An Invitation
Another year is coming to an end, and in just 26 days we will once again embrace January. Over the past few months, we have spent time laying some groundwork around the conversation of spiritual formation, while also looking at the practices of prayer, joy, and community. It feels like a good way to round out 2021 is to finish the year on the practice of Bible reading.
A few months ago on the Holy Formed Instagram page, I posed some questions in stories. One question I asked was - Do practices like Bible reading and prayer feel like items to check off a to-do list? More than 50% of responders said yes. If you are one of those that said yes, I want you to know that there was a time in my life when I felt that way too.
My sincerest hope is that each of us would have a longing for God’s word - to set aside the obligation that has been communicated and embrace the wonder. The Bible is a beautiful gift, available for us to unwrap and discover what it contains. It is not always easy to understand, but we have been invited into a lifetime of exploration. There may be parts that you read in the past that you’ve come back to again with a new sense of awe and understanding. There may be parts you thought you understood perfectly and suddenly you have more context; realizing there is way more to grasp than you ever imagined.
So I thought this month I’d invite you along as I unpack some parts of scripture that I am studying. I thought I’d share with you my process for asking questions and digging into the text. Hopefully, it feels helpful and encouraging.
Currently, I am spending time on a deep dive into the various covenants in the Bible; starting with Noah and making my way toward Jesus. We will just scratch the surface of this study during December, but maybe it will be something that excites you and you’ll want to learn more on your own.
Genesis 9:9-17
“Now behold, I myself do establish my covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that come out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud then I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
I tend to read through passages a couple of times because it takes me a minute to wrap my head around what is being said. So if that feels helpful to you then go ahead and take a minute to read these verses a time or two.
After reading this passage I have several questions that came to mind -
What is the Biblical meaning of a covenant?
How does a covenant with God vary from a covenant with a man?
Does every covenant have a sign or a symbol to remember it by?
How long will this covenant last?
Who is impacted by the covenant?
What is being promised by this covenant?
Is this really the first covenant or does God establish a covenant in the garden?
For defining terms I like to use a Bible dictionary and a regular dictionary. I also like to use the Blue Letter Bible App. The BLB App uses Easton’s Bible Dictionary so you can easily access that on your phone. I also like to see what Bible scholars have to say about various themes.
Easton’s dictionary says a covenant is a contract or agreement between two parties. The Holman dictionary says a covenant is a pact, treaty, alliance, or agreement between two parties of equal or unequal authority. Both of these dictionaries have extensive details on what a covenant is and how it works, so you can glean a little or a lot. Both resources show how covenants are not just a Biblical construct but were a traditional way of doing business in the world.
Whitney Woollard from The Bible Project says, “Covenants are one of the most important themes in the Bible because they act as the skeletons upon which the entire redemptive story is built. They’re like the backbone of the Bible.”
Some of the questions I jotted down are already answered in the text. Our passage tells us that this particular covenant will last forever, as it talks about being made with all successive generations. That means it still applies to us today. When we see the rainbow in the sky we can be assured of God’s covenant to not destroy the earth by a flood again. We can also see that this covenant is for all mankind as well as the animals.
Now, to be fair you probably already knew these details. I chose this familiar passage because I want to look, as Woollard said, at how the Biblical covenants act as the skeletons upon which the entire redemptive story is built.
My last question is one that is going to take a little more time to think through. It will require reading some books and exploring what scholars offer as opinions based on their knowledge and expertise in these areas of study. It will also take time sitting with scripture and seeing how various texts work together.
There are different ways to read the Bible. Sometimes we read for encouragement and sometimes we read to study. Encouragement comforts us and reminds us of truths we’ve learned. Study is when we dig deeper into the meaning of the words and the history of the time period when the text was written. Both ways of reading the Bible are valuable and important. Neither should feel like a chore, but rather an invitation to know God and his creation more deeply.
~ Melissa