More handpicked essays just for you.
Comparative analysis of Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants
Similarities between Jews and Christians
The Biblical Idea of the Covenants
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Abraham was portrayed as the father of the Jewish people and this serves as a key element in Judaism. A covenant is an agreement between two parties. Between God and Abraham there existed unconditional covenants in which God made promises to him that required nothing in return; there were no conditions were attached. Abrahamic covenant was everlasting and from the Bible it begins to unfold from the book of Genesis12. One day God spoke to Abraham with an intention of making a covenant with man whom he chose as his partner. Abraham was told by God to leave his home to a different land since the people of Ur worshipped idols of wood and stone. The covenant made between them had a lot of promises. Abraham left with his wife Sarai, Lot his nephew, …show more content…
and his servants. He had never been in that land before but he believed God would protect them. He was seventy five years old at that time. Once Abraham obeyed and reached the land, the assurances became permanent. God vowed: To make Abraham a great people. This promise has been fulfilled spiritually through all those who have Abraham’s belief and physically through Isaac and Ishmael. To bless Abraham. This was evident when Abraham and his wife Sarah were blessed with a son despite their old age. To make Abraham’s name famous. Until today, his name is great and respected worldwide. (Messengers Messianic Fellowship of New Jersey)To bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. God promised to look after the Jewish people. He has continuously blessed Israel, the nation attached to Abraham and God has made certain nations suffer for cursing Israel. Another God’s covenant with Abraham was when he was 99 years old. Lord appeared to him and asked Abraham to obey him always and do what is right. He promised to give him many descendants. By then his name was Abram, he bowed down with his face touching the ground. God promised to make him an ancestor of many nations, and to remain his God and God of his descendants. He further promised to give Abraham and his descendants the foreign land. Later, God asked Abraham to agree to keep the covenant with him and his descendants in future generations. God asked them to circumcise every male among them. (Leeming, Madden & Marlan) Elimination of the foreskin characteristically signifies a sealing of the Agreement. All baby boys were to be circumcised when eight days old, including slaves born in their homes and those bought from foreigners. By doing so, they would carry with them an all-time mark in their bodies as a sign of God’s blessing in the world. Any descendants who defied the rite were affirmed to be outside God’s agreement. God’s strengthening of Abrahamic Covenant by challenging Abraham’s belief and obedience God tested Abraham’s faith and obedience by commanding him to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice in the land of Moriah.
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. Provisions of Abrahamic Covenant Unique favor to Abraham’s offspring: According to the Book of Genesis it is indisputable how God vowed to make a great nation out of Abraham, which turned out to be Israel. (Christian, Messaianic, and Jewish Research into Israel’s Two Houses) It has been christened as Kingdom of God or Christendom. The earth multiplied and even today many descendants of Abraham exist. Land: A specific land was to be allocated to Abraham forever, with extensive boundaries starting from the border of Egypt to River Euphrates. God promised Abraham that his seed shall be made the dust of the earth and inherit the land. The control of the land was stretched out to the reign of King
Solomon. Unique favor to Abraham’s spiritual seed: Hebrews were promised divine blessings to all those who believed in Jesus Christ as their redeemer. To be precise, people enjoy salvation today as a result of God’s promise to Abraham. Blessings and restoration were assured. All families on earth were to be blessed through Abraham and also the Bible talks of Israel being blessed and undergoing redemption. The paper clearly concludes that the Abrahamic Covenant was based on a harmony of promises that comprises of the descendants, blessings and land from God. On several instances the Covenant is deemed to be eternal. Canaan is perceived as an eternal ownership of Abraham’s offspring. The eternal features emphasize the unconditional nature of Abrahamic covenant. Most Christians today believe they receive God’s blessings through the Abrahamic Covenant, failure of which they linger beneath judgment and fury of God the creator. Works Cited Messengers Messianic Fellowship of New Jersey: www.MessiahNJ@aol.com “Circumcision.” Mark Popovsky. Encyclopaedia of Psychology and Religion. Ed. David A. Leeming, Kathryn Madden & Stanton Marlan. New York: Springer, 2010. Print. Christian, Messaianic, and Jewish Research into Israel’s Two Houses: www.israel.info/thebible story.html.
Covenant according in bible's point of view is a promise made by God to man. According to the book of Genesis, Chapter 6 Verse 13, as a result of human's disobedient and evil ways on earth, God had planned to put an end to humanity with flood. The covenants between God and Noah was established in Genesis Chapter 9 Verse 11. God promised Noah and his descendants, never again would he destroy the earth by flood of water because of the pleasant sacrifice offered to God by Noah. God also confirmed his covenant by putting up signs in the sky in the form of a rainbow. The reason Noah and his family weren’t destroyed in the flood was because Noah found grace in God's sight. What this means is that God do not establish any kind of covenant with just anyone. Clearly Abel, Noah and Abraham were unshakable, upright and obedient towards God’s command.
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,...
There are many different forms of covenants in the Old testament that the people of God agree to. The first one being looked at is between God and Abraham. God promised Abraham a great nation and God said he would bless Abraham (Gen 2:2). God also promised him the Promise Land (Gen 15:18) and said he would be the father of many nations (Gen 17:4). All God asked of him was devotion from him and his people and to have circumcision be the sign from the people (Gen 17:11). The promises of the covenant directly impact Abraham, but they also impacted the people who would follow. God would also use these vows in other covenants because they had historic meaning. The Mosaic covenant has several similarities to the Abrahamic covenant. God told Moses that he would make the people of Israel his treasured possessions (Exo 19:5), which corresponds with the promise of blessings in the first covenant. God also promises to bring the people into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exo 6:8). God still expected the people to follow and adhere to his words and the sign he required was following the ten commandments. These covenants were made when the people were forced to be a nomadic due to persecution. The promise of blessings and nations and land was something the people needed. The next covenant God made was with King David, this covenant also resembles the Abrahamic covenant. After the people had settled into their land God talks to King David, through the prophet Nathan. God tells David he will have a child who will establish a kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:13) and the kingdom, as well as the house, will be forever and his child will not lose the throne (2 Sam 7:16). These promises are like the ones made to Abraham, both are promised nat...
Similar to Homer's classic, The Odyssey, Genesis 22's account of Abraham's obedience to God gives way to a communal or public nature characteristic of the literary genre, epic. In other words, it embodies elements of the culture in which it takes place: beliefs, practices, etc. Just as sacrifices are used to appease the gods of The Odyssey, so is a sacrifice obediently approached so as to appease God. Throughout the story, Abraham works to carry out the practice of sacrifice common to the culture. His actions capture a cultural consciousness which is acted upon continuously throughout the Bible. Throughout the passage, the author references aspects of the act with words like “burnt offering” (v. 2), “worship” (v. 5), “sacrificial knife” (v. 6), and “altar” (v. 9). The text also sums up the time period in verse 14 by stating: “And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: 'It will be provided on the Lord's mountain.'” As the story progresses, cultural ties amount to a communal natur...
God told Abraham to take Isaac to the land of Moriah and to sacrifice him on a mountain. When Abraham and Isaac got there Abraham started to tie down Isaac and a moment before he went to sacrifice his son God sent him a lamb to sacrifice in Isaac’s place. When reading this the first time I just thought it was a story were God changed his mind at the last second. After reading it through the text of the ESV Bible I grew aware that God didn’t just change his mind but, instead was just testing Abrahams faith in him. This meaning and others started to pour out of the Bible as read it in the ESV
Abraham, on the other hand, conceded to his rules and does as he is told without even the slightest hesitation. He made his slow venture up the mountain, to the exact place God had shown him, and, builds the altar then ties his son up and getting him ready for the sacrificing (Gen 22:9). But at this point the Lord stopped him. Without shame, for he did as he was told, he announced “Here I am” (Gen 22 :11). This is unlike Adam whom has to hide himself for going against the Lords will earlier in chapter three of Genesis. And unlike in chapter three, instead of getting reprimanded and punished, Abraham is blessed by the Lord (Gen 22 :16-19), for he did what he was told even though it was a great loss in his family.
The covenant reveals many different points about the relationship that God has with the people and how they will are to be treated after the covenant. Continuing
As a symbol of the covenant promise to multiply Abram’s descendants into a great nation, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham. Abraham was born in the city of Ur, now called Iraq. Abraham and his family traveled 500 miles to Haran and stayed there until his father’s death. Then Abraham moved 400 miles south to Canaan where he lived for the rest of his days; he did this because he was called by God to do so. Some important people in Abraham’s life were his father, Terah (the son of Shem
Abraham’s seriousness and dedication in regards to his covenant with God control tense actions and events between Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is compelled in his actions by his understanding and faith that his belief in God will reap benefits. Without hesitation, he considers doing everything that God tells him to do. Abraham’s willingness and sacrifice of Isaac show the great power that God has over Abraham. Abraham’s desire for God’s approval and blessings compel him toward grave actions without the concrete command from God. Abraham merely implies God’s intentions from the limited conversations held between Abraham, God, and the angel.
It is important to know the history of one’s past. Just where did we come from and why. By comparing and contrasting the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants, we can see a part of our history. These two covenants mark a grand time in the history of Christians. Both covenants can teach us a lesson in becoming a better Christian and to knowing God better if we pay attention to what God wants us to learn. The Abrahamic Covenant lays the foundation for how the Christian nation was formed. The Mosaic Covenant follows in later years as a reminder of what was promised in the Abrahamic Covenant to the Christian nation. Both covenants are important in understanding the Old and New Testaments as they give us the historical background of the Bible as well as set the stage for the coming of Christ.
Abraham had demonstrated his remarkable faith and obedience in leaving Ur. In Genesis 15, God made a covenant with Abraham in relation to his heir and Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham was obedient and God came in for him, saved his son and provided another sacrifice.
In the Old Testament, Abraham and Moses were two very prominent leaders chosen by God to do his will. Throughout Genesis and Exodus, both men play important roles in fulfilling God’s will. They are put to many tests, given covenants, and communicate constantly with God. Although they have many similarities such as being leaders and men of God, there are also many differences between the two.
Now the patriarch Abraham was special. At a time when the world was deeply into idolatry and waywardness this man Abraham decided that he would seek God and do his bidding. This was around 2000 BC, during China’s Xia dynasty that was established by Yu the Great, and Abraham left his home and his kindred, and followed the path God chose for him that eventually
Throughout Genesis, God interacts with man and the world, and when he does this, there tends to be a theme of leading to the creation of or the actual creation of covenants with a special person or family line. During the events of these stories, God finds favor with a person or their lineage and makes a promise with that certain person or lineage. These covenants usually benefit both God and the person who God makes the covenant with. For example, in Genesis 12, God makes a covenant with Abraham that continues through his descendants, the other patriarchs. In this specific covenant, Abraham benefits from this because he is promised land, blessings, and descendants. God benefits from this covenant because he now has a lineage that will bring
All that time Lot was with them . They came to Negev , after that they moved to Bethel, there Abraham called on the name of the Lord . Land could not support allof them while they stayed together , for their posessions where so great .