Cut a Covenant

In our Sunday School Men’s Bible Study we have talked about covenants a couple of times, so I thought I would spend some time on this subject.  Just saying that you have a covenant with someone is not enough. You see, in the Old Testament the meaning of covenant is to “cut a covenant.”  This seems strange, so let’s take a look at what the Bible says; I think it will help explain this idea better.  In Genesis, God makes a covenant with Abram; I want us to take a look at that.

Genesis 15
7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
8 And he said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. …..
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Here is an example of a very elaborate covenant, for a normal covenant they would cut a bird or possibly a sheep.  They would do just as described, they would kill the animal and split it in half then the two parties would take off their sandals and walk between the animals, getting the blood on their feet.  The idea is that if you break the covenant, you were to die and be bloody like the animals you walked through.  You see that only God walks through the animals in the example in Genesis.

The second point is that man broke the covenant with God by sinning.  Thus, man must die to fulfill the terms of the covenant, so God sent His Son Jesus, who is fully man and fully God to pay the penalty for man breaking the covenant.  This is why the idea of cutting a convent is so important. It shows why Christ had to die a bloody death to save us from consequence of our sin.

I would like us to look a little further into this idea of cutting a covenant and how it keeps showing up in scripture.

Ruth 3
4 And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.

You may ask, “Why is Ruth uncovering his feet?”   You see feet talked about a lot in the Bible and you may wonder, “Do the Jewish people have a foot fetish??”  No, it goes back to the idea of the covenant and getting the blood on your feet.  Therefore, Ruth is asking Boaz to make a covenant with her; she wants him to marry her.

Let’s take this one step further.  We see that Jesus also has a foot thing going.

John 13
1 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;
3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
5 After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

Jesus is symbolically washing the blood from their feet, thereby cleansing them from the broken covenant.  When Jesus asks us to do this for one another, it is to be a reminder of what Jesus has done for us.  Just like we take communion in remembrance of what Jesus did for us on the cross, He asks us to wash each other’s feet to remember what Christ did for us. This all goes back to the idea of cutting a covenant and getting the feet bloody.  I hate how we have lost some of the beautiful pictures in the Bible that help us see and understand God better.

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Psalm 22 part 3 of 3

<sup>I will continue where I left off last week in Psalm 22

14</sup> I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
Fulfillment by Christ
 It was very common for the shoulders and arms to come out of joint when a person was crucified.  During crucifixion, they would leave a lot of slack in the arms and legs so the person hung away from the cross at a 30 to 40 degree angle.  This would expand the chest and it would be easy to breath in, but they would have to pull up on the nails in there hand and push up on the nail in their feet to exhale.  This was extremely painful and it would become exhausting very quickly.  This shows some of the extent of the torture of crucifixion.
John 19: 34
³⁴  But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
Fulfillment by Christ
John 19:28 
²⁸ After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
²⁹ Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth

¹⁶ For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Fulfillment by Christ
Dog is a derogatory term for a gentile which the Jews called the Romans.  In addition, only the Romans were allowed to perform crucifixions.  Notice that it says the hands and feet the exacta places that are pierced in crucifiction. David wrote this Psalm almost 1000 years before Christ, almost 800 years before Crucifixion was invented.
Matt 27:27-35
 ²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
²⁸ And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
²⁹ And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
³⁰ And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
³¹ And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
³² And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
³³ And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
³⁴ They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
³⁵ And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

¹⁷ I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

Fulfillment by Christ
His bones are not broken.
John 19:31-33
 ³¹ The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
³² Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other, which was crucified with him.
³³ But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

¹⁸ They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
Fulfillment by Christ
John 19: 23-24
²³ Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
²⁴ They said therefore among themselves; Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture, they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

¹⁹ But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
²¹ Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
²² I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
²³ Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
²⁴ For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
²⁵ My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
²⁶ The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live forever.
²⁷ All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
²⁸ For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.
²⁹ All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
³⁰ A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
³¹ They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

Fulfillment by Christ

The last few lines of the Psalm are praise for what Jesus did and will not be completely fulfilled until the second coming of Christ.

I know this was a long blog, and I tried to keep the commentary down and just let scripture speak for itself.  I only ask that as you read, be in awe of our God and what He did; then praise Him, following the example of the last few verses.

I hope this has led you to worship, just as Josh Stewart originally set out to do for our choir.

Psalm 22 part 2 of 3

I will continue with Psalm 22 and how Christ fulfilled it on the cross.

^Psalm22
2 O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
³ But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
⁴ Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
⁵ They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
⁶ But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Fulfillment by Christ
Matthew 26: 3-4
³ Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
⁴ And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.

⁷ All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
⁸ He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
Fulfillment by Christ
Luke 23:35-36
 ³⁵ And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
³⁶ And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,

⁹ But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
¹⁰ I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
Fulfillment by Christ

John 1:1-2

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

² The same was in the beginning with God.

¹¹ Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Fulfillment by Christ
Mark 14:50-53
 ⁵⁰ And they all forsook him, and fled.
⁵¹ And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
⁵² And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.
⁵³ And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.

¹² Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
¹³ They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
Fulfillment by Christ
Bull is a symbol of a strong man.

Mark 15:16-20

 ¹⁶ And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.
¹⁷ And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,
¹⁸ And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
¹⁹ And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.
²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.


^{I will stop here until next week}