Question 1
Indeed, a covenant in the bible context refers to a contract between God and His people whereby God gives a promise to the people expecting given conducts from them in return. Whereas in law, a covenant is a formal agreement between two people or parties that have a legal validity usually under a seal. The notable characteristic of a biblical covenant is that it is eternal hence exists even in the future. In addition, other features include that covenants are for a particular person not for the entire people around when making the covenant. Moreover, the covenants are always gracious in that the surety is God himself. Other legal forms similar to a covenant include the contracts and legal agreements that are between two people and enforceable by law.
The Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12 to 17 was the covenant for circumcision made between God and Abraham together with the generation in his lineage. However, in chapter 12 to 15, God gives Abraham two promises without any binding condition. First, God promises Abraham to make him a great nation making his name great hence; he will be a blessing to many. The promise is in chapter 12 where God promises to bless all the people of the earth through Abraham. Secondly, in chapter 15, God promises Abraham the land of Israel for his descendants. The covenant with a condition is in chapter 17 where God promises Abraham to make him the father of a great nation with many descendants with the condition that he and all his male descendants will have the circumcision as a permanent sign.
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The Edenic covenant is a universal covenant in Genesis chapter 1 between God and Adam made in the Garden of Eden. The covenant gives Adam the control over the land to tend and guard thus control over the animals and plants. The condition of the covenant was that he would not touch the tree of life hence God based it on obedience. The effect of breaking the covenant was due to Adams’ disobedience resulting in a curse. The tree of life symbolized Gods immortality, and the seal of the covenant was the Sabbath day that was the seven day of the week.
The Noahic covenant is a universal covenant between God, humans, and all living creatures with the promise that God would never destroy life on earth through floods. The covenant is in Genesis chapter 8 and 9 made after God destroyed humans and other living creatures using floods at the time of Noah. The sign god used for the covenant was a rainbow that signifies Gods promise to the earth. The relationship between God and man at the time of making the covenant was adverse as man angered God.
Question 2
The Old Testament creation story has two versions according to researchers whereby the first creation story is in Genesis 1 verse 1 to chapter 2 verse 3. The second story is in Genesis 2 verse 4 to 25. The two stories contradict on the day God created man and the time God took to complete the creation. In the first story, in Genesis chapter one, God starts by creating plants then animals and ends with man and woman on the sixth day. In addition, the days God took in creation according to this version were six days. Therefore, He rested on the seventh day that He named the Sabbath day. The second version of the story says that God used one day to complete the entire creation in which God creates man first then follows all the animals and plants and lastly creating woman.
The characteristics in these two stories are that in both of them, God is the creator of humans and all living things despite the contradictions. Moreover, the stories address different readers in that they eliminate the theory of evolution and strengthen creationism. The two stories are complementary with the differences arising in that the first story focuses more on the chronological creation of every living thing. On the other side, the second story only focuses on the creation of man and woman as the in charge of the living creatures.
Question 4
Ta Biblia is a Greek word that defines the Holy book or the Bible. However, the word may have a literal meaning of a paper or a scroll hence its use can refer to an ordinary book. Therefore, the Greek used the word to refer to the collection of scriptures used a source of spiritual inspiration by the Jews and Christians. The definition also described the scrolls that recorded the relationship between God and Humans through the scriptures. The Biblia holds the two testaments both Old and New Testaments.
Torah is a Hebrew name that refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible known as the Tanakh printed with commentaries. Moreover, the word can mean the Jewish teachings and practices concerning either the biblical or the rabbinic writings. The Torah writings describe where the Jews originated from and their journey towards becoming Gods people. It also includes the covenants they made with God and the set of morals governing their way of life.
A biblical Canon is a term referring to the collection of sacred books in the Catholic churches they consider genuine. In other words, the word describes the principles in which authority basis their judgment.
Pentateuch is a word describing the first five books of the Bible that are Genesis, Deuteronomy, Exodus, Numbers, and Leviticus. It is a Greek word referring to five books of five scrolls written by Moses as the leader of the Israelites. The other name for Pentateuch is Torah that describes the creation story and the story of Israelites in their quest from Egypt to Canaan. The books describe the laws governing the Israelite society and the death of Moses.
