The Meaning of Covenant in the Hebrew Bible
The term Bible comes from the greek word biblia which means “little books”. In fact the Bible is a collection of books written over a period of 1,000 years, by many different authors from different socio-political backgrounds. It can therefore be seen as an anthology of writings.
The Bible was written in three languages: Old Hebrew, some small parts in Aramaic, and Greek. The Bible is composed of two main parts: A first part written before Jesus-Christ (or BCE = Before the Common Era), and a second part written after Jesus-Christ (or CE = Common Era). In Christianity the first part is referred to as the Old Testament and the second part as The New Testament.
The term “Testament” comes from the Greek term diathéké which means both covenant and testament. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible uses the word diathéké to translate the Hebrew term B’rith which means “covenant”.
A covenant is an an agreement, a contract, or bond. The second book of the Hebrew Bible, Exodus, recounts the solemn ceremony in which the Israelites conclude their central covenant with Yahweh (God). The covenant is referred to as the Mosaic Covenant because Moses acted as the mediator between Yahweh and his people. In the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh’s protection of Israel was made contingent upon the people’s faithfulness in keeping Yahweh’s Law as handed down through Moses (Deut. 28–29).
However, some of Israel’s prophets concluded that the people had been so unfaithful to the Mosaic Covenant that eventually Yahweh regarded it as broken.
Writing about 600 years before the time of Jesus, the Prophet Jeremiah promised that Yahweh would replace the Old Mosaic Covenant with a New Covenant:
See, days are coming – oracle of the LORD – when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their master – oracle of the LORD.
But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days – oracle of the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
– Jeremiah 31: 31–33
The Covenant relationship is summed up in this promise. It is reiterated in several times in the Bible: Ex 6:7; Lev 26:12; Jer 7:23; 11:4; 30:22; 32:38; 2 Cor 6:16; Heb 8:10; Rev 21:3.
