13 The Covenant

October 09, 2022

Paul Worden

The blessings of Abraham–and all of God's promises–are based upon a covenant relationship with God. A covenant is an agreement between two people that make promises to one another. The Hebrew word for covenant is b'rith, which means cutting. Biblically, this refers to a custom in Old Testament times where two people making a covenant passed through the bodies of slain animals after making an agreement. When one “cut covenant” in Old Testament times, it involved a statement of the terms of the agreement; an oath from each party; a curse upon whoever should break the agreement; and the sealing of the covenant by a blood sacrifice. Violation of such a covenant was considered a heinous act.