Quote:
Originally Posted by faithful_servant
This is a favorite topic for me. I'll throw this out for now and be back to expand on it later.
The Covenant of Blood
The covenant of blood, recorded by all ancient civilizations, is the most powerful and serious form of agreement ever established. It is this form of agreement that God used to reveal His love to His people.
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God has always based His realtionship with man on covenants. From His first covenant in the Garden to the everlasting covenant He has promised us through eternity, God's relationship with us has always been one of covenant. God has always been faithful to His covenants, while we have been the unfaithful ones. He has also changed His covenants as our needs changed. As one is fullfilled, He is faithful to establish another. As the needs one addressed pass away, He is faithful to establish new covenants to cover our new needs. But, they always reflect the heart of the Father ad His love towards us.
Covenants were the most sacred of agreements, passing even that between husband and wife. In many cultures the worst thing you could ever do was to break a covenant. The term "covenant-breaker" is a curse in many languages. In some cultures, breaking a covenant meant a death-sentence for the one breaking the covenant.
Common threads among most covenanting ceremonies include an exchange of symbols of authority, the sharing of a meal and the part that most tightly sealed the covenant - the sharing of blood. You see, blood equals life and when you share your blood, you are saying that you are sharing your life with another. Most often, covenants were cut the blood of the persons entering the covenant, but in some cases the blood was that of a prized animal.
Covenants were never entered into lightly, because to enter a covenant meant a commitment that you would die before breaking. Some covenants were established for set periods of time, some for the life of the people entering the covenant and some were for all time.