Lecture 7

Question 1

The four covenants in the Old Testament

Answer 1

• Noah
• Abraham
• Israel
• David

The covenants in the Old Testament are modeled after ancient Near Eastern treaties between nations. Typically, these treaties were between a stronger power and a lesser power.

Each party agreed to take on a set of obligations toward the other

Question 2

Abraham

Answer 2

God chooses Abraham without any forewarning or reason and makes a series of
remarkable promises to him. When God comes to him, Abraham is childless and his wife is barren, yet he is promised that he will be the father of a great nation and the nations will be blessed by him. Lastly and the most significant is the promise stating that his descendants will be given the land of Canaan where Abraham is commanded to journey.

Question 3

The binding of Issac

Answer 3

The child of the promise is finally born, but will he now die?
- Portrayed as a test so as to avoid anyone thinking God could have commanded
child sacrifice; is this an etiology of animal sacrifice, or a polemic against those who
practiced child sacrifice?
-Rejection and condemnation of child sacrifice in the Bible

Question 4

Aqedah

Answer 4

The binding of Isaac

Question 5

Hagar

Answer 5

Abraham and his handmaid Hagar, birth and expulsion of Ishmael (a human attempt to fulfill the promise without Abraham’s wife Sarah)