The World of the Covenant

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The World of the Covenant

• geography (maps)
• historical periods (10)
• cultural background
• particular events
• theological import
• literary concepts
• biblical texts

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(No Transcript)
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Historical world (geography)

• Mediterranean landscape
• coastal plain
• central highlands
• Jordan rift
• Transjordan highlands

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• patriarchs (18501250 BC)
• Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph
• election (12501130 BC)
• Moses, Joshua
• Exodus (commandments, ark of covenant)
• the Judges (11301020 BC)
• Samuel
• united Kingdom (1020922 BC)
• Saul, David, Solomon
• Jerusalem (1st temple)

• divided Kingdom (922724 BC)
• fall of north (Israel) to Assyria
• Judean kingdom (724587 BC)
• fall of south (Judah) to Babylonia
• Babylonian Exile (587539 BC)
• Persian period (539333 BC)
• Cyrus (2nd temple)
• the Law (circumcision, sabbath)
• Hellenistic period (33363 BC)
• synagogue
• Roman period (64 BC1st cent. AD)

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Historical World

• Cultural Background
• process of socialization
• importance of land

• Particular Events
• migration of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac,
  Jacob, Joseph)
• exodus from Egypt (Moses, Joshua)

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Covenant Law

• Theological Import
• coming to be of a people
• faith of fathers
• salvation in journey
• structured settlement
• through acts of divine intervention
• exodus
• conquests

• Literary Concepts
• the Exodus
• the Covenant (ark)
• the Temple
• the Kingdom
• law
• history

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Exodus 15

• Who is like to you among the gods, O LORD? Who is
  like to you, magnificent in holiness? O terrible
  in renown, worker of wonders,
• when you stretched out your right hand, the earth
  swallowed them!
• In your mercy you led the people you redeemed in
  your strength you guided them to your holy
  dwelling.
• The nations heard and quaked anguish gripped the
  dwellers in Philistia.
• Then were the princes of Edom dismayed trembling
  seized the chieftains of Moab All the dwellers
  in Canaan melted away
• terror and dread fell upon them. By the might of
  your arm they were frozen like stone, while your
  people, O LORD, passed over, while the people you
  had made your own passed over.
• And you brought them in and planted them on the
  mountain of your inheritance-- the place where
  you made your seat, O LORD, the sanctuary, O
  LORD, which your hands established.
• The LORD shall reign forever and ever.

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Exodus 201-19

• I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of
  the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
• You shall not have other gods besides me.
• You shall not carve idols for yourselves you
  shall not bow down or worship them.
• You shall not take the name of the Lord, your
  God, in vain
• Remember to keep holy the sabbath

• Honor your father and mother
• You shall not kill.
• You shall not commit adultery.
• You shall not steal.
• You shall not bear false witness against your
  neighbor.
• You shall not covet your neighbors house.
• You shall not covet your neighbors wife, nor
  slave, nor ox or ass, nor anything else that
  belongs to him.

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2 Samuel 5

• All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron
  and said Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
  In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you
  who led the Israelites out and brought them back.
  And the Lord said to you, You shall shepherd my
  people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.
  When all the elders of Israel came to David in
  Hebron, King David made an agreement with them
  there before the Lord, and they anointed him king
  of Israel. David was thirty years old when he
  became king, and he reigned for forty years
  seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah,
  and thirty-three years in Jerusalem over all
  Israel and Judah.

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1 Kings 8

• At the order of Solomon, the elders of Israel and
  all the leaders of the tribes, the princes in the
  ancestral houses of the Israelites, came to King
  Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the
  Lords covenant from the City of David which is
  Zion. The king turned and greeted the whole
  community of Israel as they stood Blessed be
  the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own
  mouth made a promise to my father David and by
  his hand has brought it to fulfillment. I have
  succeeded my father David and sit on the throne
  of Israel, as the Lord foretold, and I have built
  this temple to honor the Lord, the God of Israel.
  I have provided in it a place for the ark in
  which is the covenant of the Lord, which he made
  with our fathers when he brought them out of the
  land of Egypt.