What exactly is a covenant? We see this word all the time in the Bible. In fact, the word testament could also be translated as covenant, giving us a Bible with two main parts, an old and a new covenant. Unfortunately many of us simplify it down to being a contract and leave it at that, and thus we miss the much deeper meaning of the covenant of biblical times.
In the ancient Middle East, covenants were commonplace and could be made by individuals, tribes or even nations. I’d like to specifically focus on one type of covenant often made between stronger and weaker parties – a suzerain/vassal treaty. I’m sure some of us learned about this way back in social studies (if we didn’t sleep through the class), but before your eyes roll into the back of your head, hear me out on this one. This might just be one of those “aha” moments when some scriptures come alive.
In a suzerain/vassal treaty, one party was more powerful than the other and the suzerain could demand submission from the vassal. These two parties would also be referred to as “father and son” or “lord and servant” in these treaties. Typically, the suzerain would provide land and protection for the weaker vassal who would, in turn, serve the superior and have to pay him an annual tribute. The suzerain often owned all of the land but would give the vassal some autonomy in ruling his own people. The vassal would assist in any military situations by providing an army and the vassal could only have one suzerain. This loyalty to the suzerain was known as “covenant faithfulness”.
Covenants always involved oaths and commitments made by both parties and were often ratified by an appropriate sacrifice. This sacrifice was so common that they often used the idiom “to cut a covenant”. This sacrifice could also communicate the consequences of the vassal not following through with his part of the agreement. During the covenant ratification ceremony, they might even require that the vassal walk between the two halves of the sacrificed animal as to show the consequence of not keeping the oaths.
In Genesis 12, God promised Abraham He would make him into a great nation and all people on earth would be blessed through his offspring (Jesus being an eventual descendent of Abraham to fulfill that blessing to all). Some time later in Genesis 15, Abraham is older and childless and questioned God about His promises of children and land. He was not sure about them anymore. To show Abraham His commitment to the promise, God cut a covenant with him. He had Abraham bring several animals for sacrifice, cut them in half and arrange the halves opposite each other. After Abraham fell into a deep sleep, God appeared and ratified the covenant.
Genesis 15:17-18a When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.
This is such a strange ritualistic story to most of us. What exactly was going on here? Let’s take what we know about covenants and put it into this story. God is the suzerain and Abraham is the vassal. God has promised land, blessing and protection to Abraham (and the eventual nation of Israel) in exchange for his commitment to God as his only suzerain. But something was different in this covenant. The one who passed between the bloody animal halves was not the vassal, but the suzerain, God himself. In essence God said, “may what has happened to these animals happen to me if this covenant is not kept.” Israel did eventually fail to keep the covenant and Jesus Christ came to pay the price for the broken stipulations of the covenant. In other words, God who defined the covenant and its requirements also committed to see the promise through regardless of the vassal’s success or failure to do what was required. This is grace! God demonstrated the covenant faithfulness usually required of the vassal. I want to be a part of this kind of covenant.
That first Easter weekend, before paying the price for the first covenant, Jesus defined a new and better covenant. Again, God is the suzerain, and we (Christ’s followers) represent the vassal. The land is His Kingdom (on earth and heaven), the promise is peace, and His protection from death (death was defeated at the resurrection). The sacrifice was His body (the price of the old covenant, and the appropriate sacrifice for the new covenant). How can you go wrong with this? Come make a commitment to the suzerain. When asked, “Who do you say He is?”, I can say He is my suzerain, my covenant maker, but more than that, He is my covenant keeper.
Happy Easter everyone!
I’d like to give credit to the book The Epic of Eden by Sandra L. Richter who spelled this out for me to understand. I highly recommend this book for anyone who would like to be able to better grasp what the Old Testament is all about.
