Sinai Covenant
Covenants: Lasting Implications of an Unoriginal ConceptCovenants can be found all through history. Even today covenants are created all the time between individuals and whole societies. The United States is under the obligation of covenants with nearly every nation of the world, either concerning military treaties or trade embargos. So too can covenants be found in the histories of all the world's great civilizations. These historical covenants can very often be directly paralleled with other covenants throughout history. The covenants the Israelite community can be directly compared to the Hittite Suzerainty-Vassal treaties. These covenants contain the same basic elements and were created to serve similar purposes. Both the Hittite and the Israelite covenants are agreements between greater powers (kings or God) and lesser people (lesser rulers or Israelites) created for the purpose of benefiting both sides of the agreement in one way or another. The Hittite Suzerainty-Vassal treaties contained six major parts, the Preamble, the Historical Prologue, the Stipulations/Organization, the Deposit and Reading, the Witnesses, and the Curses and Blessings. These treaties were established between powerful kings of large so
The greater power could promise military protection in exchange for exclusive trading rights with the lesser power. Just in learning about the layout and purposes of the Hittite treaties, it is easy to see how they are very similar to the treaties made between God and his followers. The covenant with God is also an agreement between a higher God and lesser people. The Sinai covenant is one of the best-known covenants in history, and I used to regard it as a completely original concept, but it followed exactly the structure of the covenants of the time period. 20, 24 when God says, "I will come to you and bless you" if you do as He has commanded. The Sinai covenant opened the door for many prophets to influence the Israelites. Both sides in the agreement stood to benefit in some way from the covenant. One of the stipulations of these treaties usually demanded monogamy from the weaker of the two powers (no other agreements with powerful societies). The Davidic covenant is basically a continuation of the covenants that had been made with Abraham and Noah wherein the lineage of a race was to be the reward for some service to God. The curses and Blessings of the Sinai covenant are found more at the beginning during the historical preamble when God speaks of being a jealous God who will judge the wicked, but show love to those who follow Him. The actual covenants were not unique in structure (as seen with the Hittite Suzerainty-Vassal treaties), but are still regarded by many to speak true today. God called upon Moses by way of a trembling mountain and an impressive display of smoke and thunder to come to the summit of Mount Sinai to be given the rules for living under God's grace and protection. God follows immediately with his historical prologue when he speaks of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt and when he says that he is a jealous God who punishes fairly those who are not loyal to him, but showing steadfast love to those who worship him. God promises his protection and love in return for obedience and worship.
Common topics in this essay:
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Israelites Egypt,
Curses Blessings,
Hittite Suzerainty-Vassal,
Concept Covenants,
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Acceptance Essays
