What exactly was it and what were the terms?
2007-10-17 11:01:19 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
if ab behaves then he wont have to slaughter his children?
2007-10-17 11:04:31 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
In brief, the covenant God promised to bless his descendants and make them His own special people -- in return, Abraham was to remain faithful to God and to serve as a channel through which God's blessings could flow to the rest of the world (Gen. 12:1-3).
Fast forward to chapter 15, the Lord reaffirmed His promise to Abraham. The relationship between God and Abraham should be understood as a covenant relationship -- the most common form of arrangement between individuals in the ancient world. In this case, Abraham agreed to go to the land that God would show him (an act of faith on his part), and God agreed to make Abraham a great nation (Gen. 12:1-3).
Abraham's response is the model of believing faith: "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). The rest of Genesis 15 consists of a ceremony between Abraham and God that was commonly used in the ancient world to formalize a covenant (Gen. 15:7-21). God repeated this covenant to Abraham' son, Isaac (Gen. 17:19).
2007-10-17 11:10:23 · answer #2 · answered by thundercatt9 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If Abraham recognize God as his God and no other, God will make sure that Abraham will be the father of many nation. How was that possible when Abraham only have one child?
The fulfilment was Christ Jesus, thus, when Jesus fulfilled this, enter the New Covenant.
2007-10-17 11:08:28 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
God promised Abraham land, offspring and blessings in copious amounts, that through him all the world would be blessed.
The covenant was as simple as Abraham believing God, taking God at His words, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
We see the ultimate fulfilment of this promise in Jesus Christ, because Jesus is in Abraham's family line.
Christians are grafted into the blessing when they put their trust in God.
2007-10-17 11:08:44 · answer #4 · answered by Gruntled Employee 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The apostle Paul explains the matter for us, saying: “It is written that Abraham acquired two sons, one by the servant girl [Hagar] and one by the free woman [Sarah]; but the one by the servant girl was actually born in the manner of flesh, the other by the free woman through a promise. These things stand as a symbolic drama; for these women mean two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which brings forth children for slavery, and which is Hagar. Now this Hagar means Sinai, a mountain in Arabia, and she corresponds with the Jerusalem today, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”—Galatians 4:22-26.
2007-10-17 11:35:01 · answer #5 · answered by RubberSoul_61 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In a nutshell, it was the promise of land, seed and blessing to Abraham and his descendants. They would inherit the land of Canaan, which they (Israelites) have yet to do, seed, the messiah would come through Abraham, and blessing, the blessing of God upon them. This was a one way covenant, in that, God swore by himself that He would fulfill this covenant, it was not dependent on anything Abraham would do.
2007-10-17 11:06:17 · answer #6 · answered by BrotherMichael 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋