God of Covenants

God is a God of covenants, and he keeps his promises and his covenants. And not only does he keep them, but he demands that his people also keep theirs.

Breaking a covenant is a serious matter for God. When he commands Abraham to circumcise himself and his descendants, he warns: "And the uncircumcised man, who has not circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has violated my covenant" (Gen. 17:14). Later, when he delivers the law at Sinai, he also warns about the punishments that would follow Israel's breaking of the covenant. The people fell, and indeed God kept his word.

When Israel enters Canaan and they take the first city, Jericho, Achan sinned because of the accursed thing. God's punishment was not long in coming. Israel is defeated in the following battle, in shameful conditions. Achan's sin was not minor. God interprets it as a violation of his covenant. "Israel has sinned, and they have even broken my covenant which I commanded them" (Josh. 7:11).

At the same time, God warns against making covenants with pagan peoples, because that would be tantamount to invalidating his covenant. For God, covenants are something of the utmost seriousness. The Bible declares blessed are those who keep his covenant. They will have paths full of mercy and truth (Ps. 25:10). But God goes even further. He not only demands that his people keep their covenants with him, and not only punishes the breaking of them, but he also demands that they keep their covenants with other men.

There are at least two very exemplary examples of this. One is the covenant Israel made with Nebuchadnezzar in the days of King Zedekiah. He had pledged his obedience and loyalty; nevertheless, he rebelled against him and sought help from Egypt (2 Chron. 36:13; Ezek. 17:15). One might mistakenly think that since it was a covenant made with an enemy, God could accept Israel's breaking it with impunity. But for God there is no covenant that can be broken, not even against Nebuchadnezzar. The entire chapter 17 of Ezekiel is a claim of God to Israel for invalidating this covenant.

There is another very significant case. In Malachi's day, after the Babylonian captivity, the people had fallen into a new form of transgression of their covenants. This time it was the repudiation of wives. The Lord says through the prophet: "The Lord hath testified against thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast been disloyal, when she was thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant" (Mal. 2:14). And the Lord claims his people for the lightness of their marital conduct. The wives had watered the altar with their tears, and had been seen by God. The marriage covenant had been broken.

The words of our covenants are to be firmer than if they were signed with a royal seal. For we are the people of the God of covenants.

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