Abrahamic Covenant

I have to apologize. I haven’t posted in a near eternity. I’ve promised this series of theology and I haven’t delivered. My bad. I ended up with less time than I thought I’d have. The downside is this revelation is now a little old in my mind and so there’s a chance the point might not be quite as kickin’. But don’t worry, it’ll still be worth it. It’s like getting promised a million dollars and only getting nine hundred ninety nine thousand dollars instead. It’s not quite as good, but it’s still sweeter than honey with sugar on top. By that I mean it’s still good.

We all know my posts are as long as a novel, so I’ll get on with it.

So this guy Seth begets Noah who begets Shem who begets Terah who begets Abram and some others that aren’t as important to us right now. One day long, long ago, God tells Abram to go to the land that He shows him. He promises to make him a great nation, to bless him, to make his name great, and to make him a blessing. He also promises that all the families of earth would be blessed through him. So Abram goes with his nephew Lot.
Some time later, Abram and Lot split up and Lot takes the good land and leaves Abram with the poor land (remember that one from Sunday school?). God promises the land to Abram and his descendants. The land is promised to him, thus it becomes the “Promised Land.”
In Gen.15, God tells Abram to chop some animals in half, down the middle, and to put the halves of the animals in two columns on the ground facing each other. Then God puts Abram to sleep. God tells Abram of the captivity of his descendants in Egypt and their exodus. Then a smoking oven and a burning torch appear and pass through the halves of the animals, symbolizing God, covenanting Himself to Abram. This covenant is referred to as the ‘Abrahamic Covenant.’
Later, God gives him the sign of circumcision, a sign of the covenant between him and God. He also changes his name from Abram, exalted father, to Abraham, father of a multitude. God tells Abraham he will become many nations, that kings will come from him, that the Promised Land will be an EVERLASTING possession of his descendants, and that He will be their God. So as a side note, according to God the Palestinians have no official place in Israel. They can be resident aliens, but they can’t own the land. It belongs to the Jews. God made Abraham an everlasting covenant.
Thus concludes the third in the series. The next will be about Isaac. It should be short-ish. Hurray! I hope you learned something new about the Abrahamic covenant. I’d go deeper into covenant and what that is all about, but I probably wouldn’t do it a justice. So there you go.