XI. Conclusion

A. Covenant Language

"I will hold you forever in my heart, as if I were standing here in the blood of the covenant."

B. Our Relationship with G-d

Our relationship with the L-rd is a covenant, therefore:

• You may surely stand on the covenant promises.
   
• You must honor your covenant responsibilities:
   
  • Love the L-rd your G-d with all that you are.
     
  • Love your neighbor as yourself.
     
  • Rest in the faithfulness of G-d.

C. The Serious Nature of Covenants

Covenants are not to be entered into lightly, for G-d will require them of you. To swear an oath, or enter into a covenant, is to bring HaShem in as a witness and judge. He will protect His name and we should do the same.

Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your G-d. I am the L-rd. (Lev 19:12 NIV)

G-d held Israel responsible for breaking a covenant, that they were not supposed to enter into in the first place, several hundred years later:

• The Forbidden Covenant Specified:

And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For {if} you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you. (Ex 23:31-33)

• The Forbidden Covenant Entered:

So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them. And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they {were} their neighbors who dwelt near them. Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities {were} Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath Jearim. But the children of Israel did not attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the L-rd G-d of Israel. And all the congregation complained against the rulers. Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, "We have sworn to them by the L-rd G-d of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them." (Josh 9:15-19)

• The Forbidden Covenant Enforced:

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the L-rd. And the L-rd answered, "{It is} because of Saul and {his} bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites." So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites {were} not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah. Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the L-rd?" And the Gibeonites said to him, "We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us." So he said, "Whatever you say, I will do for you." Then they answered the king, "As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, {that} we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them before the L-rd in Gibeah of Saul, {whom} the L-rd chose." And the king said, "I will give {them."} But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the L-rd's oath that {was} between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the L-rd. So they fell, {all} seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first {days,} in the beginning of barley harvest. (2Sam 21:1-9)

Notice: David respected his covenant with Jonathan in responding to the request of the Gibeonites.