Unfortunately not available to those who have not paid for the last FairMormon conference, but I found Taylor Halverson's presentation very interesting and will spend some posts on the topic he discussed - the covenant path in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon. For those who have not seen the presentation and don't have the possibility to see it, I will try to start out by briefly recapping his main points.
- Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are covenant texts
- The word "testament" originate from the word, "covenant". The Bible is basically a documentation of the old covenant and the new covenant
- The Book of Mormon title page explains that it is written so "that they may know the covenants of the Lord"
- The two most important Old Testament covenants are:
- The Abrahamic covenant: This is all about God making promises to Abraham and his seed
- The Mosaic covenant: This is all about Abraham's seed making promises to God
- Lots of terms and expressions in the scriptures are covenant terms, often unrecognized by the modern reader (One of the examples Halverson mentioned is "keep" that Lord Wilmore just posted about)
I just have to elaborate on Halverson's point about the Abrahamic covenant because I found it fascinating. In Old Testament tradition, a covenant agreement was formally made by cutting animals in half and walking between the carcasses. It symbolized "what happened to these animals will happen to me if I break this treaty". In a time when literacy was rare, this act was the (dramatic and a through a modern lens a bit grotesque) signature. This article elaborates on it.
But the Abrahamic covenant is a special case. In Genesis 15, we read that Abraham chopped up the animals but instead of walking between them he fell asleep. Later, there was a fire passing between them instead. We have previously written about fire signifying God's presence on this blog. It was actually God signing the treaty saying that he should be cut in half if he didn't keep the covenant! This cannot happen of course, so Abraham had a sure promise that God would fulfill his covenant. God makes a lot of promises to Abraham and we learn that they apply to all those who are of his seed.
Abraham's seed were in bondage in Egypt but as part of the Abrahamic covenant, they were delivered and granted a promised land and other blessings. But to become his people and Abraham's seed in more than a biological sense, they would have to enter into and keep the Mosaic covenant given in the Exodus. The event is described in Exodus chapter 20, but it is basically the whole Book of Deuteronomy that lays out the terms.
I mentioned that the Mosaic covenant is all about the promises the people make to God or their obligations to Him. Obviously God promises something in return, but that is basically just a reiteration of what he had already promised to Abraham and his seed: Prosperity and a promised land. God's obligations are the old Abrahamic covenant that still stands and that he has not forgotten. If Israel keep the commandments that Moses received on Sinai, they will receive those promises.
In the New Testament (Matthew 5 in particular), the second Moses, Jesus Christ, updates the covenant terms. Both our obligations and God's promises become more spiritual in nature ("higher law"). We note how Jesus in Matthew 5 starts out with a reference to the law ("ye have heard that it was said by them of old time") and updates it to involve thoughts and intentions, not just actions. Similarly, the original promises of prosperity eventually relate more to things like spiritual gifts than herds and a large household. The promised land relates more to Zion and the celestial kingdom rather than a designated location on earth.
Now to an important point that Halverson made that I will look more into in upcoming posts.
- "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" is code for the Abrahamic covenant. Whenever this expression is used, the author talks specifically about the God who promised certain blessings to Abraham and his seed
- The Book of Deuteronomy lays out the Mosaic covenant. It can be summarized as "keep the commandments and you will prosper in the land". Sounds familiar, perhaps? When this term is used in the Book of Mormon, it is a reference to the Mosaic covenant.
In the next post I will have a closer look at "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" in the Book of Mormon.
