Jonathan Balint
Introduction to Catholic Theology
March 1, 2017
Book Report on A Father Who Keeps His Promises by Scott Hahn
“The concept of covenant is a central thread woven throughout the Scripture” (23). A covenant is a solemn oath made and fulfilled by God. God had made covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and his son Jesus. This summary will explain how the Church is foreshadowed in and fulfills the various covenants that precede it. It will also why the author says that the Church is necessary for salvation.
Sabbath was a gift from God to his followers as a sign of his covenant. Genesis describes the work of the Creator. First the structure was created in three days, followed by rulers in three more
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God asked Abram to to leave for an unknown destination. to bless all of the families on earth. God’s plan was to draw the family torn apart by sin back together For his agreement three promises were made: land ownership, a new name representing dynasty, and God’s blessings on Abram’s entire family and descendants. During three separate encounters, these promises were to converted to covenants. The covenants became fulfilled during the next periods of salvation. When Abram arrived at Canaan there was a famine going on. He continued on to Egypt where he allowed his wife to be placed into the Pharoh’s harem. This abuse by Abram resulted in plagues. Upon return to Cannan a war broke out due to a feud with his nephew. Abram won this conflict and was offered bread and wine by king Salem. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham when making the next covenant. To test Abraham again God demanded Abraham sacrifice his own son. His son, Isaac was offered a reprieve before the sacrifice and in place a lamb was provided by God. It was noted that God blesses people in sometimes unusual ways, by causing hardship to force reliance on Him. The establishment of the Catholic church is a representation of God’s covenant with Abraham. “When the Father provides for us in some special way, our faith is strengthened” (108). When Abraham was on Mount Moriah he knew that God would provide for him. Many …show more content…
To identify himself God stated the salvation history while naming members of his family. God then asked Moses to leave Egypt with his people to sacrifice to the Lord on Mount Hereb. Moses tried his hardest to not have to follow God’s orders. As a result God gave Moses the help of his brother Aaron. Moses end up not keeping the circumcision covenant so he would not anger his father in law Jethro. This decision angered his father God. Moses wife Zipporah finally decided to circumcise their son and this fulfilled Moses commitment to circumcision. Because of the Pharaoh’s cruel and evilness, the plagues were started. For the Passover, Moses was ordered to slay a lamb and sprinkle it’s blood on the doorpost, then that night, to eat the lamb. Once this was done the Pharaoh let the Israelites go but then changed his mind. God met his followers at the Red Sea and saved them. After six weeks with no food to be found and people speaking against Moses God helped his people. The last book of Moses served as the covenant rule and constitution for Israel. Through each crisis Moses was faced with we see God the Father patiently lifting his people up and carrying them one step farther” (143). God is full of compassion to meet the needs of all men and women. The compassion often came in the form of tough love. When God liberated Israel from Egypt he also aimed to make them reliant on him
Gentry, Peter J., and Stephen J. Wellum. Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical Theological Understanding of the Covenants. Crossway, 2012. Google Scholar: Subject relevance
Abraham obeyed God by preparing wood and loading his donkey and took away Isaac and two servants with him. On reaching the place ordered by God, Abraham built an Alter and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him on altar, on top of the wood and picked up the knife to kill him. Abraham was stopped by the Lord’s voice from heaven telling him, he was an obedient man who honored God. The angel of God confirmed to him how God would richly bless him and give him many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore.
Abraham is deemed the founder and one of three patriarchs of the Jewish faith. In Fundamental Theology, by Heinrich Fries, a detailed description of Abraham’s journey and faith is given. A summary of Fries explanation is that Abraham’s name was originally Abram. He was considered a “nomadic chief” from Mesopotamia. God spoke to Abraham and told him to leave his home and country. This was one of many tests Abraham faced. In the words of the Bible, Abraham was t...
One day, Abram had a vision. In the vision God tells Abram to leave his father’s house which is today’s Iraq, and travel to a place that God will show him. God said that if Abram who becomes Abraham obeyed this command, his descendants would become a great nation, and that he will bless thee,...
When Moses is asked by God to go and save his people in Egypt he comes up with a series of excuses in order to try and get God to pick another human to do this job. This makes sense because to the reader because Moses was born a Israelite but raised and Egyptian. He knows that the treachery that is happening in his birthplace is wrong because he killed an Egyptian to save an Israelite. The reader could assume that one of the main reasons he does not want to go back to Egypt is because they know who he is and want to kill him. But after reading from Jewish Study Bible's footnotes, Moses reluctance is similar to all of the other prophets who have been chosen by God. God states that he will be with them and says "That shall be your sign". The Jewish Study Bible states, "It is unclear whether the sign is God's presence with Moses, the fact He sent him, or the future return to Horeb and worship there" (p. 103). In my interpretation of the reading, the sign that God is with Moses is seen in the later chapters of Exodus when Moses performs the various miracles such as turning his rod into a snake and so on. In order to perform these miracles God had to be there in order to help Moses perform those miracles as Moses is only
Following the creation story of the book of Genesis is the book of Exodus. In Genesis, God promised Abraham a “great nation from which all nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3)” and in Exodus God completes this promise through the creation of the holy nation, Israel. Exodus tells the story of the God who rescued his people out of Egypt because of the promise he had made to Abraham. God calls to Moses to complete his promise. God’s call to Moses is not only important because he liberates the Israelites but also because God reveals His name(s) along with His true Nature. God calls upon Moses and tells him that He’s back to help the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and that Moses is to lead them. God then gives him full instructions on what to tell the Pharaoh and, more importantly, the Israelites, who are promised, land “flowing with milk and honey”.
When he saw an Egyptian foreman beating an Israelite slave, he wound up executing the Egyptian foreman in attempting to stop the abuse. He then was frightened of his life and needed to escape from Egypt (Molloy, 2013). Moses became the leader of the Jewish community during his early life in Egypt, and his most renowned contribution was the Mishreh Torah. The Torah is an analysis and methodical code of all Jewish regulations and an individual guide for all who wish to practice.
In the Exodus there were many examples where Moses showed his great wisdom. He also possessed somewhat magical power given to him by God. He also had a divine purpose in life. Moses was on a "mission from god" so to speak to deliver his people from bondage. His mission was similar to those of other typical epics. It was of course a very dangerous and exhausting journey that lasted a very long time. There were many obstacles to overcome
In Judaism, God is seen as having a contractual relationship with the Jewish people where they must obey his holy laws in return for their status of the chosen people. God rewards or punishes Jewish people based on whether they obey or disobey his will. In parts of the Old Testament, however, God does show mercy or forgiveness, and in later interpretations God’s laws such as the Ten Commandments are followed not only out of loyalty to God but also because of their high moral character.
Surveying the Old Testament reveals the theme of God’s faithfulness to his people. In light of this understanding, the restoration of the Israelites prophesized in the Old Testament is essentially the fulfillment of every covenant with God. This perspective relates to the work of Christ and encourages any follower of God to trust in his faithfulness.
Abraham does what is asked of him and takes his only son Isaac to the top of Mount Moriah. Just before he is about to do the deed, God stops him and says, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” (Gen 22:12) Abraham knew that God was still the ultimate goal and was willing to give up the second most important thing to him. His family.
According to the book of Exodus in the Bible, Israel's future leader, Moses, was born at a very risky time. It was a time when the Jews in Egypt had increased in number and prospered so much that the Egyptian pharaoh decreed that every male Jew who was born at that time was to be killed. Moses was born a Jew. However, when his mother realized that, the time came for him to be born; she decided not to let him be killed and was eager to hide him. It was not possible though to keep him with her, for she would be found. Consequently, she decided to hide him among the reeds in the River Nile (Exodus 1-2 and QB VI...
God calls Abram while he is in Ur. He commands him to leave the country with his family to a land God has chosen. He promises to bless Abram and make his descendants form a great nation. This promise will be fulfilled in the Mosaic Covenant. God makes a promise to bless Abrams personally, and also promises that his name will be well known. This promise will later be fulfilled in the Davidic Covenant. God will bless anyone who blesses Abram, but will place a curse on anyone who attempts to cur...
Repetition is also the concept that the Hebrew Creator-God uses throughout the story of Genesis to educate Abram about God's purpose and His nature. God is aware of the doubtful and cynical nature of Abram. Over time, God uses Abram's own repeated mistakes to build a conceptual understanding of Himself for Abram. This model provides Abram with a relevance for God in Abram's own life. Though the classic view depicts the patriarch Abraham as blindly, obedient, there is significant evidence within the story of Abraham to show that he was not so naturally submissive. The text often depicts Abram as doubtful, indignant, and sarcastic to a fault. Taking this side of the text in context illustrates Abraham as the antagonist in a battle against God. In this struggle with God, Abraham achieves excellence by learning, through repetition of his own errors and the reinstatement of God's promise, that it is in his best interest not to fight against his own personal idea of God, but to recognize, respect, and accept the true will of God.