Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 109:433 (Jan 1952)
Article: Old Testament Fellowship with God Part 4
Author: James F. Rand

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BSac 109:433 (Jan 52) p. 47

Old Testament Fellowship with God
Part 4

James F. Rand

(Continued from the October-December Number, 1951)

{Editor’s note: Footnotes in the original printed edition were numbered 39–44, but in this electronic edition are numbered 1–6 respectively.}

Old Testament Covenants

As has been seen, the Abrahamic Covenant is to be considered basic in the covenant relationship as far as the gracious covenants are concerned. Its relationship to the Mosaic Covenant will be discussed later. There are three gracious covenants to be investigated yet in an endeavor to ascertain what they contribute to the Old Testament believer’s relationship to God on the basis of the covenants. Because these covenants are basically to be found within the Abrahamic Covenant to which considerable space has already been given, our occupation with them need not be lengthy.

The fourth covenant about to be discussed is the Mosaic Covenant. Differing from the other covenants because of its legal character, it nevertheless has been held to be determinative in the covenant relationship by some writers. That it is not, as far as a real spiritual relationship is concerned, has been already demonstrated. However, the agreement does establish a covenant relationship and this fact will be investigated following our examination of the gracious covenants.

I. The Palestinian Covenant

This covenant is to be found in the twenty-ninth and thirtieth chapters of Deuteronomy and deals with Israel’s possession of the land of Palestine. Antecedently it was found in Genesis 13:15, “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.” God spoke there to Abram concerning Canaan. In Genesis 15:18–21 the Lord is

BSac 109:433 (Jan 52) p. 48

more explicit regarding the dimensions of the land. “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: the Kenites and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

The covenant statements are linked with the passage in Deuteronomy twenty-nine and thirty by the closing words of Deuteronomy 30:20. Following the setting forth of the conditions whereby Israel might enjoy the land which the Lord has given them, Moses concludes with these words: “…that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers,...

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