covenant; for otherwise they wouldn't exist.

But to the wider question, it seems you think that your ancestors' covenants remain in force?

What I'm thinking is somewhat less wide by a tiny amount. I'm trying to determine if your personal circumstances and that covenant in question has any substance to it. Covenants between men and God are not necessarily in force if He doesn't agree to them. For all we know the Lord may have defended you wife's ancestors and granted them victory without them making that covenant Psalms 22:28 Daniel 4:35. To use the expression, don't believe everything you hear and only half of what you see.

However that doesn't negate your personal responsibilities to God, your family and to your ancestors. I believe scriptures like Exodus 21:12, Matthew 5:34 and James 5:12 are relevant to this subject.