After the flood, God began again, now with Noah and the people who came afterward. With them, too, He sought a relationship, and central to that relationship was the idea of covenant. The Bible identifies seven major covenants that God has made with people:

• 1st Covenant – Adam (Genesis 1:1-3:24)
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  2nd Covenant – Noah (Genesis 6:1-9:29)

• 3rd Covenant – Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)
• 4th Covenant – Moses and the Israelite nation (known as Sinaitic or Mosaic Covenant; Exodus 19:1-24:18)
• 5th Covenant – Phineas ( Num. 25:10-13)
• 6th Covenant – David (2 Sam. 7:5-16)
• 7th Covenant – New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34)

Read the following texts. What do they mean by the “everlasting covenant”? (Gen. 9:16, Gen. 17:7, Isa. 55:3, Heb. 13:20).

The Bible incorporates the term “everlasting covenant” sixteen times. Out of them, thirteen are specifically applied to the covenants with Abraham, Israel at Sinai, and David. Each of the covenants mentioned above, although unique, bore the imprint of “the everlasting covenant”. Just as the everlasting gospel is first announced in Genesis 3:15, but then progressively revealed throughout the Bible, the same applies to the everlasting covenant. Each consecutive covenant serves to expound and deepen our understanding of the everlasting covenant of love, which is revealed most fully in the plan of salvation. The New and Old Covenants, as they are often distinguished, contain the same components.

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Read Nehemiah 10:1-29 (and refresh your memory by reading Nehemiah 9:36-38). Who is making this covenant, and why did they enter into it?

Although only the leaders signed the document, the text pointedly notes that all of “the rest the people” entered into “a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God” (Neh. 10:28-29, NIV). What was so significant about the covenant that they all desired to enter into an agreement with God?

Hearing the Law

In order to answer this question, we have to go back to the very beginning, and understand the biblical idea of the covenant.

The covenant was important because it was part of God’s story in dealing with sinful humanity, and it demonstrated God’s yearning for a relationship with people. It also allowed people to demonstrate their desire to be dedicated to God.

The biblical creation story in Genesis 1 and 2 reveals not only the creation of the first humans but the relationship between them and God, and between each other, as well. However, sin then entered and broke all those relationships. Sin is the antithesis of creation, bringing de-creation (death) instead.

The genealogy of Adam eventually splits, as Cain chooses evil (Gen. 4:8-19) and Seth embraces God (Gen. 5:3-24). Cain’s genealogy culminates in Lamech (Gen. 4:17-19), the seventh (inclusively) from Adam, who introduced polygamy. Violence and vengeance on Cain’s side stand in juxtaposition to the faithful lineage of Seth. Seth’s genealogy is also enumerated, but the seventh in this line is Enoch, who “walked with God” (Gen. 5:24) and was taken to heaven.

Unfortunately, the world embraced evil more than it did God, and there came a point when the lineage of the faithful was very small, and soon there might not be any family left through whom God could fulfill His word by sending the promised Seed to save humans. At that point, God intervenes with the flood. The flood, however, was a further de-creation, a reversal and destruction of life, and yet God destroyed only what humans had already ruined (Gen. 6:11-13).

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