Back to Basics Bible Study Handout • St. Elizabeth Seton, Carmel, Indiana Father Brian Doerr • [email protected]

CHAPTER 3 Part II - (45-59)

John Bergsma: “The difference between a promise and a is like the difference between an engagement ring and a wedding ring. One symbolizes a strong hope, a firm intention; the other symbolizes an unbreakable commitment.”

Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.’” • See Genesis 10 for a list of the “family of nations” that are dispersed in Genesis 11 at the tower of Babel.

God gives Abraham (Abram) three promises that he will be solemnized with three covenant occurrences: 1. The Great Nation: the sacrifice of the animals (Genesis 15:12-21). 2. The Great Name: the circumcision of Abraham (Genesis 17:1-27). 3. The Universal Blessing: the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:15-18).

Galatians 3:15-18 “To give a human example, brethren: no one annuls even a man's will, or adds to it, once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many; but, referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ which is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came four hundred and thirty years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance is by the law, it is no longer by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.” Promise = Covenant.

Matthew 1: 1-2 “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers … and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.”

Prelude Genesis 12, 13, 14 detail the chaos resulting from several situations in the narrative of Abram’s life, including the Tower of Babel, family strife and war. These chapters end with the blessing of Melchizedek.

Genesis 15:1 “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’” • These words confirm the blessing given by the priest/king Melchizedek following Abram’s victory over the pagan king occupying the .

Genesis 15:2-4 “But Abram said, ‘O Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir.’ And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir.’” • Abram’s first recorded words to the LORD… after chapters of obedient silence, he verbally protests. • Since Abraham has no sons, his nephew Lot becomes his heir; but after Lot and Abram depart ways, Abram’s steward becomes his heir.

Genesis 15:5-6 “And he brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the LORD; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.” • God reassures Abram that he will, indeed, be the father of a multitude. Significantly, Abram responds in faith: And he believed the LORD; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:7-8 “And he said to him, ‘I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.’ But he said, ‘O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’” • Now, just after the text proclaims, “And he believed the LORD; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness” he demonstrates a lack of trust by questioning the LORD. How will he know he will possess the land? Because the LORD has declared so. Nonetheless, the LORD chooses to solemnize his promise. • “I am the LORD who brought you out…” prefigures, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Egypt…”

Genesis 15:9-11 “He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ And he brought him all these, cut them in two, and laid each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.” • “In this instance, Abram’s doubt is to be assuaged by a formal pact. Covenants in which the two parties step between cloven animal parts are attested in various places in the ancient Near East as well as Greece. The idea is that if either party violates the covenant, his fate will be like that of the cloven animals. The Hebrew idiom karat bereit, literally to “cut a covenant” (see verse 18), may derive from this legal ritual” (Alter, 75). • “To move between the pieces while uttering promises as a ceremonial way of stating: ‘If I do not keep my commitments, may I be slain like these animals’” (A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, 136) • John Bergsma: “[This] was like calling down a curse of death on yourself if you didn’t do what was promised…” (Bible Basics, 49).

Genesis 15:12-15 “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, ‘Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring judgment on the nation which they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.’” • Andre Feuillet: “Abram, like Adam [using the same Hebrew word, tardemah, used for Adam’s sleep], is gifted with a supernatural sleep (slumber) which brings to him, not an Eve, the mother of the living, but a posterity that inherits the promises he received. After a time of subjection, they will possess the land. But the true heir will not be the first- born (not Ishmael, but Isaac). • Note that the “sun was going down,” indicating this is another day as it was already dark in verses 5-6.

Genesis 15:16 “And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” • Amorite Kings (King Og of Bashan), remnant of the Rephaim, will be defeated by Moses in Deuteronomy 3:6. Also, see Psalm 135:11 and 136:20.

Genesis 15:17 “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.” • “By commanding Abram to acquire animals for sacrifice, the Lord is in essence instructing Abram to transform the promise of the land [heard first as a promise in Genesis 12:1-3] into a solemn covenant by means of a blood sacrifice” (A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, 136).

Genesis 15:18-21 “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” • Jean Danielou: “You might say that until the coming of Christ, [the covenant] was the most important thing that had happened, and that is what gives Abraham his outstanding place in the religious history of man… a place outstanding in the history of mankind because this was the first time God had intervened in history to bind mankind to Himself in a special bond… To believe is to hold that God does things of this sort. Men do not believe if they think in a general way that God exists, but do not for one moment think that God takes any part in history… The Covenant was, then, a bond set up between God and Abraham. But it is important to understand what kind of bond it was. It was not a bilateral contract by which two parties are so bound that if either fails in his engagements, the other is absolved from keeping his. … The Covenant was in fact a divine disposition whereby God freely shared what belonged to him with a people because He had chosen them, and not because they had any right to it” (Advent, 35).

Prelude: Genesis 16

2 “Abram’s acquiescence to Sarai’s plan shows a lack of faith on his own part that God’s promises will be fulfilled without human assistance, and it produces an unintended heir who complicates the line of covenant succession” (A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, 138).

Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.” • This is more of a command than an observation resulting from the previous mishaps.

Genesis 17:2-4 “‘And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.’” • This is a familiar situation: God commands certain prerogatives… which can only be attained by his own intervention. • “The articulation of the covenant in this chapter is organized in three distinct units: first the promise of progeny and land, then the commandment of circumcision as a sign of the covenant, then the promise of ’s maternity” (Alter 81).

Genesis 17:5 “No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” • Genesis 11:4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” • “‘Great name’ was associated with kingship in the ancient Near East, as can be seen form the inscription from Shamshi-Adad I, king of Assyria, ca. 1800 BC: “I erected a stela in my great name in the land of Lebanon, on the shore of the Great Sea (Mediterranean)” (A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, 136). • Abram means “Hebrew, Exalted Father. Abraham means “Hebrew, Father of a multitude.” This change in name is closely associated with royalty.

Genesis 17:6-9 “‘I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of , for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’ And God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.’” • Jean Danielou “By these successive manifestations [Abraham and Sarah, Anna and her son, Samuel] God accustomed men to the idea of miraculous births, so that the miracle of the Virgin Birth would not seem a totally new departure, but would fit into a certain pattern and thus be to some extent understood… and do not suddenly appear unrelated to anything we know, as from a world utterly strange to us. It makes the Virgin Birth intelligible by showing it in relation to the Old Testament” (Advent, 41).

Genesis 17:10-14 “This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised; every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house, or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money, shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” • “The sacrifice demanded is not simply the blood of bulls and goats, but Abram’s own flesh: the covenant of circumcision. The ritual removal of “the flesh of your foreskins” will be a “sign of the covenant between me and you” (11). Although this ritual may seem bizarre, even irrational, when taken in isolation, when circumcision is located within its narrative context in the Abrahamic Cycle, it makes sense. In Genesis 16, Abram attempts to bring God’s promise of descendants to pass by means of his own sexual power, by lying with Hagar; in Genesis 17, God reaffirms his promise of descendants, but in the wake of Abram’s action, obliges him and his descendants to perform, as a sign of the covenant, a sacrificial and penitential act directly tied to the member of his body with which he deviated from God’s will… In Genesis 15, Abram cut animals to solemnize the covenant of nationhood; in Genesis 17, he must cut his foreskin to solemnize the covenant of great name. Therefore, there does seem to be an escalation in the intensity of

3 the covenant commitment: it becomes both more costly and more personal” (A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, 139). • St. John Chrysostom: “See the Lord’s wisdom in knowing how inobservant future generations are likely to be, and so, as though putting a bit in their mouths, he gave them this sign of circumcision, curbing their unrestrained urges in case they should mingle with other peoples. You see, since he was aware of their lustful tendencies in not practicing restraint, even though it had been drummed into them countless times to refrain from their irrational impulses, consequently he gave them a perpetual reminder with this sign of circumcision, as though fastening them in a chain, and set limits and rules to prevent them overstepping the mark instead of staying within their own people and having no association with those other peoples but rather keeping the patriarch’s line uncontaminated, so that in this way even the fulfillment of the promises could be achieved for their benefit” (Homilies on Genesis, 39, 14). • “The contractual cutting up of animals in chapter 15 is now followed by a cutting of human flesh” (Alter, 82). A prelude to the sacrifice of Isaac?

Genesis 17:15 “And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.’” • Both forms of her name, Sarai and Sarah, mean “princess”.

Genesis 17:17 “‘I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her; I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’ • “The verb yitshq is identical with the Hebrew form of the name Isaac that will be introduced in verse 19. The laughter here – hardly the expected response of a man flinging himself on this face – is in disbelief, perhaps edged with bitterness. In the subsequent chapters, the narrative will ring the changes on this Hebrew verb, the meanings of which include joyous laughter, bitter laughter, mockery, and sexual [flirtation]” (Alter, 83).

Genesis 17:18-19 “And Abraham said to God, ‘O that Ishmael might live in thy sight!’ God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.’” • Matthew 3:8-9 John the Baptist: “Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” • Isaiah 51:1-2 “Hearken to me, you who pursue deliverance, you who seek the LORD; look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him and made him many.”

Genesis 17:20 “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.” • Ishmael remains a party to the first covenant… he will be made a “great nation” and will be granted princes, but not kings. All else, is given to Isaac.

Genesis 17:21-27 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” 22 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; 27 and all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Prelude: The narrative of Sodom and the birth of Isaac.

Genesis 22:1-2 “After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’” • John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” 4 • John Bergsma “Three times in this passage Isaac is called the yahid (Hebrew) son of Abraham, a rare word that was rendered into Greek either as “one-and-only” or as “beloved.” “One and only” is more literal, “beloved” more dynamic. We see echoes of this term in the New Testament when John calls Jesus the “one and only” or “only begotten” son (Jn 1:14,18; 3:16,18), and where Jesus is called the “beloved son” in the Synoptics at the Baptism and Transfiguration” (https://thesacredpage.com/2020/04/09/the-story-of-salvation-the-easter-vigil/). • 2 Chronicles 3:1 “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” • I Chronicles 21:15-16, 20-22 And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. …Now Ornan was threshing wheat; he turned and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went forth from the threshing floor, and did obeisance to David with his face to the ground. And David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the LORD -- give it to me at its full price -- that the plague may be averted from the people.” • We must keep in mind that God is omniscient or all-knowing. He does not test that he might learn of weakness or resolve, he knows that already. His test, especially of Abram, was to reveal the secrets of his own Heart. Hebrews tells us that the Sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah was a symbol… a sign that pointed to a reality. • The oddity: No place else in Sacred Scripture does God command human sacrifice. • Not only will Abraham lose his only son by sacrifice, but this would mean all the decedents which he was promised as well. • John Bergsma “Genesis 22 is one of the most central texts in all the Old Testament… God’s solemn oath of blessing on Abraham in vv. 15-18 is one of the central texts in all the Bible: arguably, this the culmination of the covenant with Abraham begun in Genesis 15 and continued in Genesis 17. Although the word “covenant” does not appear in Genesis 22, God’s solemn oath in vv. 15-18 was understood as a covenant in subsequent Scripture (e.g. Deuteronomy 7:8-9; Luke 1:72-73). ‘Oath’ and ‘covenant’ are frequently synonymous in the Bible and ancient Near East (see Ezekiel 17:11-21). This solemn covenant-oath by God promises blessing to all nations through the seed of Abraham; Easter is a celebration of the fulfillment of that promise, as all nations have been blessed through Jesus the seed of Abraham (Matt 1:1) who pours out the Spirit on all nations through his self-sacrifice on the cross” (https://thesacredpage.com/2020/04/09/the-story-of-salvation-the-easter-vigil/). • “…go… the mountains of which I shall tell you” echoes “Go… to a land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). Thus, this episode operates as a microcosm of all the tests henceforth Abraham has already endured.

Genesis 22:3 “So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” • “The crucial item is left to the very end. The narrator does not miss a chance in the story to refer to Isaac as ‘his son’ and Abraham as ‘his father,’ thus sharpening the edge of anguish that runs through the tale. “…and he split wood,” In a narrative famous for its rigorous economy in reporting physical details, this act of Abraham, wielding an axe and cutting things apart, is ominously singled out for attention” (Alter, 109).

Genesis 22:4 “On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.” • Just as Abraham traveled for three days to offer his sacrifice, Jesus will experience his passion, death, and resurrection in three days’ time.

Genesis 22:5 “Then Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and we will come again to you.’” • The contradiction: God asked Abram to sacrifice his only son… and he intends to do so, but in this passage he claims, “we will worship and we will come back to you”? Can Isaac come back if he is to be sacrificed and made a holocaust? • Hebrews 9:17 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac… He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence he did receive him back, and this was a symbol.”

Genesis 22:6-7 “And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here am I, my son.’ He said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’”

5 • This is not, as some assume, infanticide. The wood of the sacrifice is placed on Isaac’s back to be carried… thus, we know Isaac is a young adult.

Genesis 22:8 “Abraham said, ‘God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.’ So they went both of them together.” • This verse is meant to be haunting: two souls, father and son, together for what seems to be the last time, for one purpose, the father to sacrifice the son.

Genesis 22:9-10 “When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” • Isaac allows his father to bind him… another oddity, one did not bind sacrifices in the Old Testament… the scene seems to be in slow-motion - showing that Isaac had plenty of time for an escape, but rather, he cooperates with his father. There is plenty of time for Isaac to freak-out and make a run for it! But he does not.

Genesis 22:11-12 “But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’ He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’” • John Bergsma “Since Isaac’s near-sacrifice took place on the very site of the future temple, some rabbis taught that the animal sacrifices were a kind of reminder or re-presentation of the one and only, really powerful sacrifice of Isaac” (Bible Basics, 59). • Jean Danielou “Two aspects of the mystery of Christ are typified [here] at once: the Passion by the offering and the Resurrection by the receiving back” (Shadows to Reality, 123). Just as Abraham, “did receive Isaac back,” so will the Father receive Jesus back in the resurrection. • Origen: “He did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. God emulates man with magnificent generosity. Abraham offered to God his mortal son who did not die, and God gave up his immortal Son who died for all of us.” • Genesis 21:15-19 [Parallel stories with Ishmael and Isaac]: “When the water in the skin was gone… Hagar went, and sat down… for she said, ‘Let me not look upon the death of the child.’ [Both sons threatened with death.] [One son to die in the presence of his mother, the other son in the presence of his father.] And as she sat over against him, the child lifted up his voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven [Likewise, angelic intervention with Isaac], and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the lad [Isaac, also, is referred to fondly as “lad.”] where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast with your hand [Abraham, too, is told to hold his hand.]; for I will make him a great nation." Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water [Just as Abraham lifted up his eyes and spied the Ram]; and she went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. [Both sons are promised to become progenitor of a great people.]

Genesis 22:13 “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.” • Abraham spied “a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns…” a lamb, in other words, hanging from a tree… just as Jesus as the Lamb of God, will hang upon a tree (the cross).

Genesis 22:14 “So Abraham called the name of that place The LORD will provide; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’” • Abraham named the mountain, “The LORD will provide,” and in fact, God did, by providing his own Son as a sacrifice.

Genesis 22:15-16 “And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, ‘By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son…

Genesis 22:17-19 “‘I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your descendants [seed] shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.’ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.”

6 • Matthew 16 Jesus told St. Peter, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” • And Jesus will bless the nations in the same way… by his descendants: members of the Church, “as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore.” • Scott Hahn: “As shocking as it might seem, if God has truly sworn an oath, then he has placed himself under a curse. The net effect of God’s self-maledictory oath, then, is that God has now assumed sole and complete responsibility to bless the nations through Abraham’s seed, even if that means bearing the curse in order to remove whatever might impede its fulfillment” (Kingship by Covenant, 127). • Jean Danielou: “What makes this episode such a very impressive figure of the Passion of Christ is that here, too, we see apparent failure becoming the cause of the promise being fulfilled. God promised Abraham that he would make Isaac a mighty nation, and he then ordered him to destroy that hope. Now, Christ’s passion also seemed to be the utter failure of what he had set out to do. When he was in the tomb, the Apostles dispersed, and the thing seemed hopeless. The passion and death of Christ were the supreme test of faith: from death came the Resurrection wherein the promise was fulfilled. And for us, too, it will often be only through the night of faith, through apparent failure, through the frustration of one hope after another, that God’s plan for us will really be fulfilled in that mystery of death and resurrection which is at the very heart of the Christian life” (Advent, 44).

Abrahamic Covenant Israelite Covenantal Epoch Covenant of the Pieces (Genesis 15) Sinaitic (Exodus 19-24) to Deuteronomic (Joshua 8) Covenant of Circumcision (Genesis 17) Deuteronomic (Joshua 8) to Davidic (2 Samuel 7) Covenant of the Aqedah (Genesis 22) Davidic (2 Samuel 7) to the New Covenant (Luke 22) (Hahn, Scott; Kingship by Covenant, 123)

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