The Carrier of the Covenant

According to Abraham Cohen, in his book Everyman’s Talmud, the Jews of Jesus day believed that there were seven heavens or expanses between earth and where YHWH dwelt. They also believed that a holy beast or seraph lived on top of each of the levels of expanse, pulling a fiery chariot and singing praises to God. The Jews believed that it would take five hundred years to travel through each one of the heavens. 3500 years of travel meant that God existed at an impossible distance to reach.

However, they also taught that God was only a prayer away. The sages would contrast the difference between idols and YHWH by explaining that though God may appear to be far away, one must only enter a synagogue or go behind a column and pray in a whisper and God will hear the one praying. “Can there be a god nearer than this, who is as close to His creatures as the mouth is to the ear?” The sages would say that an idol appears close because it is born on the shoulder and placed in the house of the owner, but the owner can cry to it until he dies and the idol will never hear him. The idol appears to be near, but it is an eternity away from the one who prays to it.

When God gave Moses the Torah on Mount Sinai, he gave him two tablets. This is very important, because when two nations made a pact, there would be a weaker nation called a vassal and a stronger nation called a suzerain. The pact between the two nations would begin with a reminder of who the stronger nation is and what they have done for the weaker, followed by rules that must be followed which include blessings for obedience and punishments for breaking the covenant. Ultimately the suzerain would provide protection for the vassal in return for some kind of payment, such as taxes.

There would be two copies of the covenant made on tablets; one would be kept by the suzerain and one by the vassal. And each would take their copy and keep it in their most sacred place.

When God made His covenant with Israel, he told Moses to keep both copies and place them in a box called the “ark of the covenant.” The important message here was that God’s most sacred place and Israel’s most sacred place would be the same place. God would not dwell 3500 years of travel away from his people, but would dwell among his people.

The Ark of the Covenant was to be taken everywhere that the people of Israel went, which signified God’s constant presence with His people. Along with God’s presence, His teachings were to be kept in the box, and were to be taught to every child of every generation. By teaching every generation to live in the will of God through his commandments, and by carrying God’s presence with them, God would be with them forever.

Jesus said, “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Jesus told his Jewish disciples that they were to carry the teachings of their Rabbi, Jesus, to every person, Jew and non-Jew. They were to make disciples, which meant that they were to teach people how to live and be like Jesus. And he said baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptizing means to immerse someone in something. In this case, the disciples were to immerse their new disciples in God. In order to immerse them in God, they would have to cover them in the Body of Christ, which is where God now dwells, as the Church represents the new Ark of the Covenant where the instructions of Jesus are to be kept and his presence is to be carried.

In His dust,
Johnny

Writer: Capt. Jonathan Gainey was born in Jacksonville, FL in June, 1969. He has been married to Staci, the daughter of retired Salvation Army officers, for twenty years and they have four children ages 18, 16, 12, and 4. Jonathan was commissioned as an officer in June of 2002, and is currently serving in his third appointment in New Bern, NC, USA. He is working on a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is the creator and manager of the Flocks Diner website, where his passion for learning and teaching is expressed and shared through writing and a weekly podcast.

2 Comments to The Carrier of the Covenant

1. My problem is the last sentence - but where does that leave the Jewish people?

   This is basically replacement theology, and it says that God has abandoned the Jewish people, resides now only in the church, and therefore the only true path for Jews is to stop being Jewish, leave Torah and mitzvot and become Gentiles in a Gentile church. No, this doesn’t make any theological sense at all.

   Here and now, despite centuries of persecution - often by the church - countless Jewish people are living their whole lives devotedly in the Covenant, and fulfilling it as we are are best able, some recognising Yeshua as Messiah and understanding salvation in the terms you and I would understand it, and others believing Yeshua was not the messiah.

   Eleanor
Eleanor Burne-Jones on October 16th, 2009

2. Great insights about the laws given to Moses. The Talmud, also suggests that a written and oral law were given at this time. The written law we have TORAH תּוֹרָה our Genesis,Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and the oral law codified in the Talmud.

   There are many insights in the Talmud into the thinking and understanding of spiritual things. It often explains the issues Jesus was speaking too in the New Testament when he spoke to the Jewish Leaders. While understanding the importants of the Talmud, Jesus warns us to keep the written law as our source and authority.

   Blessings

   Ronald
Capt Ronald Farr on October 16th, 2009

Leave a comment