Biblical Covenants

This is an abridged version of my "Counting Stars with Abraham and the Prophets" (JETS 2015). Paul’s application of the “seed” designation to both Jews and Gentiles in Christ marks a redemptive-historical shift from an age of promise to an age of fulfillment. Both the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants initially restricted “seed” language to physical descent and marked covenant membership by physical birth. Nevertheless, they also pointed ahead to a day when covenantal, spiritual adoption would replace ethnicity and biology as the foundational mark of the patriarch’s “fatherhood.” The OT’s promised royal deliver would initiate this eschatological and ecclesiological development, which by its nature supports a progressive covenantal flavor of Baptistic new covenant ecclesiology.

The Bible was almost entirely composed by Jewish writers. An examination of its Jewish or Hebraic roots provides considerable fresh insight into the Christian faith and worldview—particularly in respect of covenant, community and creation.

Covenant forms the dominant paradigm governing the biblical worldview. The new covenant inaugurated by the Messiah likewise forms the dominant paradigm governing the New Testament. Each biblical covenant is associated with a community. A “covenant community” who receive a vocation commensurate with the relationship into which they have been brought.

The biblical view of creation ultimately anticipates its global renewal, whereupon heaven is united in harmony with earth, God dwelling amidst his people. En-route to this finality, the biblical worldview incorporates the bondage of creation to the effects of sin and its partners: death, disease and decay. Amidst this corrupted creation, the vocation of the covenant community is to be an incarnate Messenger of Hope. Both recipient and giver of New Life; a sign, symbol and harbinger of creation‟s ultimate, glorious liberation from bondage.

The thesis seeks to express the message of Scripture according to Scripture’s own priorities. It uses biblical rather than philosophical terminology, presenting the Bibles message within the framework of a primarily Hebraic worldview. To aid recognition of vital theological threads woven throughout the biblical narratives, the thesis develops a graphical “panorama” of the biblical narrative.

Significance and Value of Findings

Traditional, post-Enlightenment theologies—i.e. reformed, dogmatic, systematic, critical, non-contextual etc.—having undergirded Western Christendom during the past two centuries, are presently creaking under the strain of post-modern, post-colonial critiques and worldviews. In order for Christian faith and community to flourish within this hostile cultural climate, the challenge of missiological renewal and reformation needs to be embraced, so that Christian theology, missional praxis and culture to flourish in new ways.

Insight into the Jewish roots of Scripture and, in particular, the biblical covenants and the vocational communities of both Israel and the Church, proffers a significant contribution towards such a renewal, potentially rendering a widely appealing paradigm: centering upon God‟s commitment to creation, in partnership with his covenant community; incorporating the combating of evil through pursuit of this-worldly peace, justice and dignity for human beings; lived out amidst the biblical backdrop of an ultimate Judgement and Regeneration.

Within an increasingly agnostic West, a covenant, creation and community centred worldview offers fresh insight and a significant contrast to the individualistic drift of modern, protestant-evangelical culture and praxis, with its dualistic perspective of earth and heaven and concomitant focus upon personal salvation and eternal heavenly “escape‟ from earth‟s “mortal coil.‟

Within the increasingly Christian South—where community-centred readings of Scripture are normative and worldviews are more free of anti-biblical, secular, atheistic and materialistic philosophical presuppositions—burgeoning, missional Christian communities can relate readily to a biblical theology of covenant, creation and community as a vital, educational, theological introduction to the Bible.
Finally, the recognition and incorporation of the Jewish roots of the Christian faith builds a small, but potentially significant, cultural bridge with the Jewish people.

Conclusion

By aiming at a biblical theology based upon an Hebraic worldview centred upon creation, covenant and community, this Thesis seeks to provide an educational resource inviting people to enter into and comprehend the worldview, culture and theology of the Bible, rather than the worldview, culture and theology of the West.

Jeremiah  starts this section 1-12 with a lesson about Yahweh and Judah from the potter’s workshop displaying the Potter's Freedon.  Apostasy, idolatry, and judgment are the themes of verses 13-17.  The choice of those in Judah to forsake the LORD was not natural or rational. Therefore, Jeremiah reminds them that going against nature is dangerous.

Jeremiah makes the point that Judah unfaithfulness is unnatural.  Even the pagan nations are loyal to their false gods revered by their region. Israel was brought into the land as a virgin, and now she has gone the way of a prostitute.  Her sin is great.  Thus, the first natural analogy was the loyalty of pagans to their national false gods.  Why does not Judah have the same loyalty as the pagans?

A large share of Puritan theology used to teach that there is a Covenant of Grace in time with men and also a Covenant of Redemption in eternity between the Father and the Son.  Much of contemporary reformed theology collapses the two covenants into one, following Thomas Boston of the early 1700’s and most of the Southern Presbyterians in the 1800’s (some precedents did exist in the puritan era).  This article demonstrates that the majority, and especially later, puritan view is the most rigorously Biblical.

When the OT prophets looked ahead to the future redemption, they anticipated a string of redemptive-historical events to be recapitulated in the future. Such recapitulation involves a new deliverance in a new Passover, new exodus, and climaxing in a new covenant. As such, the mention of the covenant in Matthew, the declaration “τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς διαθήκης,” is the climax of a narrative progression from Abraham to the Messiah, from the Passover and the exodus to the inauguration of the (new) covenant. The present thesis aims to illustrate the significance of the new covenant for Matthew’s Gospel.  The core of the argument rests on Mogens Müller’s observation, in his ‘The Gospel of St Matthew and the Mosaic Law,’ that the new covenant is a “substructure underlying” Matthew’s Gospel.

The first chapter situates the present thesis in Matthean scholarship in particular and covenant research in general to demonstrate the relevance of this research.  The second chapter explores the covenantal significances of the titles “υἱοῦ Δαυὶδ” and “υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ.” The aim is to show that the titles evoke strong covenantal overtones even though covenant terminology is not used. Furthermore, in Matthew, these covenants are synthesized in one christological act of covenant-making.

The third and fourth chapters investigate the only and explicit reference to the covenant in Matthew’s Gospel in 26:28. The question raised in these chapters is whether the introduction of the covenant was a strategically placed climactic reference. Chapter 3 is substantial since it seeks to demonstrate that Matthew, at crucial places throughout his Gospel, engages in symbolic significations and interpretations, thus building the narrative for the climactic scene at the interpretation narrative. As such, the (new) covenant has been proleptically symbolized in the feeding miracles and anticipated in the eschatological banquet, leading up to the Last Supper. To that effect, the chapter will argue that Matthew appears to interpret the meaning of Jesus’ death within the conceptual framework of Passover ordered to exodus, ordered to covenant. The blood of the covenant in 26:28 should be seen as a climactic reference designed to provide Jesus’s death its covenantal overtones.

Chapter 5 builds from these conclusions and explores the theme of interiority as a covenantal reality. Here Matthew’s particular interest on the heart is examined against the new covenant realities of the prophetic promises as the sign of the inauguration of the (new) covenant. Matthew presents Jesus as the interpreter and inscriber of Torah on human hearts in fulfillment of covenant promises. Finally, a summary and conclusion are drawn in chapter 6.

In sum, chapter 2 examines the titles for their covenantal significance (de facto covenantal titles); chapter 3 analyzes Matthew’s narrative for its covenant framework (Passover, Exodus, covenant); chapter 4 investigates the only explicit reference to covenant in Matthew 26:28 (blood of the covenant), and chapter 5 examines Matthew’s focus on interiority (covenant reality).

The volume "New Directions in Spiritual Kinship: Sacred Ties Across the Abrahamic Religions," edited by Todne Thomas, Asiya Malik and Rose Wellman, undertakes a comparative analysis of "spiritual kinship" (such as God-parenthood) in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. My chapter, "Kinship as Ethical Relation," starts by questioning the usefulness of spiritual kinship as a category for the understanding of Judaism and expands that critique into an alternate model that might be more useful for comparative purposes. I argue that the idea of "Spiritual Kinship" emerges precisely from an a set of Christian taxonomies that are often implicitly or explicitly anti-Jewish (kinship of the flesh vs. kinship of the spirit, the letter and the spirit of the law, etc.) which makes it unsuitable as an "Abrahamic" category. Moreover, the specific ways in which it is unsuitable for comparative purposes actually demonstrate the importance of this category for understanding of Christianity and of the anthropological kinship categories (affinal, consanguineal and fictive)  that were in large measure adapted from European Christian sources. Viewing kinship as a set of ethical relations, by contrast, does indeed allow for useful comparison across these religious divides and makes better sense of the ethnographic and textual data. Examples are brought from both modern and medieval Jewish life.

The relevant texts share the idea of an unbreakable covenant
of promise. After a situation of judgment, this covenant is granted
for all time to either a priest or to the post-exilic reunited Israel
(understood as the cultic community). In the Qumran texts
the covenant granted to the animals (cf. Hos 2:20) is added. The
passages are to be understood against the background of a this-worldly
futuristic eschatology, although in the Qumran texts
otherworldly dimensions are also added, showing apocalyptic
traits. Four thematic segments can be distinguished in the Old
Testament sources:
1. The one nation Israel under one Davidide;
2. The country and Jerusalem;
3. The temple;
4. The nations.

Covenant theology has always had a special place in the Reformed branch of theology. It is the ground for various other doctrines and functions also as a hermeneutical key to read and interpret the Scriptures. Although the great systematizations of this doctrine only appeared in the seventeenth-century and onward, it is possible to find it present in the thought of the early Reformers. This article investigates some of the main works of John Calvin in the attempt to organize his thought regarding this doctrine and aims to formulate what would be the view of the Geneva’s Reformer of each dispensation of the divine covenant with man. This article analyses the following covenants: works, noahic, Abrahamic. Several articles have been published investigating Calvin’s covenantal thought as a whole, in terms of the covenant of grace in general. It was not possible to find an academic contribution that would investigate each of the dispensations in Calvin’s thought.

Hans Burger, ‘ “Theirs are the covenants”. Israel and the so-called “covenant of grace” ’
Paper BEST-conference ‘Israel as hermeneutical challenge’, Kampen 23 maart 2018

One of the hermeneutical challenges of the living Israel to Reformed theology concerns the doctrine of the covenant. Christian theology is often structured in a way in which Israel is easily forgotten. Does Israel have a place in the Reformed doctrine of the covenant? And, if so, what is Israel's place? In this article, I will give a critical analysis of the Reformed doctrine of the covenant as it is represented by two theologians, Herman Bavinck and Michael Horton, who both have built upon the heritage of Reformed federal theology with its three covenants. I will do this in order to investigate whether this doctrine contributes to neglecting Israel in theology and what place it assigns to Israel. An important part of the problem is the idea of the unity of the covenant of grace. Furthermore, this article takes up the above challenge and formulates an alternative proposal, a reconstruction of the covenants without the idea of one unified covenant of grace, taking seriously that the covenants are of Israel (Rom. 9:4; cf. Eph. 2:12). This proposal is more comprehensive in the sense that it strives for a better, more inclusive understanding of the history of salvation and of the place of Israel in this history.

Perhaps more than any other single text, Exodus 19:4–6 provides the Bible’s clearest and simplest snapshot of God’s revealed purpose for the old covenant. This essay seeks to interpret this passage within its immediate and broader biblical context, understanding and applying it as the Christian Scripture God intended (Rom 15:4; 1 Cor 10:11; 2 Tim 3:16–17; 1 Pet 1:12). The study also supplies a case study in exegetical and theological inquiry following the twelve steps outlined in my book, HOW TO UNDERSTAND AND APPLY THE OLD TESTAMENT. Recognizably, the nine steps of exegesis and three steps of theology are all interrelated, and distinguishing them is somewhat artificial to the process of interpreting the Bible. Nevertheless, using a single passage to walk through the twelve steps should help students understand better the various aspects of exegesis and theology that are necessary for rightly handling God’s word of truth (2 Tim 2:15).

This article responds to Adam Gregerman's article on covenant theology in recent Jewish-Catholic dialogue by arguing three points: (1) Scripture presents a multiplicity of covenants (rather than a singular "Old Covenant"), which coexist together in complementary ways. (2) This multiplicity produces dynamic tension among the covenants. (3) The tendency in recent theological discussion to describe the New Covenant as a fulfillment of its predecessors lacks a biblical basis.

In Romans 9:1-5, the Apostle Paul records his sorrow and grief over the plight of his kinsmen. They are the covenant people of God. To them belongs the covenant promises and many other blessings. Yet they have failed to embrace the Messiah. How could this be? Paul explains this paradox beginning in 9:6-13. While some could say that God has not kept his promises, Paul adamantly promotes his view that God has been faithful to his word. He explains how he has been faithful to his covenant promises pulling illustrations from the history of his people to show how God has always worked. Thus, the lessons from the past explain his current situation. But Calvinists have seized upon Paul's explanation and found in them supposed proof for unconditional election to salvation. Is the Calvinist interpretation of Paul correct? Is Paul promoting unconditional election in 9:6-13? I think not. My paper exposes some of the fallacies in Calvinist thinking, exhibited pre-eminently in John Piper's scholarly work, "The Justification of God."

This article published in Master's Seminary Journal explores the notion of covenant within biblical theology and answers questions raised concerning Christ's relationship to the biblical covenants. While most interpretations favor Christ serving a single fulfillment or typological role to the covenants, this article defends the only option consistent with a literal methodology: Christ relates to each of the biblical covenants "dynamically" as recipient, fulfillment, and/or mediator-and does so without collapsing any promised future for national Israel.

The Introduction of this work provided background, historical, and textual information about Leviticus 26 as well as a detailed outline of this text. This Bible chapter revealed the corporate human responsibility of the chosen nation to obey Yahweh’s covenant and the plan of a Sovereign God in response to their obedience and disobedience.

Chapter 1 provided an exegesis of Lev 26:1–3, 14–15, 34–35, 43, and 46. It also examined the usage of the Hebrew term for the “Sabbath(s)” and the four Hebrew legal terms found in Leviticus 26 throughout the Hebrew Bible.

Chapter 2 presented an exegesis of Lev 26:9–13, 40–45. It also analyzed the conceptual usage of the Hebrew term for “covenant” in the Hebrew Bible. It concluded that covenants always formalize and deepen relationships.

Chapter 3 offered an exegesis of Lev 26:3–13 which stated that the blessings promised to Israel for obedience to the Mosaic covenantal stipulations included life, vitality, fruitfulness, many descendants, a powerful national defense, and extremely prosperous agricultural endeavors. This chapter concluded by comparing the blessings promised in Leviticus 26 with those in Deuteronomy 28.

Chapter 4 provided an exegesis of Lev 26:14–39 which delineated the coming chastisements for Israel’s disloyalty to Yahweh and their violations of the Mosaic covenant. These corrective measures are in five intensifying levels of curses designed to bring Israel to repentance. This chapter compared the curses listed in Leviticus 26 with those in Deuteronomy 28.

Chapter 5 gave an exegesis of Lev 26:40–45 which revealed the future hope for the ethnic people of Israel. This chapter also compared the coming restoration promised in Leviticus 26 with the expanded promises of Deuteronomy 30.

Chapter 6 discussed the use of Historical Theology and analyzed the Baptist tradition regarding the moral law. It also summarized the importance of familiarity with Leviticus 26 for exegeting other Old Testament canonical books. It outlined the dependence of the book of Amos on Leviticus 26.

Leviticus 26 should be studies because it is a critical background text for many of the Former and Latter Prophets who used this text in their inspired writings as covenant enforcers. Therefore, effort should be made to be aware of this prior text when studying later biblical authors who are quoting or alluding to Leviticus 26.

This paper is a translation of the article: Wojciech Kosek, Dlaczego Ostatnia Wieczerza w Ewangelii św. Jana (13-17) nie zawiera słów konsekracji?

It was published in the book published by The Association of the Polish Biblical Scholars [Stowarzyszenie Biblistów Polskich]: W. Chrostowski, M. Kowalski (ed.), Whom are you seeking? (Jn 20: 15): Festschrift in Honor of Rev. Prof. Henryk Witczyk on his 65th Birthday] (series Ad Multos Annos 21), Warszawa 2021, ISBN: 978-83-8144-634-1, p. 226-257.

Abstract. To answer the title question of this article, one will mainly show that the Gospel of St. John has a six-element literary structure, the same as the Book of Exodus 1-18 has. This first step bases on the analyses of many exegetes and also on the particular comparative counting of numbers of words in all pericopes

This paper attempts to derive godly leadership principles from the life of King Solomon as a Head’s Successor of Davidic Covenant. The interest for this paper sprang from my History of Christianity course learning on early church rapid growth amid persecution without falling into the pit of pragmatism to attract new followers. It is common for Christian leaders to desire quantifiable church growth that is accompanied by fervent devotion to the Lord. This paper hopes to be able to help Christian leaders to pursue this goal in God’s gracious providence.
I will attempt to answer this question, “Was Israel’s wellbeing directly proportional to the obedience of King Solomon?” by the end of this paper. In order to reach that end, several concepts related to covenant will be introduced, Davidic Covenant defined and leadership principles derived from it, events contributing to Israel kingship reviewed, and survey of earlier claims discussed. I will also attempt to relate how these principles from the Old Testament period can be implied for the church in the New Testament period. Some implications for Christian leaders from this learning will also be offered.

Ziel der Thesis ist es, die Bedeutung des Noachitischen Bundes im Kontext von Gebot und Verheißung in (a) der Beziehung der ersten Menschen zu Gott (vgl. Gen 1,26-30) und (b) der Sinaitischen Gesetzgebung darzustellen. Die Fragestellung ist, welche bereits im Garten Eden gegebenen Gebote bzw. Verheißungen in Gen 8,20-9,17 erneuert werden, und was die Menschheit und insbesondere Israel auf die Gesetzgebung am Sinai vorbereitet. Der Schwerpunkt der Arbeit soll dabei auf der Exegese von Kapitel 8,20-9,17 liegen, im Vergleich mit Parallelen in den oben genannten Bereichen.

This essay attempts to define covenant as seen in the Old Testament. It will give an overview of some of the current and historical thinking on the subject and explain the types of covenant. Five covenants in particular shall be discussed: the Edenic, Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Palestinian, Davidic and New Covenants – and the common strands within each will be identified. A common way of interpreting the covenants shall be explained before so that these five covenants can more easily be compared. The essay shall then conclude with an explanation of these strands and an allusion to the (re-)new(ed) covenant in the New Testament.

The concept of New Covenant, as Sussanne Lehne notes, is not only a major theme in Hebrews but a linchpin without which the structure of the author’s thinking would fall apart and lose its coherence.  Consequent upon the establishment of a new covenant--or the promise thereof, the old is rendered obsolete, outdated, and no longer valid. This new covenant language of Hebrews—based on the new covenant promises in Jeremiah chapter 31, and instituted by Christ’s Last Supper Verba—begs the question: which of the biblical covenants does this ‘New Covenant’ replace? Also, what are the better promises of this New Covenant on the grounds of which, the writer of Hebrews affirmatively says, makes the new covenant better than old? These better promises of the new—in comparison to those of the old—are what this paper seeks to highlight.

Rather than addressing all instances of ruah in Ezekiel, this survey will focus on the references to ruah yhwh. There are three dimensions of the work of the ruah yhwh in the Book of Ezekiel: his dealings with the prophet, his combined dealings with the prophet and the people of Israel, and his dealings with the people exclusively.

This book introduces readers to four central themes of the Old Testament: creation, covenant, prophecy, and kingship.  By exploring these themes in the order of their appearance in the Bible, the book traces the biblical narrative as it unfolds from the Book of Genesis through the Book of Kings. Each chapter concludes with a brief section called “Looking Ahead,” which discusses how each theme recurs in later
parts of the Bible (e.g., the prophets, the wisdom books, and the
New Testament). This purpose of this section is to show that
these four themes are open-ended; they shaped the theological
imaginations of later biblical writers, who adapted the themes to
their own historical moment and their style of writing.

Though New Covenant Theology (NCT) has positive aspects such as an insistence on a biblically based theology, several aspects of the system are not so positive. For example, in seeking to pursue a middle course between dispensationalism and covenant theology, its theologians relay on a strained view of dispensationalism and adopt supersessionism. Although agreeing on the centrality of the Abrahamic Covenant, some NCT theologians ignore the Davidic Covenant. NCT takes a position requiring the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant in the days of Joshua. In addition, NCT theologians hold that OT saints were not saved until after the death and resurrection of Christ. They also do not allow for a future, earthly, eschatological Kingdom.

This was presented at the Far-West Evangelical Theological Society in March 2019 at California Baptist University and explores questions related to Christ and His relationship to the biblical covenants. The  paper defends the only option consistent with a literal methodology: Christ relates to each of the biblical covenants dynamically as recipient, fulfillment, and/or mediator—and does so without collapsing any promised future for national Israel.

When John the Baptizer and Jesus Christ began proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15), what were they talking about? What was the crowd’s frame of reference for the “kingdom of heaven?” These are often difficult questions to answer. Many scholars believe that the “good news of the kingdom” referred to the literal fulfillment of the promises in the Old Testament. However, some theologians hold that Jesus in fact redefined the nature of the kingdom during His ministry. This paper will argue that the gospel of the kingdom proclaimed by both John and Jesus was the same prophesied, theocratic kingdom that was promised in the Old Testament.

The relationship between Achan and Israel in Josh 7 has puzzled commentators for thousands of years. Achan sinned, yet the anger, judgment, and punishment of the Lord came upon the Israelites at large, and the result was the death of dozens of Israelite soldiers. Why would God’s judgment come upon the whole nation in response to the sin of one individual? Various explanations of the Achan-Israel relationship have been proposed over the past century, including “corporate personality,” the concept of “taboo,” and “corporate solidarity.” The question is: which, if any, of these proposals are correct? The goal of this paper is to determine the actual relationship between Achan and Israel in Josh 7.
          After an introduction to the problem, the paper proceeds in three sections. In the first section, four current proposals are examined. All four are found to be inadequate, establishing the need for a new proposal—one which better matches the actual text of Josh 7. As a first step toward this new proposal, the second section provides an exegetical examination of the relevant passages (Josh 7:1–5, 10–15). In the third section, a new explanation is proposed which better accounts for the exegetical data. The new proposal is that the Achan-Israel relationship in Josh 7 is best explained in terms of Israel’s covenantal commitment to be a properly functioning community before God—a commitment Israel was failing to uphold at the time of the divine punishment. Thus, Israel was not punished for Achan’s sin but for their failure to uphold their covenantal obligation. The term corporate responsibility is ultimately found to be a fitting description of Israel’s relationship with Achan.

Recent defenders of the eternal, functional subordination of the Son have appealed to the trinitarian theology of John Owen in support of their claim that subordination to the Father is a personal property of the Son of God qua Son. In this essay, I examine Owen's account of the Son's obedience within the economy of grace and its implications for Owen's theology of the Trinity. Owen is an interesting figure in these debates, for while sharing many commitments with classical trinitarianism, he rejects traditional arguments that explain the obedience and subordination of the Son simply by reference to his human nature alone. For Owen, the Son's obedience to the Father has its basis and ground in the inner life of God.

However, in order to keep faith with Nicene commitments about the co-equality of the Father and the Son, Owen argues that the subordination of the Son has its basis in a free and contingent divine decision -- namely, in that eternal covenant between the Father and the Son for the salvation of the elect, the Covenant of Redemption (or "pactum salutis"). Through a close reading of Owen's Hebrews Commentary, I show that Owen grounds the subordination of the Son to the Father, and the authority of the Father over the Son, within a free and contingent act of the divine will. Accordingly, the Son's subordination to the Father is depicted as a free act of divine condescension, which is itself both the substance and mystery of God's grace.

This paper seeks to investigate the narrative of Genesis 15, specifically the animal rite of verses 9-12, 16-17a, in light of comparative and biblical parallels. Contrary to those who understand the animal rites of Genesis 15 as an example of covenant ratification, biblical and comparative parallels suggest these rites are sanctions to ensure the covenant is kept. But unlike the parallel in Jeremiah 34, where the vassal party is promised appropriate punishment for breaking the terms of the covenant, Yahweh is the one submitting himself to a potential curse in Genesis 15.

This is the first book-length study to explore the Hebrew Bible, and specifically the Pentateuch, as a coherent book of political philosophy.

In Created Equal, Joshua Berman engages the text of the Hebrew Bible from a novel perspective, considering it as a document of social and political thought. He proposes that the Pentateuch can be read as the earliest prescription on record for the establishment of an egalitarian polity. What emerges is the blueprint for a society that would stand in stark contrast to the surrounding cultures of the ancient Near East -- Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, and the Hittite Empire - in which the hierarchical structure of the polity was centered on the figure of the king and his retinue. Berman shows that an egalitarian ideal is articulated in comprehensive fashion in the Pentateuch and is expressed in its theology, politics, economics, use of technologies of communication, and in its narrative literature. Throughout, he invokes parallels from the modern period as heuristic devices to illuminate ancient developments. Thus, for example, the constitutional principles in the Book of Deuteronomy are examined in the light of those espoused by Montesquieu, and the rise of the novel in 18th-century England serves to illuminate the advent of new modes of storytelling in biblical narrative.

Introduction Appended

The Introduction of this work provided background, historical, and textual information about Leviticus 26 as well as a detailed outline of this text. This section will show that this Bible chapter revealed the corporate human responsibility of the chosen nation to obey Yahweh’s covenant and the plan of a sovereign God in response to their obedience and disobedience.

Chapter 1 provided an exegesis of Lev 26:1–3, 14–15, 34–35, 43, and 46. It also examined the usage of the Hebrew term for the “Sabbath(s)” and the four Hebrew legal terms found in Leviticus 26 throughout the Hebrew Bible.

Chapter 2 presented an exegesis of Lev 26:9–13, 40–45. It also analyzed the conceptual usage of the Hebrew term for “covenant” in the Hebrew Bible. It concluded that covenants always formalize and deepen relationships.

Chapter 3 offered an exegesis of Lev 26:3–13 which stated that the blessings promised to Israel for obedience to the Mosaic covenantal stipulations included life, vitality, fruitfulness, many descendants, a powerful national defense, and extremely prosperous agricultural endeavors. This chapter concluded by comparing the blessings promised in Leviticus 26 with those in Deuteronomy 28.

Chapter 4 provided an exegesis of Lev 26:14–39 which delineated the coming chastisements for Israel’s disloyalty to Yahweh and their violations of the              Mosaic Covenant. These corrective measures are in five intensifying levels of curses designed to bring Israel to repentance. This chapter compared the curses listed in Leviticus 26 with those in Deuteronomy 28.

Chapter 5 gave an exegesis of Lev 26:40–45 which revealed the future hope for the ethnic people of Israel. This chapter also compared the coming restoration promised in Leviticus 26 with the expanded promises of Deuteronomy 30.

Chapter 6 analyzed the Baptist tradition regarding the moral law and the Sabbath and discussed the use of Historical Theology. It also summarized the importance of familiarity with Leviticus 26 for exegeting other selected Old Testament canonical books. This was illustrated by portraying the dependence of the book of Amos on Leviticus 26.

Leviticus 26 should be studies because it is a critical background text for many of the Former and Latter Prophets who used this text in their inspired writings as covenant enforcers. Therefore, effort should be made to be aware of this prior text when studying later biblical authors who are quoting or alluding to Leviticus 26.