By Keith Mathenia
In this parsha this week, I focused on one verse from the Haftarah.
Melakhim Alef (I Kings 5:12) 5:26 (D’var)
And יהוה gave Shlomo wisdom, as He promised him; and there was shalom between Khiram and Shlomo; and the two made a league together.
Strong’s Concordance has this for “league” in this verse.
H1285
בְּרִית
Breet
covenant, alliance, pledge
The KJV translates it: covenant (264x), league (17x), confederacy (1x), confederate (1x), confederate (with H1167) (1x).
This “league” between Khiram and Shlomo was an “agreement” for Khiram to provide cedars for the temple. Other things were involved in this agreement. This did not rise to the level of a covenant. Yet the Hebrew word “brit” is used.
The Bible version we use at Congregation Bat-Tzion is HaD’var. It is based on the 1917 JPS Tanakh. In that version, this “brit” is translated “league.” Here is how it is translated in other versions.
KJ, ASV, DBY, WEB = League
NLT = Alliance
ESV, NIV, RSV = treaty
NASB, YLT = covenant
This is probably an example of where our HaD’var is lacking. It borrowed from the JPS and didn’t transliterate “brit” here (or change it to covenant)
So, I decided in the drash to do a deep dive into “Brits” or covenants from here.
A “brit” is not just a “pledge” which is the Hebrew “ErabOne”, or a “decree”, which is Te’Aim. And even the word “promise” is just “D’var”. That is your WORD. Back then, to speak your WORD was the same as a promise. Although we have the expression “to give your word”, which basically means the same thing.
But our world is long past the days when “yes” means “yes” and “no” means “no”. Don’t let that be past tense for you. We are called to righteousness. Let YOUR “yes” be yes and YOUR “no” be no.
So, if Shlomo and Khiram had merely promised, or pledged or decreed, or even given their “WORD”, as serious as that was back then, scripture would have used one of the many other words for that.
No, but it was a “brit”; a covenant.
What is the first usage in scripture of brit:
Gen 6:18 (KJV)
But with thee will I establish my covenant; (H1285) and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
The covenant was to repopulate the earth from Noah and his family. But more directly, we see in chapter 9 that the covenant was not just with Noah, but with every living creature – the birds, and cattle and every creature that came out of the ark. That Elohim would never flood the whole earth again with water. And the rainbow is a symbol, or sign of that covenant. And from Genesis 9 verses 9-17, Elohim proclaims this “brit” seven times.
The next brit we see in scripture is
Gen 15:18 (NASB)
On that day the LORD made a covenant (H1285) with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
Elohim renews this with Abram in Genesis 17 and then renews it again with Isaac.
Gen 17:21 (NASB)
“But My covenant (H1285) I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”
Jacob had his encounters with Elohim (like Jacob’s ladder), but we don’t have a scene where Elohim specifically shows up to Jacob and proclaims His covenant directly to him. However, we do have this during the Exodus:
Exodus 2:24 (NASB)
So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And then in Exodus 6, He declares it to all of Israel.
Exodus 6:4-5 (NASB)
I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. “Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.
Now, this is not a new covenant, because Elohim promised this to Abraham and his seed after him. So, this is just evidence of Elohim carrying out that covenant. We see other brits or covenants between men in scripture, but I’ll just focus on brits with Elohim.
Elohim makes a sub-covenant with just the sons of Aaron
Numbers 18:19 (NASB)
All the offerings of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual allotment. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD to you and your descendants with you.”
And even more specifically to Phinehas the grandson of Aaron He says this:
Numbers 25:13 (NASB)
And it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.
During the Exodus, Elohim reiterates his covenant with Abraham to establish a nation from him by doing so to the Exodus generation.
Exodus 19:5 (NASB)
Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;
But this seems to imply more than just occupying land. Here, he says, “You will be My people.” And it’s not unilateral like the one He made with Abraham. This is a covenant between two parties (which is the normal way). The two parties are Elohim and His people. The “terms” for His people are to obey His covenant. He further defines these terms of His covenant.
Exodus 24:7-8 (NASB)
Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
This is by far the most reiterated covenant in scripture.
Exodus 34:27-28 (NASB)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Many people presume this is a new and different covenant from the one He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is true that during this time with Moses, Elohim’s people received the Ten Commandments and all the Laws of the Torah. Perhaps that is a change? Whereas, with Abraham, Elohim didn’t seem to require Him to do anything. However, we know from the Brit Khadasha that Abraham lived by faith and righteously.
So, maybe Abraham was already keeping the Ten Commandments either naturally, or as oral tradition from old. Perhaps what Moshe wrote for us was just more detail of the righteousness that Abraham had already lived? And now Elohim is directly His children to live a similar righteousness?
Leviticus 26:9,15,25,42,44,45 (NASB)
So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you. If, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, ‘I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands. Then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.’”
This seems like the covenant of Israel is indeed just an extension of the original covenant with Abraham. That is, Elohim will still honor it in the end even though the people broke His covenant. He will chastise them and scatter them, but will eventually bring them back as He promised.
He says similarly 40 years later in the beginning of Deuteronomy:
Deu 4:31, 5:2-3 (NASB)
For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today.
So this is a new covenant – not with those at the beginning of the Exodus generation, but with those at the end of the Exodus generation. You may notice, it’s just basically the same covenant that Elohim will honor. The newness of this covenant is this new generation of people promising to keep the same covenant of old.
And near the end of Deuteronomy:
Deu 29:9-15 (NASB)
9 So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. 10 “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 “Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, 15 but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today
So again, this is not a new covenant, but a renewal of the old covenant Elohim made with Abraham. And, it’s not just with them, either – it’s with those who were not present that day. That is, future generations. Even with all mankind who are called His children for all time
Elohim reiterates His covenant almost excessively. I fear you would be bored if I read them all.
Just in Deuteronomy alone we also have:
4:13; 7:9-12; 9:11-15; 29:1; 29:9-15
But I will go back and read a couple more:
Exodus 31:16 (NASB)
So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
So the Sabbath is a perpetual covenant. And this is the only one of the Ten Commandments that is singled out individually from the others and called a brit; a covenant. As if He knew mankind was going to abolish His sabbaths out of the other Ten Commandments. Elohim abolishing His sabbaths would be Him abolishing His covenant with mankind. You can’t honestly, actually, read the Torah and believe Elohim would do such a thing. Such a thing could only be believed out of ignorance of God’s Word.
Yeshua, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
But it doesn’t end with His Torah. His covenant extends throughout the Tanakh
At the end of Joshua’s life, he reminds the people
Joshua 24:24-28 (NASB)
24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey His voice.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.” 28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.
This seems to be between Joshua and Israel. But, what are they promising to do in this covenant between them? Are the people supposed to worship Joshua, or give him gold and silver? No; the terms of this covenant are the same as of old.
The people agree to honor Elohim’s covenant with them by following His words of old. And then, we enter the period of the Judges. Elohim still has not forgotten His covenant. But there are consequences for us when we forget His covenant:
Judges 2:1-3 (NASB)
Now the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.
And then a few verses down in Chapter 20:
Judges 2:20-23 (NASB)
So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.” So the LORD allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
Elohim confirms their fathers did walk according to the covenant. And the ultimate father who started all this was Abraham. So, certainly Abraham kept the way of the LORD
About 400 years later, Elohim renews His covenant with King David. These are actually David’s last words in a song:
2 Samuel 23:1-5 (NASB)
23 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, The man who was raised on high declares, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel, 2 “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue. 3 “The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God, 4 Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain.’ 5 “Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Ordered in all things, and secured; For all my salvation and all my desire, Will He not indeed make it grow?
This is the only record I can find where Elohim is said to have made a brit (a covenant), with David directly. And we never actually have a story with David where God appeared to him as others. We are told in 2 Chronicles 3:1 that Solomon was told to build the temple in Jerusalem “where the LORD appeared to David”. But the record of that appearance and anything that was said, is not recorded in scripture.
We are also told that David “inquired” of God several times and received an answer, but we aren’t told any more about how that answer was communicated to David. As for Solomon, Elohim is recorded only as appearing to him in a dream twice. And we are told Elohim had made a covenant with Solomon also:
1 Kings 11:9-11 (NASB)
Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD had commanded. So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
Like as with David, we see no direct covenant Elohim specifically made with Solomon. But the covenant Elohim made with everyone applies to Solomon just like it does with everyone, including us. And this theme continues into 2nd Kings:
2 Kings 13:22-23 (NASB)
Now Hazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned to them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence until now.
We see this back and forth struggle with Israel and Elohim’s covenant.
2 Kings 17:10-15 (NASB)
10 They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the Lord had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the Lord. 12 They served idols, concerning which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” 13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.” 14 However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do like them.
Near the end of 2nd Kings, we finally get a King who comes to his senses:
2 Kings 23:1-3 (NASB)
Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. 3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
This happens right before they were captured and carried away to Babylon. If you were one of them, it might have seemed as if obeying Elohim’s covenant does nothing for you. They were still killed and captured. The temple was destroyed. Jerusalem was destroyed.
But I believe these reforms are what kept them in Babylon and set them up for return 70 years later. There are many references to these same covenants in 1st and 2nd Chronicles, because those cover similar times and materials that are in 1st and 2nd Kings.
And the Psalms. Many Psalms sing about Elohim’s covenants.
And the Prophets. They repeat this same back and forth theme.
People will be judged for rejecting God’s covenants. And people will be restored because God remembers His covenant. And in case you missed it and need re-enforcement, Elohim’s covenants are not just for Israel. They are for all mankind
Isaiah 56:6-7 (NASB)
“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, To be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the sabbath And holds fast My covenant; Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
We’ve covered the vast majority of uses of brit (or covenants) in the Tanakh that pertain to Elohim. How many distinct covenants are there?
It’s pretty easy to see the Noahide covenant is distinct from all the others. After that, the 2nd covenant is with His people. The covenant with the Levites seems to be separate from all other peoples. So, that looks like maybe 3.
But if you search this among Sunday worshiping circles, you always get more than that. The least I saw was 5 and the most I saw was 8.
Here is a table I created from 4 different sites listing what they believe are the different covenants:
The first one showing Adam, is trying to make a covenant out of the tree of good and evil and the tree of life. But that’s just instructions and Elohim never uses the word brit until Noah. All of these show Moses (and David) as a separate covenant from Abraham and not an extension to it.
But, as we saw, that’s not really a distinct covenant, because when Elohim gave it to Abraham, He said it was to all his seed after him. In fact, if you’re going to single out David in this line, how could you also not include Solomon? Well, Solomon is just an extension of David, they would say.
You don’t say?
Well, keep going…
All of Abraham’s seed after him, which includes Moses and David were part of the original covenant. Elohim just reminds us throughout history about that original covenant. And asks us to do our part in that original covenant. So, even though it may seem new to me, it’s not new to Elohim.
And the Land?
Elohim says he will remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the Land. But nobody lists a covenant with Issac separately from Abraham. The covenant with the land is the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In 2 Samuel Chapter 7, Elohim declares He will “establish the throne of his kingdom forever”. That is, David’s kingdom. Which is why all of these include David as a separate covenant. But, the word “brit” (or covenant) is never used to describe this “thing” with David. Perhaps it’s implied?
All of these list Jesus, or the new covenant, which we really haven’t looked at yet. So, let’s do that. Even the start of that is in the Tanakh. Well, it starts in Hebrews chapter 8, but that quotes Jeremiah 31:31:
Jer 31:31 (KJ)
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
The word for “new” is H2319
H2319
חָדָשׁ
Kadash
new, new thing, fresh
The KJV translates: new (48x), new thing (4x), fresh (1x).
Messianics like to say this is not new, but renewed. A good place to look for renewed in Hebrew is:
Lam 5:21 (NIV)
Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old
Renewed is Strong’s H2318
H2318
חָדַשׁ
Kadash
to be new, renew, repair
The KJV translates: renew (7x), repair (3x)
The only difference between H2319 and H2318 (new vs renewed) is the vowel under the Resh. They are both “AH”, but one is slightly longer than the other. So, Strong’s list this as a different word, but because there are no vowels in a Torah scroll, “new” and “renew” are both just Khet, Resh, Shin (the same word). You have to decide for yourself, or based on context, whether it is new or renewed.
In the LXX the Greek word they chose for “new” in Jeremiah 31:31 and “renewed” Lamentation 5:21 are:
New and renewed in Greek are completely different words. And the word these Greek speaking Jews in Alexandria chose for Jeremiah 31:31 is clearly new and not renewed.
So, there you have it; NEW covenant?
Although we saw how in the Tanakh, that new covenants were really just a renewal of the old covenant. The newness was just a later generation agreeing to a renewal of the old covenant. Elohim, never changed His side of the covenant. However, we still have to grapple with the commentary the writer of Hebrews puts on this Jeremiah 31:31 new covenant:
Hebrews 8:6-7 (NASB)
But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first (covenant) had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.
I put “covenant” in parenthesis because it’s not in the Greek texts. The NASB at least makes this italics to let you know it’s not in the text they are translating from. But they think it “ought” to be there, which shows their bias
What is the first? And note that whatever is “first” is faulty. Could the “faulty” thing have been Elohim’s covenant? That hardly seems plausible after all we’ve read today. But those men who were ministers and mediators? That is, the men in charge of managing things. Could they have been faulty? Of course they were. And the next verse says so:
Hebrews 8:8(a) (NASB)
For finding fault with them, He says,…
Who is “them”? And how could “them” be the “it” of a first covenant? If the writer of Hebrews had intended to find fault with the covenant, he would have introduced Jeremiah 31:31 as “finding fault with IT”. Not “them”
Then he summarizes it in Hebrews 8:13:
Hebrews 8:13
When He said, “A new (covenant),” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.
The “faultiness” and “disappearing” is the priestly ministry in the temple. It was destroyed and abolished shortly after Hebrews was written. But Elohim’s covenant has not been destroyed. And whether new or renewed, read what it says about this new or renewed covenant:
Hebrews 8:9-10(a) (Jeremiah 31:33)(NASB)
Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand To lead them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts.
So, the newness of this new covenant is that you will have His Law on your heart and mind to do them. The newness is not with God, but with you. And the writer of Hebrews sums this up in verse 13:
Hebrews 8:13 (NASB)
When He said, “A new (covenant),” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.
Again, the word covenant is not there, but they keep putting it in there. So, what is it that’s disappearing? What is disappearing is the “not continuing in my covenant”. And the Law that is put on our hearts is not a new law.
2 John 1:5-6
5 Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
What is new about the new covenant is that men will actually keep the old covenant. And He gave us the Ruakh HaKodesh to do that. If anything is new, that’s it. We have a helper to help us keep the old covenant.
Amen.