The covenant with Noah is a renewal of the covenant made with man at creation. After the flood God’s relationship with his people is re-established with Noah and his descendents. Noah was chosen for his faithfulness and he responds quickly to God’s command to build the ark. His first act when leaving the ark is to worship. The creation ordinance to ‘be faithful’ is reinstated after the falling of man. A new commitment is made: blood is not to be shed. God makes promises to Noah regarding the future.
In the covenant with Abraham there were three promises made; land, people and protection/blessing. Abraham is called to respond with obedience and faith to a promise. In Genesis 11:30, we are told that Sarai, Abraham’s wife, is barren. Abraham himself is a nomad, who is chosen to be the bearer of God’s message, beyond even his own. He leaves his family and home for an unknown God. Abraham was then called and told by God to depend entirely on God’s faithfulness to fulfil promises that were beyond human possibility. During the covenant God participates intimately. The covenant was fulfilled on God’s terms. Therefore Hagar’s child is not the child of the covenant. Abraham’s faith faced many tests such as the command in which Abraham had to sacrifice Isaac. The Abrahamic Covenant is the basis for the Sinai covenant, and the events of the Exodus are rooted in God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The Sinai Covenant is an expansion of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Sinai Covenant makes the original (Abrahamic) covenant universal. The Sinai Covenant is made with the whole nation rather than just with an individual. It brings with it a new dimension into the relationship between God and Man. It shows obedience to laws as demanded by God. God’s protective act in Exodus becomes the basis of the commitment to him. This covenant is sealed in blood as shown in Exodus 24. The threat to the covenant is demonstrated by the worship of the golden calf.
In the Davidic covenant God promises that he will establish for him a dynasty that will last forever. This promise also comes with the hope of a Messiah. A future free from conflict is not out of grasp for the Jews. Despite the destruction of Jerusalem and Israel’s identity as a powerful nation, the Davidic covenant assures them that God’s will be made known through David’s descendents. After they were exiled God still used his covenanted people to make his name and nature known. Jeremiah’s vision of a new covenant promises a covenant based on personal commitment that is written on the heart of man rather than on tablets of stone.
The Book of the covenant is the oldest form of Old Testament Law. Moses read the Book of the Law, the regulations of which the people must accept. God needed chosen people to bear his message. The Israelites were and are God’s particular choice for the universal mission. This universal mission is to demonstrate what life is like to walk in the path of God. This selection demonstrates no superiority. This mission must be accomplished by transmitting and observing the torah, the divine word and the 613 mitzvot. However this selection does not mean Jews get privileges. The covenant implies responsibility. However, it has caused hostility towards the Jews and has led to Anti-Semitism. Jews are in a special relationship with God and they have to be answerable to a greater extent for their actions. Chosen people (according to Jewish tradition) were chosen to suffer but also chosen out of love. The process of selection was finalised by the ever-lasting covenant between God and the Jewish people. The symbol of this covenant is circumcision. The elements of the covenant are the gift of the Torah and the gift of the land of Israel.
In conclusion, God’s chosen people have a special and unique bond with God through their covenant relationship. The faiths mission is to walk in the hands of God, a way of life in which Jews dedicate their life to.
A1b) God’s intervention in Jewish life has undoubtedly saved Jews lives in the past however as Anti-Semitism becomes more prominent in our everyday lives we have to ask ourselves is God still showing his special love?
The Jews would never have survived without God’s special love. In Genesis in the Old Testament it shows surviving power. Exodus shows God saving the lives of the Israelites. He loves them because they are his chosen people in a covenant relationship. God fulfils his covenantal role as a God who intervenes in the history of his chosen people. For example in Exodus; God freed the Israelites from slavery and parted the Red Sea so they could escape from the Pharaoh. He also sent plagues to make the Pharaoh set them free.
God’s special love can have negative consequences for example the Destruction of the Temple, when God used Nebuchadnezzar as a ‘rod of his anger’ to punish his chosen people who had ignored his law and strayed from his path.
God however, never abandons his chosen people entirely, despite punishment the covenantal relationship remains. On the other hand, Jews are regarded with hostility and suspicion e.g. Holocaust and Anti-Semitism. The special love they show for God has caused them lots of problems. If God loves his people so much why did God not intervene in all attacks/persecution of the Jews? For example, God intervened when the Israelites were being persecuted by the Egyptians in Exodus however, he did not intervene in the gas chamber of concentration camps when six million Jews lost their lives. God did not show himself in the same way he did during Exodus. He was experienced as absence, therefore, his presence was not known and many of his chosen people died convinced there was no God. Due to the Jews relationship with God they were made to suffer by the Nazi’s, so God’s love cost them dear.
In conclusion, I believe God’s love has limitations. He picks and chooses when he helps his chosen people. However, Jews still love God in fact after the attacks, on the Jews which I have mentioned above, their love for God grows stronger.
