The Significance of the Abrahamic Covenant for Israel and Its Impact Research Paper

The Significance of the Abrahamic Covenant for Israel and Its Impact on My Life - Research Paper Example Although the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional, one of its aspects is in fact conditional – the Land aspect (Leigh). Nevertheless, whether unconditional or not, all three aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant bear a great significance to the nation and people of Israel and to my life as well. The Abrahamic Covenant is in fact stated in five major passages in the Old Testament Bible (Raddish 42). The first is in Genesis 12:1-3, 7, where God first showed favor to Abraham. This is followed by Genesis 13:14-17, where God expanded his promises to Abraham concerning his descendants and the land they will own in the future. The third passage is Genesis 15:1-21, where there is a formal binding of the covenant between God and Abraham. In the fourth passage, Genesis 17:1-14, the covenant was reaffirmed. Finally, in Genesis 22:16-18, the covenant was restated by God with finality, after Abraham has proven himself worthy by attempting to sacrifice his own son Isaac for God at Mt. Moriah. (4 2) It is a fact that there are three elements in the Abrahamic Covenant – the seed of Abraham, the universal blessings of God, and the land that Abraham’s descendants will own. ... With Abraham, God promised, â€Å"But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year† (Gn. 17:21). This particular promise God fulfilled when He tells Isaac, â€Å"Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you [and] I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky† (Gn. 26:3-4). After Isaac has passed away, God renewed the covenant with Jacob when He tells the latter, â€Å"All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring [and] I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land† (Gn. 28:13-15). What Jacob may have perhaps did not anticipate or did not clearly understand was that when God said, â€Å"I will bring you back to this land,† He meant that the descendants of Jacob will first be enslaved in Egypt before they were to return to Israel. Nevertheless, with only his faith to guide him, Jacob repeated this to his son Joseph when he tells him, â€Å"God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers† (Gn. 48:3-4). The events that followed this included the famine in Israel which forced Joseph’s brothers to flee to Egypt, the slavery that the Israelites experienced under the Egyptian pharaoh, and their eventual deliverance through Moses. However, the ultimate success of the Seed aspect of the covenant comes before the exodus. This is stated in the Book of Exodus: â€Å"The Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land