Introduction to the covenants. Nation to nation. Man to man. Consequences of not keeping them. Repairing the agreements.

1. THE COVENANTS
OF THE LORD.
INTRODUCTION.
• Session number 1
• January 9, 2019

2. LEARNING TO PROPHESY
WELCOMES YOU TO
THE COVENANTS OF THE
LORD SEMINAR.
MARCO LAFEBRE
LEADER

3. WHAT IS A PROMISE
• Promise noun
• UK /ˈprɒm.ɪs/ US /ˈprɑː.mɪs/
• promise noun (SAY CERTAINLY)
• B1 [ C ] the act of saying that you will certainly do something:
• I'll put my things away tonight - and that's a promise!
• I'll try to get back in time, but I'm not making any promises.
• keep/break a promiseB2 to do/not do what you said that you would do:
• If I make a promise, I like to keep it.

4. WHAT IS AN AGREEMENT
• Agreement noun [ C/U ]
• US /əˈɡri·mənt/
• the condition of having the same opinion, or a decision or arrangement between
two or more people or groups to do something or to obey the same rules:
• [ C ] a new trade agreement
• [ U ] Both sides were in agreement on the basic terms, but many details still had to
be worked out.
• [ C ] Leaders of both countries signed an agreement to exchange diplomats.
• [ U ] Let us help you to reach agreement.

5. WHAT IS A CONTRACT
• Contract noun [ C ]
• UK /ˈkɒn.trækt/ US /ˈkɑːn.trækt/
• B1 a legal document that states and explains a formal agreement between two
different people or groups, or the agreement itself:
• a contract of employment
• a temporary/building contract
• They could take legal action against you if you break (the terms of)the contract.
• My solicitor is drawing up (= writing) a contract.
• Don't sign/enter into any contract before examining its conditions carefully.

6. WHAT IS A COVENANT
• A bond entered into voluntarily by two parties in which each
pledges to do something for the other.
• This idea was used in a range of secular contexts before being
employed as a model for the relationship between God and His
people Israel.
• Therefore the Covenants with God became the central core to
the religion of the OT.

7. COVENANT:
• A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old
Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus
translated. Berith is derived from a root which means "to cut,"
and hence a covenant is a "cutting," with reference to the cutting
or dividing of animals into two parts, and the contracting parties
passing between them, in making a covenant (19). Gen 15; Jer
34:18,19).
• The corresponding word in the New Testament Greek
is diatheke, which is, however, rendered "testament" generally in
the Authorized Version. It ought to be rendered, just as the
word berith of the Old Testament, "covenant."

8. TYPES OF COVENANTS:
CONDITIONAL AND
UNCONDITIONAL

9. CONDITIONAL COVENANTS
• It’s a covenant with conditions for both sides. Here a proposal of God
to man is typically done by the formula:
if you will…, then I will…,
• In this covenant, God promises to grant special blessings to man, as
long as man fulfills certain conditions contained in the covenant.
• Man's failure to do so often results in punishment.
• So, the way responded to the covenant agreement brings either
blessings or cursing.
• The blessings are secured by obedience and man must meet his
conditions before God will meet His.

10. THE FAITHFULNESS OF YAHWEH
SHOWN IN THE COVENANTS
• Israel unfaithfulness vs Yahweh faithfulness.
• Yahweh assured Israel that he would never break his covenant made
with the forefathers (Judges 2:1). Israel repeatedly broke the covenant,
yet Yahweh remained faithful. He provided deliverance when the
people repented and called on him.
• Judges 2:1 (CJB)
• 2 Now the angel of ADONAI came up from Gilgal to Bokhim and said,
“I brought you up out of Egypt, led you to the land I swore to your
fathers and said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you;

11. UNCONDITIONAL COVENANTS
• Unconditional covenant is a unilateral covenant and is a sovereign act
of God. These covenants follow the formula: I will!
• Here, God unconditionally forces Himself to bring to pass some
declared blessings and conditions for the covenanted people.
• God could requests to the covenanted people to fulfill something as a
sign of gratitude, but they are not a condition for God's fulfilling His
promises.
• These blessings are conferred by the grace of God only!

12. • Two of the eight covenants of the Bible are conditional:
• The Edenic Covenant, and
• The Mosaic Covenant.
• Six of the eight covenants are unconditional:
• The Adamic Covenant,
• The Noahic Covenant,
• The Abrahamic Covenant,
• The Land Covenant,
• The Davidic Covenant, and
• The New Covenant.

13. WHO ARE THE COVENANTED PEOPLE
OF THESE EIGHT COVENANTS?
• Five of these eight covenants were made exclusively with Israel.
• While the other three ones were made with mankind in general.
• Only one of the five covenants made with Israel is conditional:
• The Mosaic Covenant.
• The other four covenants with Israel are all unconditional:
• The Abrahamic Covenant,
• the Land Covenant,
• the Davidic Covenant, and
• the New Covenant.

14. THE UNCONDITIONAL COVENANTS
MADE WITH ISRAEL
• Considerations:
• They are literal covenants and their contents must be interpreted
literally as well.
• These covenants that God has made with Israel are eternal and are
not in any way restricted or altered by time.
• Therefore, these unconditional covenants were not canceled or
abrogated because of Israel's disobedience!
• Remember that these covenants are unconditional and totally
dependent upon God for fulfillment,
• This is to say that their ultimate fulfillment must be expected.

15. NATION TO NATION
COVENANT
Israel with the Gibeonites
After Israel had defeated Jericho and Ai

16. ANTECEDENTS
• 1. God ordered: No covenants with the peoples of the Land.
•
Exodus 23:31-33 (NKJV)
• 31 And I will set your [a]bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia,
and from the desert to the [b]River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of
the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before
you. 32 You shall make no [c]covenant with them, nor with their
gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin
against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to
you.”

17. ANTECEDENTS
• 2. The peoples of the Land gathered together to fight Israel
• Joshua 9:1-2 (NKJV)
• 9 And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side
of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts
of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittite, the Amorite, the
Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—
heard about it, 2 that they gathered together to fight with Joshua
and Israel with one [a]accord.

18. ANTECEDENTS
• 3. Gibeon acted craftily
• Joshua 9:3-5 (NKJV)
• 3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had
done to Jericho and Ai, 4 they worked craftily, and went
and [a]pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on
their donkeys, old wineskins torn and [b]mended, 5 old and
patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves;
and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.

19. ANTECEDENTS
• 4. Israel heard them say:
• “We are your servants” Joshua 9:7-8
• “From a very far country your servants have come,
because of the name of the LORD your God;” Joshua 9:9-11
• 5. They saw a false evidence:
• Moldy bread, old clothing and sandals. Joshua 9:12-13.

20. THE COVENANT
• Joshua 9:14-15 (NKJV)
• 14 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but
they [a]did not ask counsel of the LORD. 15 So Joshua made peace
with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and
the rulers of the congregation swore to them.
• Just a few days earlier, Israel was defeated because of lack of wisdom and lack of
consultation to God. Now Israel disobeyed again and made a forbidden covenant.

21. THEY LEARNED THE TRUTH
AFTER THREE DAYS
• Their cities of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath Jearim,
could not be attacked due to the covenant made with them,
Joshua 9:16-17
• They could not attack them as they have sworn to them by the
Lord God of Israel. Joshua 9:18-19
• The rulers of Israel decided to let them live, but made them
slaves for generations. Joshua 9:21
• They were afraid for their lives and decided to trick Israel. Joshua
9:24-25

22. •Gibeon had no fear of man, but fear of the God of the Israelites.
• 24 So they answered Joshua and said, “Because your servants
were clearly told that the LORD your God commanded His
servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the
inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were
very much afraid for our lives because of you, and have
done this thing. 25 And now, here we are, in your hands; do
with us as it seems good and right to do to us.”
JOSHUA 9:24-25 (NKJV)

23. JOSHUA 9:26-27 (NKJV)
• 26 So he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the
children of Israel, so that they did not kill them. 27 And that day
Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the
congregation and for the altar of the LORD, in the place which He
would choose, even to this day.
• WHAT A BLESSED CURSE!!!

24. JOSHUA 10:1-2
(NKJV)
THE GIBEONITES WERE
WERE MIGHTY MEN OF
WAR. THEY DIDN’T
HAVE FEAR OF MAN,
BUT FEAR OF THE
GOD OF ISRAEL
• 10 Now it came to pass when
Adoni-Zedek king of
Jerusalem heard how Joshua had
taken Ai and had utterly destroyed
it—as he had done to Jericho and
its king, so he had done to Ai and
its king—and how the inhabitants
of Gibeon had made peace with
Israel and were among them, 2 that
they feared greatly, because
Gibeon was a great city, like one of
the royal cities, and because
it was greater than Ai, and all its
men were mighty.

25. PLEASE NOTE THIS:
• According to the Bible, the Israelites were commanded to destroy all
inhabitants of Canaan.
• Rahab and the people from Jericho, as well as the Gibeonites were
Canaanites, therefore were cursed by God and condemned to perish.
• Rahab fear the God of Israel, but decided to collaborate with the
spies trusting in the God of Israel. Thus she brought salvation for
herself, her family and everything that she had.
• The people from Jericho fear the God of the Israelites, fear Israel’s
army; but they trusted in the power on their mighty walls; as a
consequence they were destroyed.

26. • It brings tears to my eyes to realize that Rahab, according to the
Book of Joshua, was a woman who lived in Jericho in the Promised
Land and assisted the Israelites in capturing the city by betraying
her people.
• Rajab in the New Testament, is mentioned as an example of a
saint who lived by faith, and as someone "considered righteous"
for her works.
• What a merciful God we have!

27. • The Gibeonites knew they were condemned by the mighty God of
Israel. They feared this God and though all of them were mighty
warriors, they feared the army that was commanded by such a
powerful God.
• They acted cunningly, they tricked the Israelites who for a second
time in this offensive didn’t consult to God, Who in His great
mercy used the disobedience of Israel to let them live.

28. POINTS TO PONDER.
• Result of the Gibeonites slavery serving Israel and the Lord:
• Fear of the Lord help them to save their lives.
• What they have heard about the Lord became a living
experience.
• The knowing of His mighty power created in them faithfulness
and willingness to serve Israel and Their God.
• Generations later, the Gibeonite towns became part of very
important things happening in them: City of priests. Place of
worship. Seat of the Tabernacle. Seat of the Ark od the
Covenant. Solomon made King

29. • Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
• (17) Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.—The first
three of these were assigned to Benjamin (Joshua 18:25-26), the last to
(15:60), in the division of the land. The fact that the larger portion of the
territory of the Gibeonites was in the tribe of Benjamin explains how Saul
tempted to confiscate their possessions for the purpose of supplying his
followers with fields and vineyards (1Samuel 22:7). He appears to have
carried out his purpose in the case of Beeroth (2Samuel 4:2-3), but not as
regards all the Gibeonite towns. Gibeon became a city of the priests (Joshua
21:17), and also a principal place of worship and the seat of the tabernacle
(as Kirjath-jearim was of the ark) in later times. (See 1Samuel 6:21; 1Samuel
7:1, &c.; 1 Chron. 20:29; and 2Chronicles 1:3-6.) The fact that the Gibeonites
were dedicated to the service of the sanctuary may partly account for this.
Gibeon, Solomon asked and received the wisdom which Joshua and Israel
this time did not ask.

30. MAN TO MAN
COVENANT
Jonathan covenanted with David

31. COVENANT OF
JONATHAN
WITH DAVID
• Jonathan trespassing his regalia and
weaponry to the future King
David.

32. • 18 Now when he had finished speaking to
Saul, the [a]soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of
David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul
took him that day, and would not let him go home to
his father’s house anymore. 3 Then Jonathan and David
made a covenant, because he loved him as his own
soul. 4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him
and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword
and his bow and his belt.
1 SAMUEL 18 (NKJV)
JONATHAN MAKES A COVENANT
WITH DAVID

33. 1 SAMUEL 20:12-
15 (NKJV)
JONATHAN REAFFIRMS
HIS COVENANT WITH
DAVID. AS IF THIS
WOULD BE MADE WITH
THE LORD. NOTICE HE
MENTIONS THE LORD
FIVE TIMES.
• 12 Then Jonathan said to David:
“The LORD God of Israel is witness! When I
have [a]sounded out my father sometime
tomorrow, or the third day, and indeed
there is good toward David, and I do not
send to you and tell you, 13 may the Lord
do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it
pleases my father to do you evil, then I will
report it to you and send you away, that you
may go in safety. And the LORD be with you
as He has been with my father. 14 And you
shall not only show me the kindness of
the LORD while I still live, that I may not
die; 15 but you shall not [b]cut off your
kindness from my [c]house forever, no, not
when the LORD has cut off every one of the
enemies of David from the face of the
earth.”

34. 1 SAMUEL
23:16-18 (NKJV)
IT IS JUST ONE
COVENANT,
REAFFIRMED TWICE.
16 Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose
and went to David in the woods
and [a]strengthened his hand in
God. 17 And he said to him, “Do
not fear, for the hand of Saul my
father shall not find you. You shall
be king over Israel, and I shall be
next to you. Even my father Saul
knows that.” 18 So the two of
them made a covenant before
the LORD. And David stayed in the
woods, and Jonathan went to his
own house.

35. DAVID AVENGES
THE GIBEONITES

36. A THREE YEAR FAMINE MAKES
DAVID INQUIRE OF THE LORD
• 2 Samuel 21:1 (NKJV)
• 21 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years,
year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And
the LORD answered, “It is because of Saul and his
• [a]bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

37. POINTS TO CONSIDER
• Some 400 years before this happenings Joshua had made a
covenant with the Gibeonites, however Saul has broken it by
going after the Gibeonites.
• From here we can extract some important principles:
• God expects us to keep our promises.
• God expects nations to keep their promises.
• Time does not diminish our obligation to promises.
• God’s correction may come a long time after the offense.

38. DAVID TAKE STEPS
TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM
• King David called the Gibeonites:
• He initiated a resolution with the Gibeonites.
• Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and
Judah: Saul’s misguided zeal was a sin and brought calamity on Israel.
• This is a good example of how good intentions don’t excuse bad
actions.
• We often excuse bad actions in ourselves and in others because of
what we think are good intentions.
• But God examines both our intentions and our actions.

39. 2 SAMUEL 21:3-4 (NKJV)
• 3 Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you?
And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the
inheritance of the LORD?”
• 4 And the Gibeonites said to him, “We will have no silver or gold
from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for
us.”
• So he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

40. 2 SAMUEL 21:5-6 (NKJV)
• 5 Then they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed
us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from
remaining in any of the territories of Israel,
• 6 let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we
will hang them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom
the LORD chose.”

41. 2 SAMUEL 21:7-8 (NKJV)
• 7 But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son
of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath that was between them,
between David and Jonathan the son of
Saul.
8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons
of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, and the
five sons of [a]Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she [b]brought
up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;

42. 2 SAMUEL 21:14 (NKJV)
• 14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the
country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So
they performed all that the king commanded. And after
that God heeded the prayer for the land.

43. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Online Cambridge Dictionary.
• https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/jer/34/19/s_779019
• https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/joshua/9.htm
• https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Samuel+21&version=NKJV

44. • NEXT SESSION:
• THE EDENIC COVENANT.