p 01
vh cl Israel
nd^on
here the ot on of a ne the t ought If not 1 his t n the for of the i tract th Isiae Jere
374
COVENANT
COYEXAXT
; character of the relation between God and Israel in general. To the prophet's mind religion and the covenant have become so identified that the covenant idea becomes the stable, permanent element in the historical de- velopment ; if in its old form the covenant disappears, then in a new form it must reappear. The newness will consist in the twofold feature, that the sin of the people will be forgiven, i.e. the former sin, and that the law of Jehovah, instead of being an outward, objective covenant obligation, will become an inward, subjective covenant realitv, written on the heart in consequem-e of the universal and perfect knowledge of Jehovah which will prevail. This passage in Jeremiah lies at the basis of the NT use of the phrase ' the new covenant."
Two further passages in the prophets, to which a Messianic application of the covenant idea could easily attach itself, are Zee ft" and Hal 31. In the fonner passage the original reads : ' Because of the Mood of thy covenant, / have sent forth thy prisonerri out of the pit wherein is no water' ; the LXX has. in the second person of address to Jehovah, ' Because of the blood of thy covenant, thou hast sent forth,' etc. On tlie foruH i- ren- dering the covenant is the fo\t-TKiiU m i !■ 'A'tn I-i . ' i - :
this interpretation of the snttix "ttr, ' - 1 :" ' - ' '
some, we may refer the siittix to th- . i . i i
nant blood,' and understand Ih^- pin I- i'
the sacrificial blood by means of uhi !i l-r 1 • •■■■'-
holds and renews thf
witli
presented as the CO
ing of the LXX the covenant is reprt made and maintained by Jehovah. In the .Malachi.pass.a:.'e the coming of the ' angel ' or ' messenger of the covenant' is pre- dicted. This 'angel of the covenant' is not identical with the Lord, liut as a distinct person he accompanies the coming of the Lord to His temple. He is called ' the angel of the covenant,' either because he realizes the covenant, or because his coming is in virtue of the existing co>enant. It is easy to see how on either view a significant connexion could be established between the .Messiah and the covenant.
The LXX regularly renders b'rUh by 0(«9<ot, the later Greek versions prefer mvSy.xy,. The latter term better expresses the idea of a two-sided agreement ; but probably this was precisely the reason why the LXX translators, desiring to emphasize the one-sided Divine origin and character of the covenant, avoided it. It should also be remembered that in not a few instances b'rtth in the original meant not a covenant but an authoritative dis- position, which, as stated above, is according to some_ scholars even the primary meaning of the
the choice
classical Greek
sition, and might
: for b^rUh. But
two-sided agree-
, there were consid^ of haHxr, in preference to o-yvf the former meant usually in so far have seemed unsuitable occasionally at least iixSr.xTj coul
ment (Aris"toph. Av. 432). The verb h.!cr,U!<rHx, was not bound to the notion of ' testament,' but signifletl authoritative arrange- ments generally, .^nd above all things it should be noted tliat the testamentarv hiuO^^xyj among the Greeks before and at the time of the LXX translation differed in many respects from our
brought i
oiaBy.xr. was a solemn and public transaction of a religious char- acter, by which an irrevocable disposition of rights and pro- perty was made, and which for its effect was not dependent on the death of the htxSifctvos, but immediately set in opera- tion certain of the duties and relationships established. Thus conceived, the iixSixr, could all the more easily become the equivalent of the hfrith between God and Israel, because already in the OT the idea of * the inheritance' had signifi- cantly'attached itself to that of the covenant.
In the NT the noun used is always hutOrxy., but the cognate forms of ir^y*6y,xr appear in the verb (Lk 22^) and the adjective (Ro 121). J,ij,„ occurs in the NT 33 times. The word retains the one-sided associations of the LXX usage, yet in most cases the NT writers show themselves aware of the peculiar covenant-meaning descended with it from the OT. An addi- tional possibiHty of interpreting it in the sense of was furnished bv the fact that the blessings of the era were derived" from the death of Christ. Hence in He 916. n the new covenant is represented as a testament bestowing upon believers the eternal inheritance, because the death of Christ had to intervene to make the bestowal effectual. .\s Itamsay has pointed out (Ezpositor, Nov. 189S. pp. 321-330), this representa- tion is based on Roman law, according to which a testament has no force until the death of the testator. On the other hand, the Pauline representation nf Gal 3'" 1** is b.iged on the Graico-Syrian law of the earlier period, under wliicli the >na^<<y,xy„ once made, could not be subsequently modified, and took effect in certain directions immediatelv. No reflexion is here made on the death of the testator. Still, that Si««i;«r does not here have the unmodified OT sense of 'covenant,' but means 'testa-